Tagged: Kilpatrick enterprise

Detroit’s former water department head has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge.

Victor Mercado had been a co-defendant in ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s ongoing public corruption case.

Mercado is one of the four people who, along with the former mayor, his longtime friend Bobby Ferguson, and father Bernard Kilpatrick, made up the alleged “Kilpatrick Enterprise.”

A jury has been seated in the upcoming corruption trial of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his three co-defendants.

The jury’s racial make-up was a major point of contention during jury selection.

Kilpatrick’s lawyers have argued that a lack of African Americans in the jury pool hurts the ex-Mayor’s chances of a fair trial.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s public corruption trial officially started in federal court Thursday.

Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick, longtime friend and former city contractor Bobby Ferguson, and former water department head Victor Mercado are on trial together.