The former head of Detroit's legal department testified today that he is angry about not being informed of a secret portion of the controversial $8.4 million lawsuit settlement that was designed to hush up Kwame Kilpatrick's infamous text messages.
John E. Johnson, former Detroit Corporation Counsel, told an Attorney Discipline Board that is considering professional misconduct charges against him that the city's current Deputy Corporation Counsel Valerie Colbert-Osamuede never filled him in.
And, he said, former Mayor Kilpatrick threw his lawyers "under the bus."
"I did feel he (Kilpatrick) didn't care about anyone but himself," Johnson testified. "Then, he blamed it on the lawyers. I said, 'You're the one who lied.' "
Johnson is the fourth of five lawyers involved in the text message settlement negotiations to face a panel of Attorney Discipline Board judges. His hearing is set to continue Friday and possibly next week.
The messages revealed Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty lied to cover up their extramarital affair while testifying in a 2007 whistle-blower lawsuit against the city by police officers. Jurors found in favor of the cops who had claimed they were punished for looking into the activities of the mayor's police bodyguards, including rumors of a party at the Manoogian mansion.
The messages were obtained from the city's text pager service provider after the trial and were used by the police officer's lawyer, Michael Stefani, to compel the city to settle the case after Kilpatrick had vowed to appeal the jury's verdict. The deal contained secret agreements that were supposed to have locked the messages away, but they were instead leaked by Stefani.
Their publication in January of 2008 launched an investigation by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy that resulted in Kilpatrick and Beatty pleading guilty to multiple felony charges to avoid going to trial. Both served time in the Wayne County Jail.
Johnson said he was told Stefani had obtained the text messages and Johnson agreed settlement as the wisest course of action. The city's lawyers had urged Kilpatrick to settle quickly because they had concluded there appeared to be little chance of overturning the jury's verdict in favor of the officers.
Colbert-Osamuede had testified in a previous hearing that it was Kilpatrick's political advisors who concluded he needed to take a stand against the jury's verdict. Johnson reasoned the $8.4 million settlement was a bargain, perhaps saving the city $2.5 million in accumulating interest and continuing legal fees.
"I told Val, 'We are going to be heroes for getting rid of a matter everyone wanted to put behind us,' " Johnson testified.
He said he never saw the content of the messages and was therefore unaware they contained evidence that Kilpatrick and Beatty had lied under oath.
Johnson and four other lawyers were found to have committed professional wrongdoing by the Attorney Grievance Commission, and now face possible punishments ranging from reprimand to disbarment if the findings are confirmed by the discipline board.
The commission determined the messages should have been reported to Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Callahan, who oversaw the lawsuit trial. The fact that the messages showed Kilpatrick and Beatty committed criminal perjury in Callahan's court also should have been reported.
Separate discipline boards already have heard testimony in hearings for three of the four other lawyers. Decisions have yet to be announced on Stefani, Samuel McCargo, a private practice lawyer hired by the city to represent Kilpatrick, and Wilson Copeland, another private practice attorney hired to help the city with the case.
A hearing for the fifth lawyer, Colbert-Osamuede, has yet to be scheduled.
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