Bobby Ferguson Acquitted Of Federal Weapons Charges
DETROIT (WWJ) - Businessman and Detroit city contractor Bobby Ferguson has been acquitted of federal weapons charges Friday.
The acquittal stems from federal weapons charges. A jury found Bobby Ferguson not guilty on two weapons charges, but deadlocked on a 3rd charge, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial on that charge.
Ferguson who is a convicted felon was not supposed to be in possession of weapons, but federal agents found guns at his Detroit office and at a Riverfront apartment 5-years ago.
Defense argued the guns-- did not belong to Ferguson. Ferguson is serving out his 21-year prison sentence on conviction of corruption charges. He and ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick were sentenced last year.
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In October, during Ferguson's sentencing, "The judge noted that Bobby Ferguson muscled contractors and was paid for no work on other contracts," said WWJ Legal Charlie Langton, "and Bobby Ferguson's criminal activity only stopped when Kwame Kilpatrick was forced to resign."
Prosecutors say Kilpatrick was the mastermind of a "pay-to-play" system for the provision of city goods and services which compromised vast swaths of city government, including the water and sewer system, the convention center, the pension system, casino developments and recreation centers. [MORE HERE]
As outlined in a sentencing memo, pair's scheme started back before Kilpatrick was even the mayor, when as a state representative he "stole several hundred thousand dollars" in grant money and used it to renovate Ferguson's office and pay his wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, for a job she didn't do.
