DETROIT (AP) - A judge has refused to dismiss corruption charges against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, clearing a path for the trial's closing arguments Monday.
A request for acquittal before jury deliberations is a standard move in a criminal case but rarely granted. Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds kept the government's case intact Friday, although prosecutors on their own trimmed some of the many charges.
Kilpatrick, his father Bernard and pal Bobby Ferguson are charged with conspiring to enrich themselves through bribes, kickbacks and fixed contracts while Kwame Kilpatrick was mayor.
Kwame Kilpatrick is also charged with fraud and tax crimes. He quit office in 2008 in an unrelated scandal.
The jury will get final instructions from the judge Monday and then hear closing arguments.
The trial began in September.
