DETROIT -- One of the most embarrassing periods in this battered and weary city ended Tuesday as the top aide and former lover of disgraced ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sent to jail.

Christine Beatty, once an influential figure at Detroit City Hall, waved goodbye to loved ones as she was ushered from a courtroom to begin a 120-day jail stay for her role in a text-messaging sex scandal that ruined the careers of two police officials and toppled Kilpatrick's administration.

"It's now my hope that with this sentencing ... that this chapter in the city's history will be closed," Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny said.

"Not saying that any other investigations should be abandoned or not thoroughly investigated, but with all of the problems and crises befalling the city -- whether it's budget problems or the Detroit public-school problems -- it does seem to me that the healthy thing is to put the Brown and Nelthrope chapter behind us. I recognize that scars will remain and the financial damage will continue well into the future."

Beatty, Kilpatrick's high school friend and former chief of staff, agreed to the sentence when she pleaded guilty in December to obstruction of justice. Kenny made it official during a morning court hearing.

Beatty also must pay $100,000 to the city and cannot attend law school during her five-year probation.

Given the chance to speak, Beatty declined, saying: "No, your honor. Thank you."

But Kenny took full advantage of his opportunity, praising Beatty for her "dignified" conduct during various court hearings, but he also criticized her and her former boss, blaming them for a scandal that damaged the city.

"I do think that this case does represent the triumph of truth over political power and might and it also indicates, I think, that lying under oath in court has a price tag, even for those who are the politically elite within the community," the judge said.

Beatty and Kilpatrick, both 38, were charged with lying about their affair during a 2007 civil trial that centered on allegations of retaliation against Deputy Chief Gary Brown and officer Harold Nelthrope, who suspected wrongdoing in the mayor's inner circle.

The officers won their case, costing the city millions of dollars, but the scandal didn't break until January 2008 when the Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text messages that exposed courtroom lies and red-hot trysts by the former high school classmates who were married at the time of the affair. During Tuesday's sentencing, Kenny stressed that the case was not about saucy affairs; it was about honorable police officers that have had their lives turned upside down in an effort to conceal politically elite wrongdoing.

He also commended Beatty for holding her head high and not acting like the victim. Kenny said the true victims in this case are the families of the two fired police officers and Beatty and Kilpatrick's children.

"I lied under oath," Beatty said Dec. 1, echoing words uttered by Kilpatrick during his own guilty plea.

She quit her City Hall job after the newspaper story, and they were charged in March. Kilpatrick, a Democrat, held onto his job for months before making a deal with prosecutors and leaving office in September.

Ken Cockrel Jr. was automatically promoted from City Council president to mayor when Kilpatrick resigned. The city will hold a special nonpartisan primary election on Feb. 24, the first step toward choosing someone to serve as mayor through 2009. Cockrel is one of more than a dozen candidates. The two top finishers will advance to a special election in May.

Kilpatrick began his sentence at the Wayne County jail on Oct. 28. Beatty will be in the women's wing of the same downtown jail. With good behavior, she and Kilpatrick could be out after 100 days.

Beatty's attorney, Mayer Morganroth, predicted she could be released in around 70 days with credit for good behavior and participation in certain jail programs. But the actual length of the stay will be determined by the Wayne County sheriff's office, which runs the jail.

The Kilpatrick and Beatty case was simply about "the abuse of the public trust," county Prosecutor Kym Worthy said during a post-sentencing news conference.

Download Worthy's Speech: Worthy Responds To Beatty's Sentencing

"I hope it has taught us that right is right and wrong is wrong, that trying to cover up that wrong is even worse and it can be expensive."

As for the restitution, Morganroth said Beatty had little money -- "$6 and some change" in a bank account. The judge said he would like to hold a hearing in the months after Beatty's release to discuss whether she has been able to get a job and begin making payments toward the $100,000 total.

The divorced mother of two young daughters was charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice for her testimony before and during the 2007 civil trial in Wayne County. Brown and Nelthrope claimed their police careers suffered when Kilpatrick learned they suspected misconduct by his security unit.

Among the allegations: Police bodyguards helped cover up Kilpatrick's extramarital affairs.

During Tuesday's sentencing, Kenny stressed that the case was not about saucy affairs; it was about honorable police officers that have had their lives turned upside down in an effort to conceal politically elite wrongdoing.

He also commended Beatty for holding her head high and not acting like the victim. Kenny said the true victims in this case are the families of the two fired police officers and Beatty and Kilpatrick's children.

A jury ruled in favor of Brown and Nelthrope, and Kilpatrick vowed to appeal. But he subsequently settled the case and another one for $8.4 million when he learned that a lawyer for the former officers had obtained the mayor's text messages.

City Council members said they didn't know the deal carried secret provisions to forever keep a lid on messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty. Then the Free Press published some, igniting a political crisis and a criminal investigation.

Worthy said lawyers representing Kilpatrick have asked her office to destroy the text messages. But she said she would never do that, and the investigation was ongoing.

Worthy declined to elaborate when asked about the nature of the continuing investigating.

Kenny said letters of support sent to him ahead of sentencing depict Beatty as a "very bright woman, very hardworking and driven, and a person of considerable accomplishment.

"In this case, it's a pity that those talents were misused and caused so much damage to the Brown and Nelthrope families," the judge said. "Certainly, Ms. Beatty, you are a woman capable of doing so much more good."

The Rev. Ronald Griffin, Beatty's pastor, said she learned some important lessons during the ordeal and that her silence Tuesday in court reflected the weight of the case.

"She's having a tough time just understanding her life's changed. She could not speak," he said. "I think justice was served. What I teach is, we choose our sins but not our consequences. Chris gets it."

Griffn said Beatty understands where she is and where she needs to be.

"I assure you she will spend the rest of her life to help others not make the same mistakes – that is character flaws," he said.

But Beatty also faces a mountain of debt.

Worthy's office said that after looking into her finances, prosecutors learned that Beatty's monthly bills included a $2,429 mortgage, $1,210 Range Rover lease, $617 student loan installment and $275 for a carpet she bought a year ago.

Beatty's lawyers also are owed $746,000. Morganroth shrugged and said he hopes to get paid over time.

"If she hasn't got it, she hasn't got it," he said.