(CNN) — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Thursday was sentenced to 28 years in prison after he was convicted in March of two dozen federal charges.
The charges include racketeering, extortion and the filing of false tax returns. He was accused of using the mayor’s office to enrich himself and associates.
Before he was sentenced, Kilpatrick apologized in court Thursday morning.
“I say with every morsel of my being that I’m sorry to you,” he said.
Judge Nancy G. Edmunds noted the apology and said that he was showing “more awareness than I have seen along the way.”
But she said “a long prison sentence is necessary to insulate the public from his behavior.”
“That way of business is over. We’re done. We’re moving forward,” she said.
Ex-Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick convicted in corruption case
Kilpatrick, Detroit’s mayor from 2002 until he resigned in 2008, was the biggest target of a years-long Detroit City Hall corruption investigation that led to the convictions of two dozen people, including several of his closest friends and former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers.
