Lawyer Says His Job Was to Keep Mayor’s Text Messages Secret

A Michigan lawyer testified in a deposition yesterday that his job was to keep the wraps on embarrassing text messages between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an aide.

William Mitchell III of Southfield said he contacted SkyTel to air his concerns about release of the messages between Kilpatrick and his chief aide Christine Beatty, the Detroit Free Press reports. Mitchell said he warned a SkyTel lawyer to watch out for aggressive and wily reporters, according to the story.

Portions of the text messages that have been released appear to confirm that Kilpatrick and Beatty had an affair and may have lied in a whistle-blower case that produced an $8.4 million settlement. Kilpatrick and Beatty have since been charged with perjury.

Mitchell said he was hired by the mayor’s office just before the settlement, apparently approved by the city council without any knowledge of the text messages. Mitchell testified in a deposition conducted by attorneys for the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Associated Press reports.

Mitchell said he delivered a folder believed to have contained the messages to Kilpatrick and later to white-collar criminal defense lawyer William Moffitt of the Washington, D.C., area.

Mitchell said he didn’t know the content of the messages he was trying to keep secret but said he believed they included embarrassing information.