DETROIT - MAYOR Kwame Kilpatrick was bounced from office on Thursday in a deal with prosecutors that will send him to jail and put an end to the sex scandal that embarrassed this chronically struggling city and preoccupied its government for months.

The 38-year-old 'Hip-Hop Mayor' who brought energy and excitement to City Hall when he took office in 2002 pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and will get four months behind bars.

The Democrat also will pay the city $1 million in restitution; His resignation will take effect in two weeks.

Kilpatrick was charged earlier this year with perjury and other offenses for denying he and his chief of staff had an affair. The scandal broke wide open in January with the release of a trove of lusty text messages between the two of them that appeared to contradict the mayor.

At a news conference on Thursday, he said public servants should be held accountable to the people they serve.

'I take full responsibility for my own actions and for the poor judgment that they reflected', he said.

Coming after eight months of turmoil and demands that Kilpatrick step down, the plea bargain was met with relief from politicians and ordinary Detroit residents alike. His departure could also remove a major embarrassment for Barack Obama and the Democrats in Michigan, a crucial battleground state in the presidential election.

'Sen Obama believes that the serious charges against the mayor were a distraction the city could not afford and that his immediate resignation is the only way for the city to move forward,' spokesman Brent Colburn said.

Detroit - which has struggled for decades with high crime, unemployment and a shrinking population - has been hurt mightily by the mortgage crisis and the downturn in the auto industry.

It was recently declared one of America's 'fastest-dying' cities by Forbes magazine. Some business leaders said the city suffered while the criminal case hung over the mayor.

The scandal stems from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by two former police officers who accused Kilpatrick of retaliating against them for trying to investigate misconduct by the mayor and his security detail. Questioned under oath, Kilpatrick repeatedly denied having an affair with his chief of staff.

But the Detroit Free Press later obtained text messages between the two - some of them sexually explicit - and published excerpts, leading to the charges.

The son of a Detroit congresswoman, Kilpatrick was 31 when he was elected in 2001. In his first term he came under fire for racking up thousands of dollars in travel on his city-issued credit card and leasing a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife.

Under his leadership, though, Detroit landed baseball's 2005 All-Star Game and the 2006 Super Bowl. And Kilpatrick's ability to work with business leaders also has been credited with an overhaul of the city's riverfront and development downtown. -- AP