Aide: Ex-mayor to get jail State Corrections recommendation expected; Kilpatrick spokesman says talk is premature By Doug Guthrie The Detroit News Detroit -- The state Corrections Department will recommend jail for former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick -- a move that got a swift response Friday from Kilpatrick's spokesman, who said the decision was premature. 'Whoever said this is totally out of place and could be skewing the process,' said Mike Paul. 'Somebody might have an opinion, but they are speaking out of turn because there is no recommendation yet.' Russell Marlan, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, said probation authorities will recommend incarceration but not prison. The recommendation from the state would be that Kilpatrick should serve less than one year in a county jail. Sentences of a year or longer require prisoners to be sent into the state's prison system. 'We are leaning in that direction, and that will likely be the recommendation,' said Marlan, who is spokesman for the state's prison and probations departments. 'I doubt we will be recommending a specific amount of time, but we will be recommending a period of incarceration in a jail.' Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner expected to receive a presentence report containing that recommendation before he decides how to punish Kilpatrick on May 25. Groner was told Tuesday that it would take up to four weeks to prepare the report. He required its completion no later than May 18. Paul, who has complained Kilpatrick is being subjected to over aggressive prosecution, said, 'You have to question the political motivations in this. 'My client spoke just today with Beverly Smith, the probation manager for the (Detroit) region, about providing her with information,' Paul said Friday. 'The process hasn't even closely finished. It has only begun.' But Margaret Raben, president of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, said Marlan's statement wasn't surprising considering the department's agents are merely updating information for the report because they have thick files on Kilpatrick. 'Although they create individualized reports and make individualized recommendations, they have internal guidelines in which they try to fit cases so there is some consistency throughout the state on sentences,' Raben said. 'Certainly Mr. Kilpatrick is no stranger to the Wayne County MDOC probation department, and it's entirely possible there has been conversation about what is going to happen here.' The recommendation report will consider Kilpatrick's financial and family circumstances. Presentence reports sometimes propose arrangements that allow release from jail during daylight hours to work. Kilpatrick is no longer supervised by probation officials in Texas, so any jail time would likely be served in Michigan. When Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice in 2008 to avoid trial on a host of felony charges stemming from the text message scandal, his sentencing guideline called for between zero and 17 months. Kilpatrick's plea bargain called for his resignation as mayor and $1 million restitution to be paid during five years of probation. Kilpatrick served 99 days of a 120-day sentence and moved to Texas after his release early in 2009 for a sales job with Compuware subsidiary Covisint. Officials from Covisint could not be reached. Since Kilpatrick's release from jail, he has generally kept up with routine monthly payments of $3,000 to $6,000, but complained to the court that after expenses he had only $6 left per month to pay restitution. Hearings showed that during the same period more than $500,000 flowed through Kilpatrick family accounts while they drove luxury cars and lived in a $1 million mansion . Groner on Tuesday found Kilpatrick guilty of hiding assets that could have been applied to restitution, including gifts and loans he failed to report to the court . dguthriedetnews.com (313) 222-2548 