Debate Swirls Around Mayor's Missing Computer
Detroit City Councilmen Ken Cockrel is denying claims by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick about a missing computer.
Kilpatrick said, in an affidavit, that he gave the computer to his successor, Councilmen Ken Cockrel. But, according to the Councilman, Kilpatrick is mistaken.
Cockrel says he never saw it.
"During my time as Mayor, the computer that I used was actually one that I borrowed from my City Council office. It actually ended up being very convenient for me to do, because given the short time I had to work with, in terms of transition, we did not have time to transfer files from one computer to the other," Cockrel said.
"So, the computer I actually used was my City Council computer. I don't even recollect there being a computer in the mayor's office," he said.
Kilpatrick's affidavit in federal court says he left behind his city-owned computer when he resigned in 2008. That statement contradicts what city lawyers have been saying.
Kilpatrick's computer is an issue in a civil lawsuit by the family of a slain stripper. Tamara Greene's relatives claim he sabotaged her murder investigation when he was mayor.
Lawyers want Kilpatrick's old e-mail, but the city says the computer hard drive disappeared eight months before he resigned.
A federal judge will to decide it the City should face sanctions.
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