Supporters rally for imprisoned Kwame

DETROIT (AP) - As ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick settled into a west Michigan prison on his 40th birthday Tuesday, supporters in his hometown attended a prayer rally wearing T-shirts bearing his image and Bible verses.

Kilpatrick arrived about 5 p.m. at Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, near Lake Michigan between Ludington and Traverse City.

Kilpatrick, who had been at a Jackson prison for processing, was sentenced May 25 to up to five years in prison for violating probation.

He was convicted in 2008 of lying under oath about an affair with his chief of staff.

Meanwhile, at Detroit's Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church, people attending the rally received the T-shirts bearing a stark black-and-white portrait of Kilpatrick staring straight ahead and his signature. On the back, above an image of the Detroit skyline, was a verse from the Bible's book of John, "And you shall know the truth ... and the truth shall make you free."

The Rev. Jim Holley said last week the event was organized in part by Kilpatrick's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. At the church, her brother, Raymond Cheeks, told The Associated Press the rally was not for the former mayor but to pray for the city and nation.

"It's not on his behalf," Cheeks said. "It just happens to be his birthday."

Reporters were told they were barred from the rally at the family's request.

It was unclear how many people attended, though cars surrounded the church, overflowed the parking lot and made traffic nearly impassable on side streets.

Kilpatrick at a minimum will serve 14 months for violating probation in a 2008 criminal case that forced him out of office. The judge found that he failed to turn over or report certain assets while under orders to pay $1 million in restitution to Detroit.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office said Tuesday that Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox had asked the Washtenaw County prosecutor to look into e-mailed death threats sent over her handling of the case.

Worthy said she's received multiple threats related to her prosecutions of Kilpatrick, whom she originally charged in May 2008 with perjury.