Panel: Lawyer involved in Detroit mayor’s text messaging sex scandal committed misconduct

Panel: Misconduct by lawyer in Detroit text case

DETROIT — A panel says the attorney at the middle of a text messaging sex scandal involving former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick committed misconduct.

The ruling by the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board panel was released Tuesday. It says Mike Stefani (stuh-FAH’-nee) knowingly disobeyed court rules when he failed to have the text messages between Kilpatrick and his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty, sent to the judge hearing the trial of a whistle-blowers’ lawsuit in 2007.

The salacious text messages contradicted testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave during the trial and eventually led to charges against the pair.

Stefani’s attorney, Kenneth Mogil (MO’-gill), credited the panel with looking at the evidence and applying the law.

The panel will schedule a hearing to determine discipline.