Ex-Detroit mayoral aide pleads guilty

DETROIT (AP) - Ex-mayoral aide Christine Beatty pleaded guilty Monday in the text-messaging sex scandal with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that gripped the city for nearly a year. She will spend four months in jail.

"I lied under oath," Beatty told the judge tearfully, echoing the words her former boss, Kilpatrick, uttered in his own guilty plea three months earlier.

Both admitted lying when they claimed they were not romantically involved. They were both married at the time.

Beatty, 38, pleaded guilty to two obstruction of justice charges. Under a deal with prosecutors, she will be sentenced next month to serve four months in jail and five years of probation. She will also pay $100,000 in restitution to the city.

"It was time to get it over with, get on with her life - get it out of her children's lives," lawyer Mayer Morganroth said outside court. "Otherwise it goes on and on."

Beatty had been charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she was pleased with the outcome.

"We live in a society where greed is glorified," she said. "There comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand and say 'No more.'"

Kilpatrick is serving a four-month jail sentence as part of his plea, which also called for him to spend five years on probation, pay $1 million in restitution, surrender his law license and resign as mayor.

The scandal stems from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by two former police officers, Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope, who accused Kilpatrick of retaliating against them for trying to investigate claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

Brown was removed as deputy chief in charge of internal affairs, while Nelthrope said he was transferred out of the security detail and ultimately couldn't return to work out of fear for his safety.

City Council members had said they were misled when they approved an $8.4 million settlement with Brown and Nelthrope last year, because they didn't know the deal carried secret provisions to keep a lid on the text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty. The restitution the two must pay the city covers part of the cost of that settlement.

In one 2003 message released by the courts in October, Beatty called Kilpatrick "the Love of my Life," and in another from 2004 she asked him: "What do you get from (your wife) that you don't get from me?"

As part of the plea, Beatty had to read aloud a statement saying Monday she lied in the whistle-blowers' trial, in a deposition and at a 2007 hearing.

Beatty, who has two young daughters, has since divorced. She rushed past reporters in a hallway outside the courtroom and did not no comment.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Beatty likely faced 19 months or more in prison if she had been convicted of all charges, according to Worthy's staff. She had been attending law school when the scandal broke but under the plea deal will be barred from doing so while she is on probation.

The Detroit Free Press published excerpts of the text messages in January, prompting the investigation.