In brief: Former Detroit mayor released from prison

Jackson, Mich. – Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walked out of prison early Tuesday offering big smiles and a bear hug for a relative there to greet him. He’s free on parole but facing a federal corruption trial that could send him back behind bars.

Kilpatrick, 41, left the Southern Michigan Prison facility in Jackson after serving more than a year for violating probation in a 2008 criminal case.

He did not address reporters, who were kept back about 100 yards behind police tape, and drove off toward the Detroit area under police escort.

Kilpatrick planned to rejoin his wife and three sons near Dallas, where his parole will be overseen by Texas authorities.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and resigned from office as part of a plea deal in 2008. A judge found he had lied at a civil trial to cover up an extramarital affair with his chief of staff – in a lawsuit that cost Detroit $8.4 million.

The former mayor was imprisoned in May 2010 for failing to disclose assets and surrender sufficient funds that could have reduced his $1 million restitution to the city. Kilpatrick still owes Detroit more than $800,000 and a judge recently ordered that all profits from his upcoming book be placed in escrow to help pay off the debt.

His federal trial on fraud, tax crimes and a racketeering conspiracy is scheduled to start in September 2012.

Autopsy inconclusive on cause of young girl’s death

Stewartstown, N.H. – An autopsy conducted on the body of an 11-year-old girl who went missing for a week before being found dead in a river was unable to determine how she died, authorities said Tuesday.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said the autopsy was conducted Tuesday but didn’t determine the cause or manner of Celina Cass’ death and further study is required.

Celina’s death has been deemed suspicious, based on what divers found, and investigators were treating the case as a criminal investigation.

Celina, who lived with her older sister, mother and stepfather a mile from Canada, was last seen at her home computer around 9 p.m. on July 25 and was gone the next morning, authorities said. Police said there was no sign of a struggle and there was no indication she ran away or someone took her.