Ex-Detroit mayoral aide gets 120-day jail sentence

1/6/2009

DETROIT The former chief of staff of jailed ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been sentenced to 120 days behind bars for lying on the witness stand about her affair with the mayor.

Christine Beatty was sentenced Tuesday morning in Wayne County Circuit Court. She accepted the sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to obstructing justice.

The 38-year-old mother of two declined to speak and showed little emotion.

Beatty and Kilpatrick were charged for their 2007 testimony in a whistle-blowers civil suit.

Nearly a year ago, the Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty, which contradicted witness-stand denials they were having an affair. Both were married at the time.

Kilpatrick began his 120-day sentence Oct. 28.