Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Kilpatrick regained his freedom early Tuesday morning, emerging from jail after a 99-day sentence and stepping back onto the streets of the city he once ruled as mayor The 38-year-old Kilpatrick, about 25 pounds lighter than when he entered jail at the end of October, left the downtown Detroit facility wearing a dark suit just after 12:30 a.m.

Flanked by a number of men, several dressed in fedoras and long coats, Kilpatrick then was rushed to a waiting blue Chevrolet Suburban. The Democrat waved from behind tinted windows as he was whisked away as part of a multi-vehicle caravan Kilpatrick made no statements to the media during his release, upon the orders of new defense attorney Willie E. Gary.

It's been more than a year since a text-messaging sex scandal started the long process that ended in Kilpatrick's arrest, plea, jailing and release. Now, the man who quickly rose from a state representative to mayor of a city of 900,000 people simply is looking for work Kilpatrick was expected to meet with state probation officials before heading to a job interview Wednesday with an unnamed company at an undisclosed location in Texas.