KILPATRICK PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO PERJURY:

Mayor and former Chief of Staff charged Monday with lying about their affair.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that they lied under oath about having an affair.

Both parties appeared in separate hearings to answer the charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office announced Monday by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. District Court Magistrate Steve Lockhart entered not guilty pleas for each of them before they were released on personal bonds.

Kilpatrick, 37, is married with three children. Beatty, also 37, was married at the time and has two children. Both are accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a top police official. Text messages first reported by the Detroit Free Press revealed a flirty, sometimes explicit, exchange between the two.

Worthy's investigation began in late January after the Detroit Free Press published excerpts from 14,000 text messages that were sent or received in 2002-03 from Beatty's city-issued pager.

In setting the mayor's personal bond, Lockhart noted defendants generally are restricted to the state of Michigan while their cases are pending. However, given Kilpatrick's position, Lockhart granted him the right to travel anywhere within the United States without prior permission, but said Kilpatrick still must give advance notice to the court.

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