A judge ruled on Tuesday that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick did not violate bail terms by visiting his sister, a potential witness in an assault case against him.

A judge ruled on Tuesday that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick did not violate bail terms by visiting his sister, a potential witness in an assault case against him.

Kilpatrick, 38, once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, is charged with assaulting two investigators who tried to deliver a subpoena at his sister’s Detroit home last month as part of a perjury case against him.

State prosecutors had asked Judge Ronald Giles to consider whether Kilpatrick’s most recent visit to his sister was a second violation of his bail terms in the space of a week.

The judge, who sent Kilpatrick to jail for one night last week, said the embattled mayor could have no contact with two police officers and a retired detective who were present during the last week’s alleged altercation.

Kilpatrick already faces a possible 15-year prison term in a separate case if convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct stemming from a sex scandal and his handling of a whistle-blower lawsuit.

He could face an additional two-year prison term if convicted on the felony assault charges.

Kilpatrick’s lawyer Dan Webb told the judge the attempt by prosecutors to bar the embattled mayor from contact with a family member had been “frivolous.”