State lawmaker in trouble over infractions at his topless nightclub
Marshall Chronicle
March 5, 1998
Last week's action at the State Capitol
Numerous violations at Rep Stallworth's Tiger Lounge
Argus-Press
March 08, 1998
Politics is a family affair for Michigan dynasties
Detroit News
July 25, 1999
For the past week, the nation has been transfixed with the Kennedy dynasty. News also is made regularly by the Bush clan, which has an ex-president and two current governors -- including one now running for president.
Michigan politics also has had some mini-dynasties. Nothing very regal, or hardly as captivating as the Kennedys, Bushes, Roosevelts and Rockefellers before them.
Consider the Dingells of Michigan.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, is dean of the U.S. House -- having held for nearly 45 years the congressional seat that his father, also named John, had for the previous 23 years.
His wife, Democratic National Committeewoman Debbie Dingell, is a power in the state party. Dingell's son, Sen. Chris Dingell of Trenton, has been in the Legislature since 1987.
The Downriver reign of the Dingells started with the 1932 election of John Dingell, Sr. in a district that then consisted of four wards in Detroit, but was vastly changed by redistricting.
That year also started a Downriver streak by U.S. Rep. John Lesinski, Sr. of Dearborn that ended in 1951, when he was replaced by John Lesinski, Jr. The son served until 1965.
In northwestern Michigan, a state Senate district was represented by three generations of Millikens -- not consecutively -- between 1897 and 1994. Bill Milliken, who later became Michigan's longest-serving governor, had the seat previously held by James T. Milliken, his father, and James W. Milliken, his grandfather and founder of the Traverse City department store run by all three.
The Legislature has had a succession of family teams -- father-son, mother-son, husband-wife and brothers.
Writing last week in the Wall Street Journal, Richard Brookhiser said: "Persistence of political families seems dissonant in a country whose war of independence was a revolt against King George III. ... Political families, finally, are an end run around the principle of term limits.
The law may be able to keep a man from succeeding himself endlessly, but there is no way to block a man's genes."
Oh, but there is. It's called the ballot box. Voters can interrupt political genetics. There's no divine right in politics.
And what of political genes of women? Ex-State Rep. Alma Stallworth's son, Detroit Democrat Keith Stallworth, is in the state House. So is Rep. Kwame Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, son of ex-State Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, now a congresswoman.
Dynasty fans ask: Which Kilpatrick will run for mayor? Capitol watch
During the Legislature's summer recess, it's quiet at the state Capitol. Not so for Michiganians on Capitol Hill:
Rep. Nick Smith, R-Addison, played a key role in crafting a deal that led to passage of the GOP's $792 billion tax-cut plan.
The clincher was a provision he wrote that said income-tax reductions would be postponed "in any year the pay-down of (the national) debt is not accomplished" at a stipulated rate. It helped win over the GOP moderates needed for passage.
Because of the House vote, U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, missed President Clinton's Thursday forum on Medicare in Lansing. He praised her as "a wonderful supporter of our efforts to preserve Medicare and add the prescription drug benefit."
But Stabenow, who's challenging Sen. Spencer Abraham, was quoted by Associated Press as saying: "I'm not wedded to the president's approach on prescription drugs." The next day, Republican State Chairwoman Betsy DeVos called it "Debbie's doublespeak."
Citing a "rising tide of concern about potential sales or diversions" of Great Lakes and other U.S. fresh water, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, introduced a bill for a moratorium on bulk export of such water. He was joined Rep. David Bonior, D-Mt. Clemens, and five other Great Lakes congressmen.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, will be joined by officials of the AFL-CIO and business leaders at a Capitol Hill press conference Tuesday in support of his bill to eliminate the preference that federal prison industries get for selling products to federal agencies.
Labor flexes its muscle in Lansing
Detroit News
November 30, 1999
Labor's voice is far weaker than it used to be in Lansing, but still influential -- and clearly second to none in the Michigan Democratic Party.
Beyond the fact that at least a third of its members have been voting Republican in recent elections, labor's clout in Lansing was diminished after the 1998 election produced Republican rule of all three branches of government.
Labor's message to Democrats in the Legislature is that if they are to reverse their fortunes, they must be united. Especially in the House, where Democrats hope to regain control next year.
The solidarity message was delivered forcefully to key House Democrats by Michigan AFL-CO President Mark Gaffney, United Auto Workers political action types, and leaders of the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association.
When that power bloc speaks, Democrats listen. It raises money to put Democrats in office, and it raises hell if officeholders stray. That bloc did just that in a Lansing meeting with House Democratic leaders and state reps who serve on the caucus' campaign committee.
The bottom line, as described by House Minority Leader Mike Hanley, D-Saginaw, was: "Let's all be on the same page."
Two who been off-script are Minority Floor Leader Kwame Kilpatrick and Rep. Keith Stallworth, both of Detroit. They have shown streaks of independence and have this quaint notion that sometimes bipartisan cooperation can be a good thing.
Kilpatrick worked closely earlier this year with House Speaker Chuck Perricone, R-Kalamazoo Township, on the Detroit school takeover legislation. Without consulting the the powers that be, he has of late been crafting plans for Democrats to recapture control of the House -- and then get himself elected speaker.
Kilpatrick is not the only contender to become the top House Democrat when the term-limited Hanley steps down at the end of 2000. Other contenders also were in a Lansing meeting with union and other power brokers.
"Labor has a big concern about who is the next speaker," the AFL-CIO's Gaffney said on last weekend's Off the Record public TV show.
To those who want labor's support to be the next leader of House Democrats, he says: "Shine. Show us. Prove yourself."
While Kilpatrick was reprimanded for playing Lone Ranger, the toughest hit was on Stallworth, who is viewed as too cozy with Speaker Perricone.
The pair threw a pig roast on the Capitol lawn and cooperated on a tour of Detroit by GOP lawmakers. Just before the Legislature's Thanksgiving recess, they were working out a deal on Gov. John Engler's push to raise the cap on the number of charter schools.
On Nov. 10 -- the same day that union leaders met with House Democrats -- Stallworth was replaced as leader of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus by Rep. Artina Tinsley Hardman, D-Detroit.
Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, who called for the leadership election, told Gongwer News Service of Stallworth's free-lancing: "The members finally had had enough. The final straw was the charter cap."
She denied any outside influence prompted the vote.
Gaffney obviously thinks highly of Smith, a well-regarded lawmaker who is on the executive committee of the Black Caucus. He listed her among potential Democratic candidates for governor in 2002.
Stallworths raise gift receiving to an art form
Detroit News
September 6, 2000
Like father, like son, the adage goes. Like mother, like son is more like where the Stallworth family is concerned.
Back in the spring of 1991, when state Rep. Alma Stallworth, D-Detroit, was preparing to move into her new digs as chairwoman of the state House Public Utilities Committee, she compiled and mailed out a list of "suggested open house gifts" to some selected friends and business acquaintances.
Prominent among them, of course, was the vast Lansing lobbyist corps.
Not a bad idea, right? After all, brides register so they don't get five blenders and no waste baskets. So why shouldn't chairpersons of powerful legislative committees do the same?
Alma didn't go quite that far. She just asked for gifts.
Like plants and desk sets, a mirror, a conference table with four chairs. And, of course, money.
"Monetary gifts," is the way she put it. There is no record of how much cash and other loot Chairperson Stallworth managed to harvest that spring, but the importance of her position as head of a Democrat-dominated committee, which at the time was weighing massive changes in the way the state government regulated auto insurance laws and telecommunications rates certainly was not lost on the Capitol lobbyists.
Now fast forward to summer, 2000. And here we find Stallworth's son, State Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, not only occupying the 12th District House seat where his mom once sat, but up to mom's old tricks.
Only this time it's nothing as prosaic as desks, chairs, tables and other office accoutrements. This time it's bottles and diapers, cribs, bassinets and other baby shower gifts.
And this time there's no trouble finding out exactly what the happy expectant couple (Keith and wife, Katrina) might need to outfit their first-born. Mailing out baby shower invitations to some 800 of their closest friends and business acquaintances, they advised that they're registered, among other places, at Babys R Us and the Baby Depot at the Burlington Coat Factory.
"I'm just happy about having a son," the 44-year old Stallworth told Lansing journalist Tim Skubick. "I consider quite a few persons in the (Capitol) lobbying corps to be personal friends."
Yeah, right. So did mom.
Keith Stallworth held several jobs growing up, some in Lansing when his mother was in the Legislature. In 1992 he operated an insurance agency with his wife and some other partners. Early that year Alma Stallworth sponsored legislation that would give minority agencies (like her son's) a larger share of the state's auto insurance business. But the bill was scuttled when it was revealed that Alma's husband, Thomas Stallworth II and Keith's wife had a financial interest in the agency, which stood to profit from the change.
Early in 1996, Alma Stallworth announced she would run for a final term, driving away most competition. Once the field was clear, she withdrew and son Keith filed in her place. At the time, Keith was operating a topless bar called "Tiger's" on north Woodward, which had been cited several times by Detroit police as a neighborhood nuisance.
But no matter. He got elected. And re-elected.
Charges may cost Stallworth House job - State lawmaker faces arraignment in driver's license case
Detroit News
February 16, 2001
LANSING -- State Rep. Keith Stallworth faces at least one felony charge related to misrepresenting himself to a state agency. It could cost him his legislative seat.
Stallworth, a Detroit Democrat who is a five-year veteran of the Legislature, is expected to be arraigned as early as today in Detroit's 36th District Court in connection with two sealed warrants.
But individuals in two departments of state government who had knowledge of the case said one charge alleges that Stallworth made a false application to obtain a second Michigan driver's license under a fraudulent name, a felony.
They said the second application was made using the same picture as his legitimate license but with a different address. It was unclear whether a second license was actually issued. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to discuss the situation.
Stallworth, 46, did not attend Thursday's House session and did not reply to messages left at his Detroit home or his Lansing office. Stallworth's attorney did not reply to a voice message left at his law office.
House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, issued a brief statement after reports began to surface. "We must be careful not to rush to judgment," he said.
"It's unfair to speculate until after the legal system has a chance to work."
House Minority Leader Kwame Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, who met Thursday with Johnson on the matter, said through an aide that he was reviewing details and would not comment until today.
Stallworth is a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. In 1998, he was named legislator of the year by the National Minority Business Development Council.
The outcome of previous cases indicate Stallworth's House seat may be at stake. In several instances in which a lawmaker was convicted of or pleaded guilty to a felony, the member had to resign under a negotiated plea agreement or under the threat of expulsion by colleagues. In 1978, the Legislature booted Rep. Monte Geralds, a Madison Heights Democrat who refused to resign after being convicted of embezzling from a legal client.
Under the Michigan Constitution, lawmakers sit in sole judgment of their colleagues and have the power to expel a member by a two-thirds vote for a "breach of the public trust."
The last lawmaker to resign under pressure was Sen. Henry Stallings, D-Detroit, who quit three years ago rather than face certain expulsion. Stallings had pleaded guilty to charges that he used a tax-paid aide to work in his downtown Detroit art gallery. In a deal with the judge, Stallings avoided jail time.
Allegations of driver-license fraud are fairly common, but prosecutions apparently are unusual. Last year, the Secretary of State's office investigated 1,821 cases of alleged license fraud, according to Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for the department. She couldn't say how many warrants were issued or how many individuals were formally charged.
The reasons for such fraud attempts, Boyd said, "can run from an underage person attempting to get a new identity to purchase alcohol, to someone who has lost their driving privileges and wants to keep driving, to somebody who is attempting an identity theft." She declined to confirm such a charge was being brought against Stallworth.
Stallworth has received numerous traffic tickets in recent years. However, only two points remain on his two-year driver record -- an October 1999 ticket for driving 40 in a 35 mph zone in Wayne.
The articulate and colorful lawmaker has been embroiled in controversy before, going all the way back to his election in 1996. His mother, veteran lawmaker Alma Stallworth, had indicated she planned to seek re-election and other potential candidates decided not to file for the seat. At the last minute, the elder Stallworth opted not to run her son jumped into the race and won.
In April 1999, Stallworth and fellow Detroit Rep. Ed Vaughn were disciplined for their role in disruptive protests against legislation to replace the elected Detroit school board with one appointed by the state.
Lawmaker may face charge
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
February 16, 2001
DETROIT -- A county prosecutor has accused a state lawmaker of falsifying certification of a motor vehicle and falsifying an affidavit, according to a report published Thursday.
Wayne County prosecutors had not issued warrants for state Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, as of Thursday, reported Gongwer News Service, a Michigan political news agency. But the prosecutor's office on Jan. 31 recommended that charges be filed, officials from the office told Gongwer.
The recommended charges both are felonies that carry maximum penalties of up to five years in prison. Further information on the circumstances surrounding the charges was not immediately available.
Messages left at Stallworth's office and home were not immediately returned. The prosecutor's office did not return a call seeking comment Thursday evening.
If charged and convicted, Stallworth may have to leave office. The state constitution bars persons "convicted of a felony involving a breach of the public trust" from serving in the Legislature.
State Rep. Stallworth charged with illegally obtaining license and voter registration
The Argus-Press
Feb 17, 2001
Michigan State Lawmaker charged with falsification
The Toledo Blade
February 17, 2001
Lawmaker faces felony charges over false license
A lawyer for the state representative from Detroit says he was doing a favor and had no criminal intent
Grand Rapids Press
February 17, 2001
DETROIT -- A state lawmaker was charged Friday with using his brother's name to illegally obtain a driver's license and voter's registration.
Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, pleaded innocent at his arraignment in 36th District Court in Detroit to a felony -- breaking state election law by lying about his voter registration. A preliminary examination is scheduled for Feb. 28.
Later Friday, Stallworth also pleaded innocent in 22nd District Court in Inkster to two felony counts of lying about his voter registration and falsifying personal information on his driver's license. Judge Sylvia A. James released him on a $10,000 personal bond.
If convicted of all three felonies, Stallworth could face up to five years in prison and a $7,000 fine.
"This is a personal family matter that has become public," Stallworth said outside court in Detroit Friday afternoon.
"This will be a continuing saga, stay tuned," he told reporters after his arraignment in Inkster. He declined to elaborate.
Stallworth is accused of applying for a duplicate driver's license and voter registration under his brother's name, Thomas Fontaine Stallworth, in November 2000, according to complaints filed with the respective courts by the attorney general's office.
Thomas Stallworth told investigators he did not know of his brother's actions until he received a letter from the Department of State in December 2000.
Keith Stallworth, who said the matter involves doing a favor for a family member, said he thinks the matter will be resolved without a long court battle.
"I am confident this matter will be resolved short of an entangled court proceeding," Stallworth, 44, said in a written statement released earlier Friday.
Stallworth's lawyer, Dennis Mitchenor, said Stallworth is only facing serious charges because he is a legislator.
"This is a matter of overcharging," Mitchenor said.
He said Stallworth was "registering by proxy" to assist a family member and did not have any criminal intent.
"This has been blown out of proportion," Mitchenor said.
Michigan lawmaker waives felony hearings
The Toledo Blade
March 01, 2001
DETROIT - A state lawmaker accused of using his brother's name to obtain illegally a driver's license and voter's registration waived a preliminary hearing yesterday.
Rep. Keith Stallworth (D., Detroit) did not appear in the courtroom but signed papers to waive his hearing in 36th District Court in Detroit on a felony charge - breaking state election law by lying about his voter registration.
He also intended to waive a preliminary hearing later yesterday in 22nd District Court in Inkster to two felony counts of lying about his voter registration and falsifying personal information on his driver's license.
Michigan House quiet as peer stands accused
The Toledo Blade
May 31, 2001
State House may have to deal with its own troubled member
The Argus-Press
June 01, 2001
Judging Jaye
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
June 3, 2001
So, what happens to the next maverick politician who steps out of line, has a run-in with the law, maybe has some trouble at home?
Most likely, there will never be another David Jaye, who two weeks ago was Michigan's first state senator to be expelled in its 166-year history.
But the Senate's judgment on the self-described "junkyard dog" drew criticism from political observers and advocates for the justice system who said senators ran roughshod over fairness and singled out a lawmaker who was as much disliked as he was in trouble with the law.
"Due process in this case was in the wrong hands," said Grand Rapids defense attorney Paul Mitchell.
"It was a mob mentality. I'm not making any apologies for David Jaye, but everyone is entitled to due process and it didn't look like he got it."
Mitchell knows about defending the notorious. He is currently building a defense for Marvin Gabrion, a death-penalty candidate charged in the death of a young woman and suspected in the disappearances of four other people, including the woman's small child.
Jaye was expelled, on a 33-2 vote, even though the most recent of the allegations he faced -- including physically abusing his fiance Sonia Kloss -- were dropped by Florida and Michigan police. Previously, Jaye had been convicted three times for drunken driving, spending time in jail as recently as last summer.
Most other governing boards on the local level don't have the power to expel, a power some local politicians -- who criticized the Senate's action -- would rather do without.
But Jaye's fellow senators, after six weeks of investigations and hearings, believed that the accumulation of his misdeeds were enough to bring the curtain down on his tumultuous career.
But even before the recent spate of incidents, Jaye had gained a reputation as a fire-breathing arch-conservative, dropped a gun on the floor of the Republicans' caucus room, and got into shouting matches with colleagues, including former House Minority Leader Kenneth Sikkema, R-Grandville, now in the Senate, and former speaker Paul Hillegonds of Holland on the House floor.
Jaye accused senators of punishing him for his abrasive personality and extreme political views.
Sikkema said he resents the inference that lawmakers' clashes with Jaye over the years influenced his vote to expel. And he said the Senate bent over backwards to ensure Jaye got a fair shake.
"If anything, the Senate process allows us to get at the truth of the matter in a way that the court system doesn't," he said. "In the courts, you can manipulate the system, with high-priced lawyers, by delaying hearings, plea bargaining.
"We looked at a pattern of behavior that required police intervention that in any private or most public jobs would be totally unacceptable," Sikkema said. "It wasn't any one single incident."
A clash of personalities
Critics, however, worried the vote was based on vague standards that allowed personal animus against Jaye to be a consideration.
"When does a series of allegations -- short of felony -- become a critical mass that permits persons to say you've done one wrongful deed too many?" said Craig Ruff, vice president for Lansing think tank Public Sector Consultants. "I think this is a slippery slope."
In the House, some lawmakers are calling for the creation of an ethics committee that would set standards for future expulsion proceedings.
"One of the problems is that there isn't an established process -- in this case, the Senate was charting new territory," said state Rep. Jerry Kooiman, R-Grand Rapids, who said he supports creating the new ethics committee.
Jaye's expulsion may make it easier to move against other errant lawmakers, Ruff said. In fact, the House may be moving toward its own proceedings, with Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, facing felony charges for obtaining a false driver's license with his brother's identification. He has pleaded innocent, but pressure is mounting on House Minority Leader Kwame Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, to take action against Stallworth to prove his mettle as a potential Detroit mayoral candidate.
"If somebody makes the papers for alleged wrongdoings, there will be the clamor for equal justice," Ruff said. "It's dangerous."
Sen. Leon Stille, R-Spring Lake, who introduced the resolution to expel Jaye, said other lawmakers are not in jeopardy because of Jaye.
"You have to be a real maverick to have anything like this happen to you," he said. "There's enough language in our own Senate rules that says if you've got a bad track record, you can be removed."
Jaye's expulsion was a chilling message for local governing boards, even though most don't permit expulsions.
Marvin Hiddema, who has his own independent ways as a member of the Kent County Board of Commissioners, said he shudders at the thought that local governing boards could deal with wayward members the same way the Senate did.
"As bad as the crime is, unless you tell ahead of time what the rules are, it's unfair," he said. "I don't like what Jaye did, but I feel sorry for what he went through, seeing there's no standard he could judge himself by."
A Kent County bad boy
Indeed, the Kent County Commission faced a similar situation in the mid-1970s, when Democratic commissioner Stephen Kishkorn found himself in the middle of a controversy that included a four-month stint in a Colombian jail and charges that he broke into an ex-girlfriend's apartment.
Questions also dogged Kishkorn over marijuana use and using an allegedly stolen car. He later admitted to marijuana use, but the latter charge turned out to be false.
So, Kishkorn, now in the real estate business in Grand Rapids, said Jaye's travails were something he could identify with.
"I can have a lot of empathy for the man, you know?" said Kishkorn.
Fritz Wahlfield, who has served on the Kent County Commission since 1974, said some commissioners wanted to get rid of Kishkorn, but nothing in the bylaws allowed them to do so.
"But the voters took care of it," he said.
Kishkorn lost his re-election campaign in 1976, and he said he still remembers the charged atmosphere that led to his loss.
"You always have to remember that you're dealing in a political arena," Kishkorn said. "That always seems to prevail and cloud the facts."
The Kent County Commission's silence on rules dealing with wayward members is just fine with Commissioner Michael Sak.
"I don't know if that's truly our responsibility, to sit in judgment of a peer that has made mistakes, so I'm comfortable not having anything in our bylaws," Sak said. "Voters have every two years to elect someone, so they can make that judgment."
Most other governing bodies in the state have similar hands-off policies.
School boards, according to state law, can only censure members and strip them of committee assignments and titles.
Townships are similarly constrained, under a 1954 state law, though the governor can directly remove township board trustees for such crimes as "habitual drunkenness." That's never happened, according to Larry Merrill, executive director of the Michigan Association of Townships.
Under the Grand Rapids City Commission's charter, written in 1916, public officials can be removed by the commission for "official misconduct" or "unfaithful or improper performance of duties of his office."
It takes a simple majority to vote a peer off the commission.
Grand Rapids Mayor John Logie said it would take a lot for members to vote a peer out.
"If four or more peers got together and looked at an accumulation of acts and decided that taken as a whole there was enough deviation from acceptable conduct, that's what the charter permits," Logie said. "I'd hope that's reasonable."
Peer pressure
What's reasonable is in the eye of the peers, said Erika King, political science professor at Grand Valley State University.
"It's like the Supreme Court justice who said 'I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it,'" King said, referring to former justice Potter Stewart. "Public officials may not be able to completely define the threshold, but they know it when they see it when a peer has stepped over it."
Sen. Glenn Steil, R-Grand Rapids, initially opposed Jaye's expulsion, saying he would rather see a censure and "let his constituents deal with him."
But in the end, he voted in favor of expelling Jaye, partly in response to the hour-long defense Jaye gave on his final day on the Senate floor.
"He harangued and beat up on the other senators and was not very remorseful," Steil said. "It was a bad performance. I knew at that moment he no longer belonged in the Senate."
But as lawmakers may have used one final performance to determine their vote, they also viewed Jaye as a unique case against whom no other could be compared.
"I'm not aware of anybody who has compiled the kind of track record that David Jaye has," Stille said.
Jim Rinck, a Grand Rapids school board member who was censured by the board last year after criticizing Superintendent Patricia Newby, was sure that no other lawmaker would have faced a similar fate under the circumstances.
"It's clear if he'd had any kind of camaraderie in the Senate, this wouldn't have happened," said Rinck, an attorney. "They were so fed up with him. He'd blown all his empathy in the Senate, he'd lost it completely, even when the evidence wasn't all that overwhelming."
Legislator faces drug, laundering charges
Bangor Daily Times
July 03, 2001
Mich. official faces laundering, drug charges
Gaston Gazette
July 03, 2001
State representative indicted; linked to drugs
Ludington Daily News
July 03, 2001
State representative linked to drug dealer
The Daily Globe
July 03, 2001
State representative indicted on money laundering, drug charges
The Marshall Chronicle
July 03, 2001
State representative indicted, linked to 1980's drug dealer
The Argus-Press
July 03, 2001
Another lawmaker in trouble after fed indictment
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
July 3, 2001
The state Legislature may again have to oust one of its own, for the second time in as many months, following money laundering and drug conspiracy charges against Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit.
Stallworth, 45, was one of 14 people named in a federal indictment unsealed Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit. The high-profile legislator turned himself in and was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond.
The indictment places the House of Representatives in a tough position, made even trickier by the May 24 expulsion of Sen. David Jaye. The Senate voted 33-2 to remove Jaye after a series of problems, including three drunken driving convictions, and accusations that he hit his fiancee.
“What happened with David Jaye increases the pressure on the House to take some kind of action,” said political newsletter editor Bill Ballenger. “The pressure from the media, from the public will continue to mount.”
House Democratic Floor Leader Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, said Monday that it was too soon to say what course the House might take. She said House leadership may have something more definitive to say today.
“I think we have a little different situation here than the Senate did with David Jaye,” said Rep. Jim Howell, R-St. Charles, a member of the House Oversight Committee. “I imagine we’ll take this slow, take it judiciously.”
Stallworth had already faced three felony counts for lying about his voter’s registration and falsifying personal information on his driver’s license. He pleaded innocent to those charges Feb. 16 and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
The most recent charges accuse him of taking $20,000 from an illegal drug deal, and purchasing four $5,000 cashier’s checks made out to himself. He cashed the checks and returned the cash to the person he got it from, according to the indictment.
Until now, the House has taken a wait-and-see approach. But the stakes have been raised.
Some options for the House include beginning steps to expel Stallworth, a move that would require a two-thirds vote. Or, it could remove him from his committees, and take away his staff and other privileges, pending the outcome of his criminal case. Or,it could wait.
“Politically, they could wait a while before they cry uncle,” said Ballenger, the editor of Inside Michigan Politics. “But if you’re asking me what should they do, I think they should move very quickly.”
The quandary will be especially difficult for House Democratic Leader Kwame Kilpatrick, who is running for mayor of Detroit. As the ranking House Democrat, Kilpatrick will be urged to make some kind of decision.
Ironically, Kilpatrick and Stallworth were elected to the House in 1994, largely on the names of their mothers. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Alma Stallworth are both former state House representatives from Detroit.
“I just think it’s interesting that they came in together and now one faces a federal indictment and one is running for mayor of Detroit,” Ballenger said.
The best-case scenario for Kilpatrick and other House members would be a Stallworth resignation, Ballenger said.
If Stallworth is ousted it would create back-to-back expulsions, a troubling trend given that there’s been only one other expulsion in the Legislature in 160 years. But Ballenger said that possibility shouldn’t be seen as reflective of the entire Legislature, especially since Stallworth may yet resign.
Michigan state representative faces indictment
Repository, The (Canton, OH)
July 03, 2001
DETROIT — A state representative has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy to sell cocaine, marijuana and heroin, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.
Rep. Keith Stallworth, a Detroit Democrat, said he is confident he will be cleared of the charges.
The indictment charges 14 people with crimes including conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and murder. Stallworth is not charged in the murder count.
The indictment alleges he used cashier’s checks and his ownership of a Detroit night club to launder money given to him by drug dealers.
"I think I’ve served the people of Michigan," Stallworth said after appearing in court Monday afternoon. "My constituents know the work I’ve done."
Stallworth, 45, was released on $50,000 bond.
"This stuff is not true. It didn’t happen," said Dennis Mitchenor, Stallworth’s lawyer.
U.S. Attorney Alan Gershel said Stallworth surrendered when he learned of the indictment. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Stallworth is serving his third term in the state House, succeeding his mother, former Rep. Alma Stallworth. He is not eligible for re-election in 2002 because of term limits.
State rep charged with money laundering
Crain's Detroit Business
July 9, 2001
State Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Detroit on federal charges of assisting in a conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs and of money laundering.
According to the U.S. attorney's office, Stallworth and 13 others were indicted by a federal grand jury June 27.
The indictment alleges that on March 16, 1998, Stallworth laundered $20,000 by obtaining four $5,000 cashier's checks for an unnamed individual. The indictment also alleges some of the defendants in the case made "hidden investments" in a Detroit adult-entertainment club owned by Stallworth through a corporation called Stallworth Entertainment Inc.
State House member facing federal charges for laundering money and selling drugs to plead innocent
The Marshall Chronicle
July 20, 2001
State House member will plead not guilty
The Daily Globe
July 20, 2001
Michigan legislator denies guilt in U.S. criminal case
The Toledo Blade
July 21, 2001
Stallworth pleads innocent
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
July 21, 2001
DETROIT -- A state representative pleaded innocent on Friday to two federal charges of laundering money and selling drugs.
Attorney Christopher Andreoff entered the pleas on behalf of Rep. Keith Stallworth at the Detroit Democrat's arraignment in U.S. District Court.
The U.S. Attorney's office earlier this month charged 14 people with various crimes, including murder. Stallworth, 45, isn't charged with murder.
Although the indictment charges Stallworth with selling drugs, Andreoff said there's no specific allegation in the document that his client possessed or distributed any drugs.
"I'm clueless as to where this information is coming from," Andreoff said Thursday.
The indictment accuses Stallworth of using $20,000 from the sale of drugs to buy four $5,000 cashier's checks with Mathews listed as the remitter. But Andreoff said Mathews paid that money for Stallworth's club.
The charges against Stallworth carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. He remained free on a $50,000 unsecured bond.
Stallworth, serving his third term in the House, isn't eligible for re-election in 2002 because of term limits.
State Rep. Keith Stallworth's domestic violence conviction prevented him from entering Canada
The Marshall Chronicle
July 27, 2001
Michigan lawmaker allegedly breaks rule
The Toledo Blade
August 16, 2001
State Rep. Keith Stallworth may be in trouble again
The Marshall Chronicle
August 16, 2001
Representative may be in trouble again
The Bryan Ohio Times
August 16, 2001
Stallworth asks his fellow lawmakers for help in criminal case
And that's fine, sources at the Attorney General's Office say. But his use of his House stationery and an aide draws fire.
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
August 16, 2001
LANSING -- State Rep. Keith Stallworth has asked some legislative colleagues for their help in his effort to beat criminal charges.
The Detroit Democrat may have broken House rules in doing so, according to a published report.
Faces two felony counts
Stallworth faces two state felony counts of lying about his voter registration and one felony charge of falsifying information on his driver's license. If convicted, he faces expulsion from the House.
In an Aug. 6 memo to other lawmakers, Stallworth asked that they write to Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and urge her to charge him instead with a misdemeanor.
Stallworth's legislative aide, Karen Lewis, sent the memo on Stallworth's House letterhead stationery, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.
House Clerk Gary Randall said House rules do not specifically limit use of members' stationery. However, he said, "as you read the rules, they clearly state that all resources of a legislative office are to be used exclusively for legislative business."
Randall said it would be up to House Speaker Rick Johnson to pursue any possible violations. Johnson will review the memo and decide whether it was improper, said his spokesman, Kendall Wingrove.
It was not known how many lawmakers received the memo. Lewis did not return phone calls Tuesday, and Stallworth could not be reached for comment, the Free Press said.
House Minority Leader Kwame Kilpatrick did not receive the letter, said his spokesman, Jamaine Dickens.
The memo was accompanied by a letter from Keith Stallworth's brother, Thomas Stallworth III, who asked Granholm to reconsider the felony charges. Keith Stallworth has said he applied for the driver's license and registration in his brother's name to help him in a personal matter.
Also included was a form letter legislators could send to Granholm on their own letterhead. The letter describes Stallworth as "a committed and valued public servant" who is "facing a set of serious and complex challenges."
Stallworth is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 29 in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Drug charges not mentioned
Prosecutors say Stallworth attempted to obtain a bogus driver's license in order to cross the border into Canada. He was barred from Canada in July 2000 because of a domestic assault conviction in 1997.
If convicted of the charges, Stallworth, 45, faces up to five years in prison and a $7,000 fine.
In an unrelated case, Stallworth was indicted in July on federal felony charges of money laundering for a Detroit drug ring. His memo does not address that case.
Lawmaker to repay state for improper stationary use
The Toledo Blade
August 22, 2001
Stallworth told to repay state for stationery
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
August 22, 2001
LANSING -- State Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, will have to pay back the state for Michigan House stationery he used to ask lawmakers for help in his criminal case, House Speaker Rick Johnson said Tuesday.
Stallworth faces two state felony counts of lying about his voter registration and one felony charge of falsifying information on his driver's license.
Johnson, R-LeRoy, said Stallworth broke House rules when he recently sent letters to 16 legislators asking them to request that Attorney General Jennifer Granholm reduce the felony charges against him to misdemeanors.
State House rules prohibit using resources of a legislative office for anything other than legislative business.
"The speaker feels the correspondence was inappropriate and ill-advised," GOP House spokesman Kendall Wingrove said.
Stallworth called Johnson's decision appropriate and fair.
"Representative Stallworth is more than willing to pay for the stationery," House Democratic spokesman Jamaine Dickens said. "It was never his intent to send that (memo) out on House stationery. That was an error."
Wingrove didn't know how much Stallworth will have to reimburse the state for using his legislative aide, Karen Lewis, to send the Aug. 6 memo.
As of Tuesday, the Attorney General's office had received only one letter requesting the reduced charges for Stallworth, spokesman Chris DeWitt said. The letter came from state Sen. Martha Scott, D-Detroit.
Tuesday's decision was the first action the House has taken against Stallworth, who also is facing a federal felony charge of money laundering for a Detroit drug ring in an unrelated case. Stallworth has maintained his innocence in the federal case.
House leaders could remove Stallworth from his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, which decides the state budget.
Stallworth's memo included a form letter legislators could send to Granholm on their own letterhead that describes Stallworth as "a committed and valued public servant."
It also included a letter from his brother, Thomas Stallworth III, who has asked Granholm to reconsider the felony charges.
Kilpatrick keeps county ties - Transition team members in line to head Detroit agencies
Detroit News, The (MI)
December 5, 2001
DETROIT -- People with significant ties to Wayne County government or with hefty county contracts are among those playing key roles in shaping Mayor-elect Kwame Kilpatrick's visions for city services.
Those who have been tapped to chair and serve on 24 transition committees were identified Tuesday by Kilpatrick spokesperson Bob Berg.
The panels have been meeting for weeks, and by Dec. 14 they are to suggest improvements that could occur during Kilpatrick's first 180 days in office.
Separately, Kilpatrick met with Gov. John Engler on Tuesday, but neither discussed the specifics of the conversation.
The transition team's participants are important because some of them are likely to serve as heads of the city departments their panels are studying. Others are spearheading groups that will help guide how the city functions over the next four years.
Kilpatrick didn't return calls seeking comment Tuesday. Most of those involved with the transition also didn't return calls seeking comment, saying they had signed confidentiality agreements required by Kilpatrick.
The high level of participation by individuals with links to the Wayne County government underscores the close relationship Kilpatrick and his family have with Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara, who played a significant role in supporting Kilpatrick's election. His father, Bernard Kilpatrick, is McNamara's chief of staff.
Those playing significant roles in the Kilpatrick transition who have ties to Wayne County include:
* Robert Polk, general manager of M2 International. He is chairing the committee on Detroit's City Airport. His firm was part of a three-team group that manages all Metro Airport construction projects. It has been responsible for running the county's sound-abatement program since 1999.
A federal investigator said this summer that company employees accepted gifts and favors. His wife, Sharon Madison-Polk, who contributed $3,400 to Kilpatrick's campaign, has said her firm was targeted because of race. She is chairing Kilpatrick's team on economic development.
* Howard Sims, president of Sims-Varner. He is co-chairing the Building & Safety Engineering committee with Eric Sabree, deputy director of the city's Planning and Development Department. Sims is listed as a $3,000 contributor to two campaign committees of McNamara.
In 1992, Wayne County awarded Sims-Varner a 10-year, $1.5 million contract for designing changes to terminals at the county-run Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The county increased the contract by $666,000 in 1996 and by $500,000 more in 1998, according to an Aug. 31 state audit report.
* Pratap Rajadhyaksha, a longtime friend of Kilpatrick ally Arthur Blackwell. He is chief operating officer of DLZ Inc., formerly Snell Environmental. Rajadhyaksha contributed $3,400 to McNamara during the last campaign-finance reporting period. In 1997, the county awarded Snell Environmental a $1.1 million contract to minimize damage to wetlands caused by a new runway under construction at Metro Airport. Rajadhyaksha is chairing the committee that will reshape the city's Water and Sewerage Department.
* Frank Torre, head of Pontiac-based Torre & Bruglio. He co-chairs the Detroit beautification team with Kilpatrick's longtime friend, Bobby Ferguson. Torre, whom McNamara calls an old friend, contributed $3,100 to two McNamara political funds and has held the landscaping contract for Metro Airport for six years, despite being underbid.
* Gerard Phillips, deputy director for human resources for Wayne County and a McNamara loyalist. He is heading the transition team looking into neighborhood city halls.
* Wayne County Commission Chair Ricardo Solomon, who may seek a bid for Wayne County executive. He is co-chairing the public lighting team with Detroit attorney Linda Bernard, who formerly headed Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services. She is now president of L.D. Bernard and Associates.
* Markeith Weldon, the 31-year-old owner of Express Personnel Services, who allowed his southwest Detroit office to serve as one of the headquarters for Kilpatrick's campaign. He co-chairs the employment transition team. He said his team has been interviewing city officials as part of its work.
In addition, Kilpatrick has tapped several of his colleagues in Lansing to help with the transition.
Detroit state Reps. Keith Stallworth, Triette Lipsey-Reeves, Lamar Lemmons and Belda Garza are working with the transportation, cable commission, neighborhood and consumer affairs committees, respectively.
The transition
What: Mayor-elect Kwame Kilpatrick has created 24 committees to address city-service improvements.
Goal: The groups are using the 39 transition books created by appointees of Mayor Dennis Archer's administration to devise plans to improve city services.
Target: The groups are to complete their recommendations by Dec. 14. Kilpatrick wants improvements that can be completed within 180 days.
Rep. Stallworth still influential
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
March 23, 2002
LANSING -- Michigan Rep. Keith Stallworth (D-Detroit), worked doggedly this week to finish work on the state's $3 billion transportation budget, months after appearing in federal court on a money laundering charge.
Despite a host of legal troubles including the federal charge and three felony counts of lying on his voter's registration and driver's license, Stallworth continues to be a powerful voice in the Legislature.
"Right now, few House members have his knowledge," says Rep. A.T. Frank of Saginaw, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Stallworth, 45, is charged with laundering money for a dangerous Detroit drug ring and conspiracy to sell cocaine, marijuana and heroin. The maximum penalty is life in prison.
Stallworth says he is innocent of all charges. He can't run again because of term limits, but sees no reason to step down early from the seat.
State Rep Keith Stallworth's legal troubles
Jackson Citizen Patriot (MI)
March 31, 2002
Q: Some time ago State Rep. Keith Stallworth from Detroit was in a quite a bit of legal trouble. Has he ever had his day in court? A Jackson reader.
A: Not yet. He's set for a July 30 trial in federal court on charges of money laundering for a Detroit drug ring. A state judge is expected next month to set a trial date on the three felony charges of lying on his voter registration and driver's license. Stallworth plans to continue in the House until his term expires in December, but he cannot run again because of term limits.
Term limits force government turnover
10-year-old law cuts experienced officials
Detroit News, The (MI)
May 12, 2002
LANSING -- The 27 term-limited state senators who will be booted from that chamber at year's end will take with them a collective 333 years of legislative experience.
And after 12 years at the helm -- and 32 years in state government -- Gov. John Engler must relinquish control to a new governor as the state is facing a growing budget crisis that will require quick and decisive action to control.
In the 10 years since voters approved term limits for the Michigan's elected officials, experts and citizens still can't agree whether it was a good idea.
"I really haven't seen that term limits have made any difference in the performance of our elected officials," said Mike Ryan, 54, a marketer from Ottawa County. "I still see special interests lobbying and having influence to sway legislation."
The impact of term limits was first felt in 1998, when 64 of the 110 state House members were barred from running again. This year, it will be felt for the first time in the state Senate and in the offices of governor and secretary of state. Under the constitutional amendment, House members are limited to three two-year terms. The other offices are limited to two four-year terms.
"It's going to be a huge negative," said William Rustem, senior vice-president at Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing-based public policy think tank.
Rustem said he is particularly concerned with a new crop of lawmakers facing the budget problems that will likely develop over the next few years.
He notes that term limits is forcing the retirement of Sen. Harry Gast, the St. Joseph Republican who has chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee for 18 years. Next year, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee will have two years experience.
"What you lose as a result of term limits are the experienced people who know where the levers of power are how to use them people with the important institutional memory," Rustem said.
Bill Ballenger, a former state senator who now edits a political newsletter, said the changeover this year could be huge, but he's confident the new people will be up to the task.
"This year could be the biggest turnover in the Legislature since the Roosevelt landslide of 1932," Ballenger said. "But my belief is that the state will survive and people will be able to run the railroad."
Ballenger said that until modern times, the people who served in the Legislature did so for only a brief period.
"To say that the Legislatures of the past were enlightened bodies that came to wise resolutions of budget problems is just malarkey," he said. "With the professional staff that has built up over the years, the next Legislature shouldn't have a more difficult time making hard budgetary decisions that past ones did."
Time's up
Voter-approved term limits come full circle this election year with the governor, secretary of state, 27 of 38 Senate members and 23 of 110 House members forced to surrender their jobs. These Metro Detroit lawmakers are forced out of their seats:
Senate
* Sen. Loren Bennett, R-Canton Township, eight years legislative experience, chairs Education Committee, member of Appropriations Committee. Seeking the GOP's nomination for secretary of state.
* Sen. Bill Bullard Jr., R-Highland Township, 22 years experience, chairs committees on transportation and tourism and financial services. Running for the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.
* Sen. Ken DeBeaussaert, D-Chesterfield Township, 18 years experience, member of Appropriations Committee.
* Sen. Chris Dingell, D-Trenton, 16 years experience, assistant minority leader, member of Appropriations Committee. Running for circuit judge in Wayne County.
* Sen. Mat Dunaskiss, R-Lake Orion, 16 years experience.
* Sen. George Hart, D-Dearborn, 20 years experience.
* Sen. Art Miller Jr., D-Warren, 28 years experience, former Democratic leader.
* Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, eight years experience, minority caucus chairman. Seeking his party's nomination for attorney general.
* Sen. Jackie Vaughn, D-Detroit, 36 years experience.
* Sen. Joseph Young Jr., D-Detroit, 24 years experience, member of Appropriations Committee. Running for Wayne County executive.
House
* Rep. Raymond Basham, D-Taylor, six years experience. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. Bob Brown, D-Dearborn Heights, six years experience. Possible state Senate candidate.
* Rep. William Callahan, D-St. Clair Shores, six years experience. Running for Congress.
* Rep. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, six years experience, chairs Tax Policy Committee. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. Pan Godchaux, R-Birmingham, six years experience, member of Appropriations Committee. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. Derrick Hale, D-Detroit, six years experience. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. George Mans, D-Trenton, six years experience. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. Nancy Quarles, D-Southfield, six years experience.
* Rep. Andrew Raczkowski, R-Farmington Hills, six years experience, former Republican floor leader. Running for U.S. Senate.
* Rep. Andrew Richner, R-Grosse Pointe Park, six years experience. Seeking nomination to the University of Michigan Board of Regents.
* Rep. Gloria Schermesser, D-Lincoln Park, six years experience. Possible state Senate candidate.
* Rep. Judith Scranton, R-Brighton, six years experience, member of Appropriations Committee.
* Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, six years experience.
* Rep. Samuel Buzz Thomas III, D-Detroit, six years experience, House Democratic leader. Running for state Senate.
* Rep. Paul Wojno, D-Warren, six years experience. Running for state Senate.
Notables file for Detroit seats
Term limits force former officeholders to scramble for new local, state posts
Detroit News
May 15, 2002
DETROIT -- In what has become a staple of Wayne County politics, popular names and perennial candidates dominated the list of those who filed for office with the Wayne County Clerk's office by Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline.
That includes a pair of embattled legislators: one who resigned from the Legislature and another who is facing felony charges a county commissioner who is trying to return to his earlier job as state representative and several candidates with strong ties to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
A state law that limits state House members to three two-year terms and state senators to two four-year terms is contributing to a churn of Detroit officeholders between state and local posts.
"Term limits, instead of expelling the ants from the jar out into the grass, simply makes them run frantically around the interior of the jar and bite each other on the hind ends," said William Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics.
Among those making a bid for office:
* Henry Stallings of Detroit, who resigned from the Legislature in 1998 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of taking more than $100 under false pretenses. Stallings is running in the Legislature's 7th District, part of a 13-person field that includes Virgil Smith, the 22-year-old son of the former state senator.
* In the House's 8th District, former state Rep. Alma Stallworth, D-Detroit, is running for the seat now held by her son, Rep. Keith Stallworth. He is facing a federal money-laundering charge and three felony counts of lying on his driver's license. Alma Stallworth, who is eligible for only one two-year term because she already served four years under term limits, is part of a 11-candidate field. It includes George Cushingberry, a Wayne County commissioner whose earlier state House stint doesn't hinder his return, because it was prior to term limits.
There have been rumors of a seat swap between Cushingberry and Keith Stallworth. Though each is running for the seat now held by the other, there's a wrinkle that suggests the deal may have gone south. A C. Cushingberry, a former sister-in-law of the county commissioner, is running for the commission against Keith Stallworth. The elder Stallworth is running for state representative in the race against George Cushingberry.
* The commission's 6th District race is among the county's most contested. Besides Stallworth, the race also includes Linda Bernard, who formerly headed Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services and is now president of L.D. Bernard & Associates, and Keith Williams, husband of Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett.
* Several Kilpatrick allies are also among those who filed for office. That includes the mayor's uncle, Marvel Cheeks, who is running for the 9th House District political strategist and Kilpatrick campaign worker James Houze, who is running in the 11th District and Marsha Cheeks, the mayor's aunt, who is running for the 6th District against Fred Durhal Jr.
"I have the family's support," said Marvel Cheeks, as he scanned the list of opponents late Tuesday at the Wayne County Clerk's Office. "This is the Cheeks machine."
The mayor was Democratic leader of the House and his mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, also served in the House.
Eight candidates are vying for the Wayne County executive post. They include former Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon, Wayne County Register of Deeds Bernard Youngblood state Sen. Joe Young Jr., D-Detroit Wayne County Sheriff Robert Ficano and Wayne County Commission Chair Ricardo Solomon.
New Members Needed on Wayne's Commission
Detroit News, The (MI)
July 26, 2002
The effective delivery of services in Wayne County government has been hampered in part by a 15-member commission comprised largely of people who place self-interest ahead of public interest. The Wayne County Commission badly needs new blood.
Several commission races have no primary challengers in the Aug. 6 primary. Our endorsements are limited to those contests featuring either vacant seats or those where there is some real potential for change.
District 2 : The incumbent in this eastern Detroit district is Bernard Parker, who has a long history of using his political office for self-enrichment.
Darlene Buffington , an assistant clerk in the circuit court, would be a needed and welcome change in both policy and direction.
District 3 : Incumbent Robert Blackwell, the former mayor of Highland Park, represents a district that includes Hamtramck and a portion of Detroit. He is a career politician with nothing new to add to contemporary political discourse or progress.
David Rambeau , an educator and community activist, would at least be an agent for change.
District 5 : Incumbent Ilona Varga, who represents this Southwest Detroit district, is another career politician, having previously served a stint in the state Legislature. Too much of her time is spent getting re-elected and too little on minding the county's business. Cheryl Fobbs-Lewis , a community activist, would be a more watchful replacement.
District 6: This seat, which includes Detroit's university district and other northwest areas, is being vacated by George Cushingberry. Seeking to replace him is state Rep. Keith Stallworth, who is facing separate criminal charges under state and federal indictments. If elected, candidate Keith Williams, husband of the county clerk, would be placed in the unacceptable position of voting on his wife's budget.
Our choice is Detroit Police Sgt. Ricardo Moore , who would give short shrift to special interests and be committed to taxpayers.
District 7 : Twelve candidates are vying for this northwest Detroit seat being vacated by Ricardo Solomon, who is running for county executive. Our choice is attorney Victor L. Marsh , who previously served as director of administration for the commission from 1995 to 1999.
District 8 : Incumbent Willie D. Hall is being challenged by two worthy contenders in this Detroit contest. But Hall, a businessman, has proved to be attentive on county issues and has a clear understanding of the proper role of the commission.
District 9 : This district includes Garden City, Redford and Dearborn Heights. First-term incumbent Philip M. Cavanaugh occupies the seat. Since most of the commission's oversight deficiencies occurred before he was elected, we can recommend him for a second term.
District 11 : Three candidates are competing on the Republican ticket in a district that includes Canton, Wayne, Belleville, Van Buren and Sumpter townships. Our choice is Fred A. Bolden , who has excellent credentials and a record of civic involvement to his community.
District 14 : Grosse Ile, Ecorse, Wyandotte, River Rouge and Riverview, Trenton, Woodhaven and Southgate make up this district. Serious ethical questions have been raised about incumbent Joseph Palamara because of his dual employment as a commissioner and a lobbyist for a Lansing-based firm with county contracts.
Businessman Blair J. McGowan would not be shy about shining a revealing light on unsavory commission practices.
Former lawmaker faces trial
Grand Rapids Press
November 7, 2002
DETROIT -- A trial for state Rep. Keith Stallworth on a felony count of money laundering has been set for March 4.
The date for the trial in U.S. District Court was set Tuesday.
Stallworth is charged with laundering money for a drug ring and conspiracy to sell cocaine, marijuana and heroin. The maximum penalty is life in prison.
In an unrelated event, Stallworth faces separate felony counts of breaking state law by lying about his voter registration and falsifying personal information on his driver's license.
If convicted on all three state charges, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined $7,000.
Stallworth said he is innocent of all the charges.
12 new lawmakers follow family footsteps into office
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
November 18, 2002
State representative-elect David Farhat isn’t the only state lawmaker who is following family tradition into elected state office.
A dozen state lawmakers taking office in January are following in the footsteps of family.
Farhat’s sister Debbie Farhat served in the House in 1987 and 1988. David Farhat was elected to Muskegon County’s 91st State House District on Nov. 5.
While following a relative into political office is not new, political observers say this is one of the Legislature’s largest groups of family officeholders.
“It’s a very high number, and that’s certainly unusual,” Capitol historian Kerry Chartkoff said.
Following a relative into office has its advantages. For one, the predecessor makes a great sounding board and source of advice.
“David knows he can call me any time if he wants to talk,” said Debbie Farhat, who is now in the telecommunications business and lives outside of Miami.
David Farhat capitalized on his sister’s experience when she “put her life on hold” to help with his election campaign.
“She’s given me some insights,” he said. “She said for the most part, go with your instincts ... In essence, go with your heart.”
David Farhat said he is well aware of life in office after having lived with Debbie when she was elected to the House.
“I got exposed to the day-to-day life she had to live,” David Farhat said. “I got to understand what it took.”
Brenda Clack also lived with a former lawmaker. Clack, of Flint, was recently elected to the House, taking over where her husband Floyd left off in 1996.
“My husband came home every night and told me about what was going on and how he was handling it,” said Brenda Clack.
Clack is one of two women who are following their husbands’ paths to the state House.
A mother is reclaiming her House seat from her son. A sister of a U.S. representative is a state representative-elect.
In the Senate, a woman is replacing her brother and another is replacing her uncle.
But the match likely to create the most spirited debate at the Thanksgiving table this year: A former Democratic representative helped get her brother elected to the House as a Republican.
And two third cousins were elected this fall to represent Macomb County in the House, but one is a Republican, the other a Democrat.
“This will be fun,” said Daniel Acciavatti, R-Chesterfield, who will serve with Frank Accavitti, D-Eastpointe.
The Acciavatti and Accavitti families have spelled their names differently since their grandfathers emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s.
“Seriously, though, I’m real excited to serve with Frank,” Daniel Acciavatti said.
Morris Hood III was barely big enough to watch his father get sworn in to the state House in 1970.
“It’s incredible,” Hood said. “I’m so proud and humble to be following his footsteps.”
In addition to Hood, there is another son of a former representative and a son of a term-limited state senator.
Instant name recognition can be good or bad. Representative-elect Glenn Steil Jr., whose father is leaving the Senate after eight years, takes advice on that subject from another father-son team.
“George W. Bush always says ‘I inherited my dad’s friends as well as his enemies,’ and it’s true,” the younger Steil said.
“But now it’s up to me to show them who I am.”
FAXBOX:
The following state lawmakers taking office in January are closely related to former, current or new legislators:
- Daniel Acciavatti, R-Chesterfield, and Frank Accavitti, D-Eastpointe, third cousins, state House.
- Marsha Cheeks, D-Detroit, state House. Sister of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and aunt of Detroit Mayor and former state Rep. Kwame Kilpatrick.
- Deborah Cherry, D-Burton, state Senate. Sister of state Sen. John Cherry, now the Democratic Lt. Gov.-elect.
- Brenda Clack, D-Flint, state House. Married to former state Rep. Floyd Clack.
- David Farhat, R-Muskegon, state House. Brother of former state Rep. Debbie Farhat, a Democrat.
- Morris Hood III, D-Detroit, state House. Son of former state Rep. Morris Hood Jr. and nephew of former state Rep. Raymond Hood Sr.
- Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, state Senate. Niece of outgoing state Sen. George McManus.
- Virgil Kai Smith, D-Detroit, state House. Son of former state Sen. Virgil Clark Smith.
- Alma Stallworth, D-Detroit, replaces her son, state Rep. Keith Stallworth. He was elected in 1996 to replace his mother, first elected to the seat in 1986.
- Glenn Steil Jr., R-Grand Rapids, state House. Son of outgoing state Sen. Glenn Steil.
- Lisa Wojno, D-Warren, state House. Married to outgoing state Rep. Paul Wojno.
Ficano: No county cash for lawyers
Officials in McNamara investigation should foot own legal bills, says executive-elect
Detroit News, The (MI)
December 15, 2002
Wayne County's executive-elect says county officials who want to consult private attorneys before speaking to a federal grand jury investigating the administration of Executive Edward H. McNamara should pay their own legal bills.
"If they're testifying about acts that are criminal acts, then they're on their own," said Sheriff Robert Ficano, who becomes county executive Jan. 1. "Generally, if you're testifying in front of a grand jury, that's what the acts are about."
As McNamara and several of his current and former officials retain top Metro Detroit criminal attorneys, opposition is hardening to McNamara's request to have taxpayers pay up to $500,000 to cover their legal costs. A lawsuit is threatened if the request is approved by the Wayne County Commission.
The commission is expected to discuss McNamara's request Thursday.
"If it's county business, then we want to pay for it," said Commissioner Robert Blackwell. "If it's not county business, and it's political, I don't think we have any obligation to pay that."
On Nov. 22, the FBI and Michigan State Police raided McNamara's executive suite in the Old Wayne County Building, offices of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency on Temple and McNamara's campaign headquarters in Greektown. They searched the offices of top McNamara aides and carted off boxes of paper records and copies of computer files.
A federal grand jury is investigating possible links between campaign contributions and the awarding of county contracts and whether county officials have been doing political work on county time. To date, at least six county officials and former officials have received subpoenas.
In its agreements with employees, Wayne County pledges to make sure they are not penalized for any actions brought against them because of job-related acts or omissions.
Ficano said there could be exceptional cases in which employees are called to testify before a grand jury about moving a file or performing some other task that might entitle them to free consultations with an attorney.
But such cases would have to be evaluated individually. Even then, attorneys from the county corporation counsel's office could be used instead of private attorneys, he said.
Prominent attorneys
McNamara, who has not been subpoenaed and has denied any wrongdoing, recently hired Detroit attorney Christopher Andreoff, a former federal prosecutor. Andreoff was acting head of the organized crime strike force that extensively investigated Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young on charges of corruption.
Since becoming a defense attorney, Andreoff has handled a series of high-profile cases. He represented former Detroit Tigers great Denny McClain, accused of looting a pension fund. Andreoff represents former State Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, set for trial on federal money-laundering charges.
Andreoff declined comment Friday.
Other aides involved in the investigation and their attorneys include:
* Patricia Kukula, a top aide to McNamara who was recently named director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, has retained Northville attorney Henry Scharg.
Police searched two of Kukula's offices Nov. 22 -- one in McNamara's executive suite and the other in the mental health offices. They found campaign-related materials in both offices, according to records filed in federal court.
Kukula has not been subpoenaed before the grand jury, Scharg said.
"We believe that she is not guilty of any wrongdoing," he said. "Patty is prepared to cooperate with the investigators."
* David Katz, a McNamara business partner and former chief of staff and airport director, has hired Detroit attorney Steven Fishman. Katz has not been subpoenaed and did nothing wrong, Fishman said.
Critics poised to sue
If the county commission approves McNamara's request to pay as much as $500,000 to cover legal costs for county officials, an attorney has already promised to sue the county on behalf of 12 unnamed clients.
Ben Gonek of Pleasant Ridge said most of his clients are county employees and their relatives.
"They're incensed about it for a number of reasons," Gonek said. "If someone is a witness to criminal wrongdoing, they have nothing to worry about and don't need an attorney. If it's questionable conduct that they aided or abetted, the county and the taxpayer should not foot the bill."
Although there are few blanket rules and officials say each case must be examined individually, it's unlikely McNamara would be able to use campaign funds to pay legal bills related to the grand jury investigation.
McNamara, who is retiring, reported a balance of just over $200,000 in his main campaign fund in the most recent report he filed with the county clerk.
The Michigan Secretary of State, which regulates spending of campaign cash, said in 2000 that former Genesee County Sheriff Joe Wilson could not use campaign funds to pay for his legal fees after he pleaded guilty to neglect of duty.
"No deduction ... may be taken for litigation expenses that are incurred due to activity that thwarts public policy," said Anne Corgan of the department's compliance and rules division, who noted the Internal Revenue Service is the ultimate arbiter of allowable expenses. "As the department interprets this provision, deductions for a criminal defense by an elected official would not be allowed."
Former President Bill Clinton and other elected officials have tapped donors for contributions to special defense funds to help cover the legal costs of defending themselves in investigations. The Clinton Legal Defense Trust collected more than $8.2 million from individual donors between 1998 and 2000.
Municipal leaders also have used such funds, on a smaller scale.
In Providence, R.I., former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through a trust fund after he became the target of a federal criminal probe and his legal bills approached $1 million.
In June, a federal jury convicted Cianci of one count of racketeering conspiracy. The jury acquitted him on 11 other corruption charges.
Local term limits imposed
Detroit News, The (MI)
January 30, 2003
LIVONIA -- Communities in Wayne County and Metro Detroit have approved term limits for municipal officials.
And voters have generally stood behind the limits, despite some gripes from officeholders.
Last November, residents of Southgate strongly rejected a proposal to rescind the limits for mayor and city council by a 5,731 to 2,444 vote.
Under a 1995 voter-approved measure, local politicians are limited to four consecutive two-year terms.
Voters in Livonia narrowly approved term limits in 1994 to two consecutive four-year terms for mayor and City Council.
That vote forced out councilmen Fernon Feenstra and Gerald Taylor, who was on the council from 1978 until 1998, serving as president of the council from 1993-1996.
Both ran again in 2001. Taylor was returned to the council.
Livonia voters in 1995 approved term limits for clerk and treasurer.
Some communities have had term limits for decades in city charters. Plymouth has had term limits since 1951 and Rockwood since 1984.
In recent years, voters have passed such measures in Farmington Hills, Troy and Rochester Hills, according to U.S. Term Limits, a Washington-based group that advocates limiting political service on all levels.
Rochester Hills further limits the terms of people appointed to local boards, like the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Board.
Michigan voters approved term limits in state government in 1992, resulting in some politicians returning to local and judicial offices.
In Oakland and Wayne counties, many term-limited state legislators have successfully run for the county commission, including Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, who was elected to the commission in November.
In the race for Wayne County Circuit Court last year, state Sen. Chris Dingell, D-Trenton defeated several other lesser-known candidates.
Dingell was prevented from seeking re-election to the state Senate because of term limits.
"Term limits forced a lot of people to leave office," Dingell said. "I'm happy to be able to serve as a circuit court judge."
Former state rep to plead to felony
Detroit News, The (MI)
March 2, 2003
DETROIT -- Former state Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, will plead guilty to a count of money laundering to avoid a federal trial, his lawyer said.
Under the terms of a plea agreement to be signed and filed in U.S. District Court this week, Stallworth will plead guilty to filing a false currency transaction report, a felony, said his attorney, Christopher Andreoff.
"This is a technical violation," Andreoff said.
In return for the guilty plea, the government will drop the more serious charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and heroin.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Stallworth could get as little as probation and as much as seven months in prison, in addition to a fine, Andreoff said. U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara will hear Stallworth's plea agreement Friday. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the planned deal.
Stallworth, the one-time owner of a Detroit strip club, was elected to the Wayne County Commission in November, after six years in the state House.
He was among 14 people indicted by a federal grand jury in 2001 on charges of selling cocaine, heroin and marijuana during the late 1990s, and money laundering.
The indictment alleged that on March 16, 1998, Stallworth received $20,000 from a drug trafficker. Stallworth then bought four $5,000 cashier's checks, cashed them and gave the proceeds to the same individual, the indictment alleged.
The government requires individuals to file a currency transaction report anytime they have a transaction of more than $10,000 in cash.
In a separate legal matter, Stallworth faces trial March 17 in Wayne Circuit Court on a felony charge of violating election law.
Correction: An article on Page 1C of Sunday's Metro section should have said that former state Rep. Keith Stallworth may plead guilty on Friday to a charge of structuring a financial transaction for the purpose of evading the reporting provisions of federal bank law. (March 5, 2003 A2)
Stallworth Should Resign from Wayne County Board
Pleading guilty to financial dishonesty disqualifies the commissioner from office
Detroit News, The (MI)
March 10, 2003
Wayne County Commissioner Keith Stallworth should resign from the commission. He entered a guilty plea Friday in Detroit Federal Court to filing a false currency transaction report -- a felony.
The precise legal authority of his fellow county commissioners to remove him is murky. But under his plea agreement, he reportedly will have to serve up to seven months in jail and spend two or three years on probation.
Under the plea deal, according to published reports, the government dropped other charges of conspiracy to distribute such drugs as heroin and cocaine.
Stallworth's guilty plea acknowledged that four years ago he directed another person to purchase four cashier's checks -- which guarantee payment -- in amounts totaling $20,000. The checks should have indicated that they were owned by Stallworth, but instead indicated some one else as the owner.
The nature of the charge -- financial duplicity -- should disqualify Stallworth for a position of trust on the county commission. After all, the commission ultimately makes decisions on a multimillion-dollar budget.
Stallworth will be dealing with his own legal problems and possible jail time. He is in no position to help his constituents. For their sake, and the sake of his fellow commissioners, he should do the dignified and graceful thing and remove himself from office.
Stallworth may be censured
Wayne County board pushes for his resignation
Detroit News, The (MI)
March 14, 2003
DETROIT -- Wayne County commissioners may bring a vote of censure against Commissioner Keith Stallworth as they try to build pressure for him to resign after his recent felony conviction.
Stallworth, a former state representative from Detroit who was elected to the Wayne County Commission in November, pleaded guilty March 7 to structuring a financial transaction to evade federal currency reporting requirements. That is a 5-year felony.
Commission attorneys said there is no clear legal requirement for Stallworth, 46, to resign his seat. The commission has sought clarification from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who may remove elected officials in certain circumstances.
But as they seek to enhance their collective image after more than two years of criticism for poor oversight of scandal-plagued county contracting, some commissioners aren't prepared to wait.
"He should definitely resign," Commissioner Ilona Varga said. "It's the image that it would give and the message that it would send to youngsters and other people running for office."
Stallworth, who is to be sentenced on the federal charge June 23, also faces state charges related to possessing two driver's licenses. That trial, which had been set for Monday, is now scheduled for May 6.
Varga said it doesn't appear the 15-member commission has the power to impeach Stallworth, but it could censure him or pass a motion calling on him to step down. "I would be surprised if it wasn't a super-majority," in favor of such a motion, she said.
Top commission officials were reportedly negotiating with Stallworth late Thursday over a possible resignation and its timing. They declined to comment.
If Stallworth does resign, it will result in a special election in District 6 in north Detroit. Commissioners serve two-year terms and are paid about $70,000 a year.
Stallworth was originally indicted on charges of money laundering and drug conspiracy, but those charges were dropped. He did not return telephone calls for comment on Thursday.
Cushingberry and Stallworth leave themselves holding the bag
Detroit News, The (MI)
March 17, 2003
Who said only nice guys finish last? Check out the strange case of Detroit Democrats Keith Stallworth and George Cushingberry. Talk about a horse trade where both wranglers out-slicked themselves and ended up holding an empty feedbag.
Former Wayne County Commissioner Cushingberry has been out of public office for 10 weeks, the victim of what he felt sure was a locked-up shot at swapping jobs with his old buddy, former state Rep. Keith Stallworth, that went wrong.
Stallworth, alas, is soon to be on the bricks, too, after pleading guilty in a federal drug case. He has resigned from his abbreviated term as a county commissioner as a condition of receiving a lighter sentence for a felony conviction. It likely will be accepted tomorrow.
This is a scenario that is rife with humor, irony and even a touch of suspected betrayal. Bear with me.
A lawyer with a private practice, last summer Cushingberry decided not to run again for his $70,000-a-year job as the commissioner from Wayne County's 6th District. He'd been getting a lot of heat and bad media reviews for a series of lawsuits that had been brought against him for allegedly bilking clients that he represented in probate cases and he was looking for a change of political scenery.
Conveniently, his pal Stallworth was being term-limited out of his state rep seat after having served three terms in Lansing and he, too, was looking for soft spot to land, only closer to home. So, the two seasoned pols cut a deal. They would swap jobs and endorse each other as their respective replacements.
A funny thing happened on the way to the filing clerk's office, however.
Stallworth and Cushingberry both swear on their stellar reputations that they didn't plan any shenanigans, but suddenly other "name" candidates appeared to confuse each ballot. Cheryl Cushingberry, Cush's sister-in-law, filed to run against Keith Stallworth. And veteran former state rep Alma Stallworth, Keith's mother, filed to run against George Cushingberry.
As it turned out, the August Democratic primary was a bad day for folks named Cushingberry. Alma Stallworth beat George handily for her son's (and her) old state House seat and Keith Stallworth beat "C. Cushingberry" in the Wayne County commission runoff.
But it didn't take long for the mud to thicken around Keith, who had been facing indictments and/or trials for various federal and state offenses even as he was wrapping up his six years in Lansing. Despite the fact that Wayne County voters apparently didn't care about all the criminal charges, the feds treated him just like another accused felon.
Ironically, the Wayne County commission has no provision for removing convicted felons from elected positions -- unless they've been convicted of voter fraud, which, of course, is much more serious to politicians than laundering money for dope dealers or trying to get a phony driver's license. So, it was up to Keith to resign.
The lone winner? His mom. Alma Stallworth was a disaster her first time around in Lansing and only retired back then so her kid, Keith, could have something to do besides run a topless bar.
Only in America? Only in Detroit.
Granholm can repay Detroit by ousting the felon commissioner
Detroit News
March 23, 2003
While Gov. Jennifer Granholm has Detroit in her cross-hairs, having vetoed legislation to give the city water department's 125 suburban customers a voice in how their money is spent, she might do the city and Wayne County a favor by removing County Commissioner Keith Stallworth.
Convicted felon Stallworth, a Democrat elected last November after six years in the Michigan Legislature, represents County Commission District 6 -- which comprises a large section of northwest Detroit.
Maybe Granholm doesn't have the cut-and-dried authority to yank his ticket, but that's what Attorney General Mike Cox's office is for -- to defend his governor's decisions. She ought to know. Democrat Granholm was Republican Cox's predecessor.
The county commission's authority to remove Stallworth or any other convicted felon is questionable. Apparently all they can do is censure, so it's up to Granholm to take over.
Slick Keith is no penny ante crook. He may treat his crime like it was double parking, but he faces a prison term for what amounts to laundering money for a southeast Michigan drug operation.
Old-timers will recognize at least one name from the gang Stallworth admits having worked with: Milton "Butch" Jones, a co-founder of the infamous, murderous Young Boys, Inc. Prodded by his guilty plea and other criminal charges pending against him, Stallworth was supposed to have resigned his commission seat last Monday. But with classic bait-and-switch chicanery that caught at least some commission colleagues by surprise, he said one thing and did another.
Oh, Stallworth wrote out and signed a resignation and handed it over to commission chairwoman Jewel Ware. But she agreed to hold it up for a couple of days to give Stallworth time to get his departure act together. And while it sat on her desk, he made a secret end run with another letter withdrawing the first one.
So when Ware and the other commissioners prepared to swear in Stallworth's replacement last Thursday, he dropped the other shoe and demanded his seat back. The reported reason: Ware refused his request for "golden parachute" departure payoffs for some members of his personal staff, amounting to several thousand dollars.
Confused? So were several of the 14 other commissioners. But none except chairwoman Ware appeared terribly eager to call for Stallworth's head, presumably hoping he and the sticky political problem he represents would somehow dry up and blow away.
As it stands, Stallworth and county lawyers are headed to Wayne County Circuit Court on Monday for a hearing to determine whether Slick Keith's resignation was legitimate and whether his proposed chosen replacement, Cheryl Cushingberry, can legally be seated.
If she wanted to, Granholm could head off the taxpayer expense and the mess and give Stallworth the hook. His is a powerful political name in Detroit, to be sure. But he made many friends in his six-year tenure in Lansing and his mother, Democrat state Rep. Alma Stallworth, is a Granholm buddy and political ally.
Right ought to be right, however, no matter who's involved.
Ruling on Stallworth job expected today
Judge hears arguments whether commissioner can remain in office
Detroit News
March 25, 2003
DETROIT -- A judge may rule today on whether Keith Stallworth, who pleaded guilty March 7 to a federal felony, remains a Wayne County commissioner.
Stallworth's commission colleagues say they accepted his resignation March 18. Stallworth says commissioners may have thought that's what happened, but they in fact accepted a second letter -- one withdrawing his resignation.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Edward Thomas heard arguments Monday and adjourned the case to this morning.
County Corporation Counsel Azzam Elder, representing the commission, told the judge the dispute over which letter was accepted is irrelevant because Stallworth's seat became vacant when he pleaded guilty.
Michigan law says any elected office becomes vacant upon conviction of a crime punishable by imprisonment, Elder said.
Stallworth's insistence that commissioners voted to accept a March 14 letter withdrawing his resignation, rather than his March 13 resignation letter, is equivalent to a child saying a promise is not valid because he had his fingers crossed when he made it, Elder said.
Commissioners maintain they never saw the March 14 letter and were convinced Stallworth delivered a farewell speech March 18.
Dennis Mitchenor, Stallworth's attorney, said his client gave "a vacation speech" and never intended to quit. Though Stallworth pleaded guilty to an illegal currency transaction, no conviction is registered until his plea deal is accepted, he said.
Mitchenor disputed commissioners' claims of ignorance regarding the March 14 letter.
Commission attorneys helped Stallworth draft the letter, said Mitchenor, who produced a receipt showing a delivery made to commission offices on March 17.
"If they don't look at their mail, that's not our problem," he said.
Ruling keeps Stallworth out of commission seat
Detroit News
March 26, 2003
DETROIT -- Keith Stallworth lost his seat on the Wayne County Commission when he pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Edward Thomas dismissed Stallworth's lawsuit aimed at keeping the $70,000-a-year post.
Stallworth, a former state representative, submitted a March 13 resignation letter under pressure from his colleagues and delivered March 18 what commissioners thought was a farewell speech.
But Stallworth, 46, of Detroit, argued commissioners had unwittingly voted to accept a March 14 letter withdrawing his resignation -- not the resignation itself.
Stallworth pleaded guilty March 7 to constructing a financial transaction to evade federal currency reporting requirements, a 5-year felony. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 23.
Thomas accepted the county's argument that state law provides for officeholders to lose their posts upon pleading guilty to crimes punishable by imprisonment.
"At the end of the day, it never mattered whether he resigned or not, or whether they accepted his resignation," said Wayne County Corporation Counsel Azzam Elder.
Stallworth didn't immediately say whether he plans to appeal. "He is currently considering his options," said his attorney, Dennis Mitchenor.
The decision clears the way for Cheryl Cushingberry, appointed by the commission to hold Stallworth's seat until a special election is held.
Commission Chairwoman Jewel Ware said she would meet with Cushingberry today to discuss committee assignments.
Go Away, Keith Stallworth; Sleazy Gambit Fails in Court Test
Guilty former Wayne County politician tries deceit to hold on to county commission seat
Detroit News, The (MI)
March 27, 2003
Ex-Wayne County Commissioner Keith Stallworth's sleazy bait-and-switch tactic on his resignation has been mercifully rejected by Wayne Circuit Judge Edward Thomas. Stallworth, an admitted felon, should now slink out of the public eye.
Stallworth, who entered a guilty plea in Detroit Federal Court earlier this month to financial duplicity in connection with an alleged drug distribution conspiracy, submitted a letter of resignation to the commission. He subsequently switched that letter with one withdrawing his resignation. And while his fellow commissioners thought they heard a resignation speech from him, his lawyer characterized it as a "vacation" speech.
When commissioners didn't buy his game, Stallworth sued. But Judge Thomas ruled this week that once his guilty plea to a felony in an "infamous" crime was entered, Stallworth was automatically out of office. His charade with the fake resignation was waste motion. The judge has usefully clarified the law.
And Stallworth leaves office as he occupied it--in bad faith.
April 30, 2003: Tamara Greene, who knew MI State Representative/Wayne Commissioner Keith Stallworth "very well" and was "believed to have also known Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick" was gunned-down/murdered. Tamara Greene was also reportedly assaulted by Mayor Kilpatrick's wife at a party that reportedly took place at the mayor's mansion in the Fall of 2002.
Tamara Greene Autopsy
Office Of The Wayne County Medical Examiner
April 30, 2003
http://info.detnews.com/pix/2008/pdf/tamaragreenautopsy.pdf
Kwame Kilpatrick addresses allegations of party at Manoogian mansion
WKBD Detroit
May 15, 2003
Former state rep sentenced in felony
Detroit News
January 14, 2004
DETROIT - A federal judge sentenced former state Rep. Keith Stallworth to six months of home detention after pleading guilty to a felony.
The government indicted Stallworth, along with 13 others in June 2001, on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana. The government is seeking the death penalty against the lead defendant, Milton "Butch" Jones, who is awaiting trial. Jones also is charged with the drug-related murders of two men.
In 1996, Stallworth invested in "Tiger's Lounge," a Detroit strip club that the government charges was used to launder drug money.
Stallworth, 47, served in the state House from 1997 until 2002, when he could no longer run because of term limits. His mother, Alma, again was elected to the state House in November 2002.
Stallworth resigned as Wayne County commissioner in March shortly after he pleaded guilty to deliberately causing the filing of a false currency transaction report.
In court Tuesday, Stallworth took responsibility for making mistakes and entering "a life-changing and life-threatening entanglement."
"Some would call it reckless and I would call it careless," Stallworth said. He said he had suffered a "public flogging" as a result.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Allen said that as a result of Stallworth's actions, "drug traffickers took over that lounge."
He purchased five cashier's checks for $5,000 each in an effort to evade the government's requirements that all transactions over $10,000 be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. They also didn't identify the true source of the cash ? Allen said the money was from the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Stallworth then returned the money to the drug trafficker, the government stated in its 2001 indictment.
Judge John Corbett O'Meara rejected Allen's request that he order Stallworth to spend time in prison. Under the plea agreement, he could serve no more than seven months.
O'Meara ordered Stallworth to wear an electronic monitor and remain at home for six months. He must also pay a $3,100 fine, be on probation for three years and perform 100 hours of community service.
Sign of the Times
Detroit News
February 3, 2004
The high number of shootings and murders in Detroit is not the police fault. It's not my fault, a church fault, a school fault. It's a direct trickle down effect of this city's leadership.
These wanna be's are just acting out what they see being manifested by the mayor. Yup. I really think this. It's a direct cause and effect. It's all about attitude and public persona. We have a young man in office who is not just intimidating due to his size, but also due to his personality but most of all due to the power that comes with the office he holds.
He comes across as brash, arrogant, living fast, bringing with him a gang of officers that might as well put on sunglasses and bowties for all the warmth and humanness they portray. This is a mayor who sees nothing wrong with more adult bars opening up along 8 Mile, who's Minister of Culture (or whatever fancy name given that department) is married to a guy who will more than likely be opening up an adult bar almost right across the street from Rev. Edgar Vann's church.
This is a woman who is in charge of culture in Detroit? In interviews she said she doesn't know what business her husband is getting involved in. Excuse me? She sleeps with the man, is married to the man, shares everything with the man, and she doesn't know his business? Yeah, right.
I'm waiting for her to lobby for "men's clubs" as fund raisers for the DIA, AAMA, and other city owned ventures. Gee, maybe she could get Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake to re-do their Super Bowl scene. After all, Janet does wear nipple guards to hide her nipple so all we're seeing is lots of flesh. How bad can that be?
Oh yes, let's not forget Mrs. Mayor. Did she fly to the Carribean to take over for her bestest friend in the whole world at a private vacation spot where clothes were a no-no? What a wonderful example that set. Did she take the children?
The list could go on and on about lifestyles that have no business in the mayor's office, but the most important view on character and leadership can be found in the mayor's support, in written form, to a federal judge on behalf of his buddy Keith Stallworth, a convicted felon who laundered drug money, tried to fraudently obtain a driver's license from the Secretary of State, owned a topless bar that was notorious for drugs, prostitution and guns.
This is a guy the mayor thinks is highly ethical and spiritual who has a deep commitment to the community? What community? Not mine! Maybe the gangster community, or the pimps and whores community, but definately not my community nor any community I'm in contact with. I'm waiting for the mayor to give his buddy a job, maybe Chief of Police? Or how about Economic Development?
This is what I mean about how the kind of leadership from the mayor's office and the character and integrity of the person who holds that office can affect the thug on the street or the kid in school who thinks it's OK to emulate the mayor in attitude, brashness, disrespect of authority and touting base animal pleasures as the highest form of existence.
Look about you Detroiters. What you have as leader is what you'll get as citizen. And the police department? The men and women and their immediate commanders are all subject to the whims and pleasures of the person at the top. It's all very political and it's all very scary. Whatever it is, it's made me very cautious about who I vote into office, whether at the city level or at the national level. Or who I want to vote out of office. Bush? Kilpatrick? Looks the same to me.
Homicide cop sues Detroit mayor
Officer claims he was transferred for probe of dancer's murder
Detroit News
April 22, 2004
DETROIT - A police lieutenant filed a whistleblower lawsuit Wednesday against Detroit's mayor and police chief, claiming he was transferred for pressing an investigation into the murder of an exotic dancer.
Lt. Alvin Bowman says he was reassigned this month after pursuing the investigation of the woman's death one year ago. Her murder also was investigated by the Michigan State Police and Attorney General's Office as part of an inquiry into Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his police security detail.
Bowman is the third veteran Detroit officer in the past 11 months to seek damages through lawsuits, claiming they were reassigned or fired in connection with allegations stemming from a rumored wild party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's residence.
Kilpatrick has said no party took place.
Bowman, a Detroit officer for 31 years, headed a homicide squad investigating the murder of dancer Tamara Greene, who may have performed at the alleged Manoogian party, the suit says.
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings issued a statement Wednesday saying Kilpatrick's office had no involvement in Bowman's transfer and was "not aware of the cases he was investigating."
"I decided to reassign Lt. Bowman because he did not follow department procedures, and it is unfortunate that he is spinning a conspiracy theory to cover his own failings," Bully-Cummings said. "This is a decision I made for the good of the department." The statement did not elaborate on which procedures Bowman didn't follow.
Top police officials, including Assistant Chief Harold Cureton and Lt. Billy Jackson, the officer in charge of homicide, declined to comment.
The Michigan State Police and Attorney General's Office reviewed Greene's slaying as part of a wide-ranging probe into the alleged Manoogian party.
After a five-week investigation, state Attorney General Mike Cox announced last June that he had found no wrongdoing by the mayor or his aides. His investigation also found no link between them and Greene's death.
"There is absolutely no evidence ? outside of outlandish rumor ? of the so-called Manoogian Mansion party. Nor is there any evidence of an obstruction of justice by the mayor or anyone working for him," Cox said.
Officers wary
In November, Bowman became a supervisor of the homicide squad that was investigating the death of Greene, 27, who was known by a stage name, Strawberry.
"Some of the members of the squad were less than enthusiastic about working the investigation because if (Greene's) death were somehow connected to the alleged Manoogian Mansion party, pursuing the investigation could result in getting them transferred, or worse yet, ending their police career," the suit said.
It also alleged that a confidential informant claimed a second dancer who may have performed at the party had been killed in Georgia. The suit offered no corroborating evidence and noted that the informant "had few specifics."
State Police contacted Bowman in February to discuss their investigation into Greene's death. She was killed in an early morning drive-by shooting, as she and a companion were sitting in a car.
On March 10, State Police detectives turned over the results of their investigation to Bowman and other officials. Bowman then met with Bully-Cummings and Cureton.
"Bully-Cummings said to Bowman that she wanted the case file put away safely and did not want the discussion to go outside of this room," the suit claimed.
Cureton reportedly held his head in his hands and asked: "Can't they just let this ... go away?"
The case was then transferred to the Cold Case squad, which is responsible for reviewing long unsolved cases. The suit claims it typically only investigates cases more than two years old.
Evidence lacking
On April 6, soon after he forwarded another package of State Police documents to the cold case squad, Bowman was transferred out of the homicide unit and to a uniformed position at the Second Precinct.
The Detroit News on Wednesday obtained about 50 pages of the State Police file connected to Greene's death. It shows the extensive lengths to which police went to try to confirm Greene's involvement in a party.
The State Police reports don't identify any witness who claims directly that Greene attended any party.
George Howard, who was Greene's brother-in-law, told State Police Det. Sgt. John Figurski Dec. 11 that Greene "danced at parties attended by influential people from the city of Detroit" ? but said he knew nothing of any alleged party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Another witness claimed a dancer told him that she and Greene danced at the party ? but the witness provided no confirmation.
Police obtained Greene's funeral registry and began contacting many of the roughly 300 people who signed. They obtained many of the phone numbers from Greene's Nextel phone.
Other lawsuits
The other two officers who have sued recently lost a court battle to force Kilpatrick to submit to questioning about the alleged retaliation. They are seeking a combined $14 million.
Gary Brown, a former Detroit police deputy chief and 26-year police veteran, filed suit in June after he was fired as head of the Professional Accountability Bureau. He was leading an investigation into allegations of criminal activity by the mayor's bodyguards and an alleged wild party, assault and cover-up at the mayor's residence.
Brown was fired nine days after Greene's murder, Bowman's suit notes, though there is no evidence to link the two events.
Officer Harold Neltrope, an 18-year-veteran who was formerly a member of the mayor's executive protection unit, also filed suit in Wayne Circuit Court in June.
All three officers are represented by Michael Stefani, a Royal Oak lawyer.
The alleged links between Greene's death and the rumored party were first reported by an unnamed Detroit newspaper writer, Stefani said, declining to name the reporter or the newspaper.
Stefani said he expected the reporter's identity to be revealed during the course of the lawsuit. The reporter "passed this information on to several members of the department and very little was done to investigate Strawberry's death," Stefani's suit said.
Bowman has been on medical sick leave since his transfer, he said. Neltrope is also on stress leave, police said.
Internal affairs?
Detroit Metro Times
May 26, 2004
Before the Free Press printed the contents of tawdry text messages between Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, and before the recent civil trial where the two officials denied under oath that they were romantically involved, there was this Metro Times story that first brought the allegations of infidelity to light. From the outset, Kilpatrick’s response has been to steadfastly deny any illicit behavior and attack his accusers as liars seeking a big payoff in court. And that gets to the core of what has always made this an important story — not allegations of philandering, but rather the actions of a mayor willing to ruin the careers of two police officers in order to protect his public image.
— Curt Guyette, 1/25/08
Allegations that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has engaged in extramarital affairs reverberated through Detroit late last week. Once the story broke Friday afternoon, print, radio and television news outlets rushed to provide broad coverage of sworn statements contained in court documents.
The mayor offered a wholesale denial of the allegations at a news conference later that same day, saying the accusations are coming from people with an ulterior motive: money.
Gary A. Brown, former head of the Detroit Police Department's internal affairs unit, and Officer Harold C. Nelthrope are seeking a combined $14 million in a Whistleblower Protection Act civil lawsuit filed last year against the mayor, the city and others.
Many of the allegations, first reported by Metro Times on its Web site, were contained in confidential mediation summaries that document the basis for Nelthrope's and Brown's cases. Those summaries were recently presented to a three-lawyer mediation panel, which proposed a settlement figure.
In a May 20 memo to the Mayor's Office and the city's Law Department, Councilwoman Sharon McPhail wrote: "Word has reached me that these cases have been to mediation and that the mediation amounts proposed by the panel for these two cases totals over 2 million dollars."
McPhail wouldn't comment on her memo or any other aspect of the case, though her memo states that any settlement should, by law, get council consideration.
Each side has until June 1 to accept or reject the proposed settlement. If either side balks, the civil case will proceed to trial.
Kilpatrick administration officials did not return calls seeking comment on Monday. Metro Times' requests for a copy of the city's mediation summary were ignored.
Mike Stefani, attorney for Brown and Nelthrope, would not comment on the amount of the settlement proposal, but said he expects this case to go to trial.
While the alleged sexual escapades have been a focus of media attention, if the city ends up paying out millions of dollars, it will be because of allegations that officers were retaliated against for simply doing their jobs rather than the mayor's alleged "philandering."
"When he [the mayor] lets a private matter affect how the city is run, then that personal matter becomes a public matter," says Stefani.
Beatty at the crux
Key to the case is mayoral chief of staff Christine Beatty, one of at least four women the plaintiffs accuse the mayor of having trysts with.
Beatty did not return calls seeking comment.
As with the mayor, the accusations leveled against Beatty are newsworthy because of actions she and others in the administration allegedly took to conceal the purported infidelity.
Among other things, the plaintiffs' mediation summaries accuse Beatty of lying about the sequence of events that led to Brown's removal as head of the internal affairs unit.
Attorney Stefani tells Metro Times that the Michigan State Police asked the Attorney General's Office for an arrest warrant charging Beatty with perjury and obstruction of justice, but that the attorney general declined.
Asked specifically about Stefani's assertion, Matt Davis, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, would only say that there was "no basis to make any charges" at the conclusion of a state investigation into allegations of abuses by Kilpatrick's security unit.
Nelthrope contacted internal affairs in April 2003 with allegations that some members of the mayor's Executive Protection Unit were fraudulently padding time sheets, drinking while on duty and covering up accidents involving department vehicles. Nelthrope also reported rumors of a party involving strippers at the mayoral residence, the city-owned Manoogian Mansion.
Investigations by the attorney general and State Police found no evidence the party had occurred. However, prior to the launch of those investigations, the administration released a confidential report identifying Nelthrope as the source of the allegations. And Brown, a 26-year veteran, was removed as the head of internal affairs. Two other high-ranking members of the unit were transferred out.
In addition, two other officers have since filed lawsuits also claiming retaliation.
Officer Walt Harris, who served as a bodyguard to former Mayor Dennis Archer during his administration, alleges that he became the target of a smear campaign after he cooperated with state investigators last year. Harris resigned from the department and moved to Indiana.
Last month, Lt. Alvin Bowman filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that he was transferred out of the homicide division for investigating the killing of Tamara Greene, a 27-year-old stripper who claimed to have performed at the Manoogian Mansion party that the attorney general called an "urban myth."
Kilpatrick came into office riding campaign promises to clean up a troubled Police Department being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department. Now, claim some, attempts at reform have been dealt a severe blow.
"This has definitely had a chilling effect," says Officer Reggie Crawford, a 27-year veteran.
The Kilpatrick administration, says Crawford, "has an agenda to discourage officers from reporting improprieties" on the part of the mayor and those close to him.
"Some of us will continue to step up and step forward," says Crawford, who helped establish a reward fund in an attempt to find Greene's killer. "But it makes it difficult going to work every day."
There are other repercussions as well.
"Officially, I'm waiting to see what turns up in the court process," says City Council President Maryann Mahaffey. "I'm not assuming anyone's guilty. But this is a terrible cloud hanging over our heads when there are such needs out there."
The controversy is boiling over as the city attempts to deal with a pending budget deficit of more than $300 million, and Mahaffey is concerned about the time and energy the Kilpatrick administration must spend defending itself in court.
"We don't need to have everything tied up in this," says Mahaffey. "We have services to deliver."
The allegations
The Whistleblower Protection Act civil suit brought by Nelthrope and Brown hinges on allegations that members of Kilpatrick's security unit abetted a "playboy lifestyle" that included extramarital trysts. The two officers claim their careers were ruined when it appeared they might reveal the mayor's behavior, according to the mediation summaries.
The suit names Kilpatrick, former Police Chief Jerry Oliver, media consultant Bob Berg and the city of Detroit as defendants.
At a hastily called news conference outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center late Friday afternoon, Kilpatrick issued a sweeping denial, calling all the allegations contained in the mediation summaries "lies."
"These individuals want money," said Kilpatrick. "They will say anything to get money."
Kilpatrick pointed out that the Michigan Attorney General and State Police had already investigated the allegations and found them to be false.
However, attorney Stefani tells Metro Times that investigators from the state — who were probing rumors of the party at the mansion and allegations against members of the mayor's security detail — were told of the affairs and explicitly said they had no interest in investigating them.
City attorneys had tried to keep the allegations from becoming public by obtaining a court order that sealed sworn depositions in the case. They had also tried to keep Kilpatrick and his wife, Carlita, from being deposed.
On Friday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Callahan ruled that the Kilpatricks must provide deposition testimony to Stefani before the end of June. City attorneys have appealed that decision in the hope they can still prevent the mayor and his wife from having to testify under oath.
Callahan, responding to a motion filed by the Detroit Free Press, also ruled Friday that depositions previously sealed by Judge Kaye Tertzag were to be unsealed.
Much of the testimony describing Kilpatrick's alleged illicit trysts is provided by Harris, who claims he suffered retaliation for providing information to investigators from the Attorney General's Office and Michigan State Police who were probing Nelthrope's allegations.
While the AG announced that there was no evidence to indicate that the Manoogian party ever had occurred, he did find overtime pay abuse on the part of Kilpatrick's security unit, which, at the time, was dominated by Kilpatrick's longtime friend, Officer Loronzo "Greg" Jones.
According to the mediation summary, neither Jones nor Martin suffered repercussions for "defrauding the overtime system and failing to report accidents." Although both initially transferred from the EPU to other assignments, "there was no Detroit Police Department follow-up investigation" to departmentally discipline them, according to court documents.
"For the department not to pursue discipline charges against these two men sends a clear message to the entire Department that the Mayor's friends are above the law," asserts Stefani in one mediation summary, which notes that Martin is back working on Kilpatrick's security detail.
In the plaintiffs' pleading submitted to the mediation panel, it is alleged that the overtime abuse was allowed to occur because Jones and others on the security squad "facilitated the Mayor's playboy lifestyle." According to the documents, Harris offered the following testimony during his deposition regarding Beatty and the mayor:
"He [the mayor] would give us the order to go over to Chris', Chris' house, and we'd go. By this time we know where she lives. We've been over there many times in the evenings. And we would get there, let the Mayor out, he goes up. He's, 'I'll be back out' and we get back in the car. And we're sitting there and I'm asking Sergeant [Michael] Moore and I said what if her husband comes home, you know, what do we do, do we run out and knock on the door, do we blow the horn, do we stop him from going up the drive at his own house … maybe, he, you know, knows about this and maybe he doubles back home."
Asked during his deposition if he remembered having such a conversation outside Beatty's house, Moore, who is not a party to the lawsuit, testified: "I can't recall specifically what our conversation was. It was more or less concerning that we did not want to be sitting there when her husband came home."
Harris testified to another incident involving Beatty, this one occurring while she and the mayor were out of town on city business. Harris described members of Kilpatrick's security detail accompanying the mayor to his hotel room:
"[H]e gets to his room and he jams his key into the door. He say, 'Y'all good, go ahead.' We was like 'Mr. Mayor, you know, what's going on? We've got to check your room.' … He's like, 'I'm okay.' He's guarding the door again. 'You guys go ahead.' And he opens the door and lo and behold there's Christine Beatty there and he goes in and he slams the door closed and we [Harris and fellow bodyguard] both look at each other and laugh. Christine Beatty's in there and we start laughing. He didn't want us to know Christine Beatty was inside."
According to the mediation documents, Beatty testified that, while she did accompany the mayor on out-of-town trips as his chief of staff, "her duties did not require her to spend any time with the Mayor in hotel rooms alone together."
Harris testified about trysts the mayor allegedly had with other women, including one that Harris says occurred while he was on duty at the Manoogian Mansion. The mediation summary offers this account:
"[A]t approximately 1:00 a.m., the Mayor came down the stairs from his bedroom and told Officer Harris to come with him. Harris hurried to grab his radio and other equipment and when he got out to the garage, the Mayor had already started the car and told Harris to drive. The Mayor directed Harris to drive down Jefferson to a condominium complex called The Lofts."
The summary states that Harris and the mayor sat outside waiting for someone to open the electronic gate to the parking lot. A woman soon appeared wearing a full-length mink coat; as she fumbled with her card key to open the gate the wind blew her coat open and "it was apparent she was naked underneath," the document states.
Harris testified: "So I said, 'Mr. Mayor, what apartment are you going in? I need to know where you're going.' He said, 'Don't worry about it.' The female was standing there waiting on him. He said 'I'll be out in forty five (sic) minutes.' So the Mayor walked up to her, hugged her, put his arm around her and they walked up the walkway and went towards The Lofts, the apartments there. And I got out and tried to look and see exactly where they were going, because I wanted to know where he was — you know, in the event something happened I need to know where he's at … so I just sat in the vehicle waiting on him. And maybe an hour…maybe an hour and five minutes, the Mayor came out. He just came out, he jumped in the car and said let's go, and we drove back to the Manoogian."
Harris and his family have since moved away from the metro Detroit area. Described in the documents as a former NFL player who is 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, Harris was asked during his deposition the reason for his move.
"I'm not concerned for myself," he testified, "but I am concerned about my family, about my wife, and my children, and that's why I moved them out of the city, out of the state, and I moved myself. … Let me say I am concerned. However, if — how can I put this? I'll say they're going to have to come to my environment. … Now, you come down to my environment and I'm going to defend myself to my very last breath, and my family."
Nelthrope testified that he and another officer witnessed an encounter between the mayor and a woman he referred to as his "Jamaican friend" in the back room of a barbershop on Leslie Street in Detroit.
"The Mayor and the young woman went into the barber shop where the barber was giving a haircut to the Mayor's friend and Chief Administrative Officer, Derrick Miller," according to the mediation summary. "The mayor and the young woman went straight to the back room of the barber shop and closed the door. By this time it was approximately 11:00 p.m. Nelthrope and the other officer remained in the main portion of the barber shop looking through the shop's window at the street.
"As Nelthrope and the other officer were looking out of the barber shop window, they saw the Mayor's wife drive by the front of the barber shop. Nelthrope and the other officer were surprised and wondered if the Mayor's wife had seen the Mayor enter the barber shop with the young Jamaican woman.
"The officers were nervous. They discussed whether to knock on the back room door and tell the Mayor his wife had just driven by. They decided against disturbing the Mayor and remained at the front window keeping an eye out for the mayor's wife."
Timeline
When recruited to serve on Kilpatrick's Executive Protection Unit (EPU) in January 2002, Harold C. Nelthrope had been a Detroit police officer for nearly 17 years.
Stefani describes him in the mediation summary as a "Hard-working, dependable and honest police officer. He is the kind of steady-eddy public servant on which the citizens of the City of Detroit depend for police service."
He joined a security unit "nominally" headed by Deputy Chief Ron Fleming, but in fact run by "the Mayor's high school football friend, Police Officer Loronzo Jones," the mediation summary alleges.
The "de facto" second-in-command was Jones' friend, Officer Michael Martin, the summary claims.
"These two police officers, though outranked by Deputy Chief Ron Fleming, an EPU lieutenant, and by several EPU sergeants, were given virtually carte blanche by the Mayor to run the affairs of the EPU because of Jones' friendship with the Mayor," the summary alleges. "With no supervisory rank, no supervisory training and no supervisory experience, Jones and Martin ran the EPU in a haphazard fashion which other more experienced EPU officers realized made the Unit highly unprofessional and at times jeopardized the safety of the first family."
It is also alleged that, "in addition to being high school friends, Jones and Martin earned the Mayor's confidence in other ways. The Mayor apparently made a regular practice of being unfaithful to his wife with his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and other women. While Jones and Martin facilitated the Mayor's playboy lifestyle … other members of the EPU who took their oath 'to protect and to serve' seriously were uncomfortable being made to facilitating (sic) the Mayor's cheating on the first lady."
Nelthrope was one of those. Harris testified to being told by Martin that concerns over the possibility that Nelthrope might reveal the mayor's philandering resulted in Nelthrope's assignment to keep watch at the Manoogian Mansion so he "wouldn't go out with the Mayor anymore," according to the mediation summary.
In February 2003, Nelthrope was transferred out of EPU completely and assigned to the 7th Precinct.
"Police Officer Loronzo Jones testified that he was told prior to Nelthrope being transferred out of the EPU that Nelthrope was in fact reporting to the 'feds' on the Manoogian party and other wrongdoings on the EPU," according to the mediation summary.
Jones wasn't the only one privy to that information.
"Police Officer Michael Martin … testified that at least three different people told him that Nelthrope was reporting unreported car accidents and other allegations about the EPU to the FBI," according to the mediation summary. "…Martin telephoned Nelthrope at home to ask him about the matter but Nelthrope denied that it was him…"
On April 26, 2003, Nelthrope met with two investigators from internal affairs and provided information concerning EPU and the alleged Manoogian Mansion party.
Among other things, he alleged that officers Jones and Martin were involved in separate traffic accidents while driving city-owned vehicles, and that the accidents were covered up.
Nelthrope also alleged that Jones and Martin were fraudulently collecting 50 to 60 hours of overtime per two-week pay period.
Perhaps the most explosive allegation, however, involved Nelthrope's reporting of a rumor that in 2002, while the Manoogian Mansion was being renovated for the new first family, there was a party there that featured strippers, and that the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, unexpectedly showed up at the mansion and attacked one of the dancers, sending her to the hospital to be treated for injuries. Nelthrope claimed no firsthand knowledge of the party, but said he heard about it the day after it occurred.
Brown, as head of the Police Department's internal affairs unit, on April 30, prepared a report detailing Nelthrope's allegations. Included in that report is a claim by Nelthrope that he had provided the same information to the FBI. Brown reported that the FBI's Detroit office was contacted by internal affairs and was told Nelthrope had not been in contact.
Before Brown delivered that report, then-Police Chief Jerry Oliver was contacted by Beatty, the mayor's chief of staff, who had questions about the Nelthrope investigation, according to the mediation summary. Oliver testified that he asked Brown on May 5 to prepare a bullet-point summary of what he had learned. Brown did so, but did not include information regarding allegations of the Manoogian party.
"I did not mention the Manoogian Party allegation in the bullet point for Ms. Beatty because it was my understanding that Ms. Beatty had assumed responsibility for the EPU and was interested in investigations about them so that she could better oversee that unit. The allegations about the Manoogian did not involve the EPU and primarily involved alleged offense by non police employees of the City that is, the Mayor and Mrs. Kilpatrick," Brown explained in a sworn affidavit.
Oliver testified about a meeting he had with Beatty at Cobo Hall on May 6, when he gave Beatty the two-page memo that listed allegations of overtime abuse, accident cover-ups and drinking on the job by Jones and Martin. When asked by Beatty about the Manoogian investigation, Oliver said there was no "official" investigation into those rumors, according to the mediation summary.
During his deposition, Oliver was asked if Beatty showed interest in the allegations of Jones and Martin being involved in unreported car accidents.
"She did not raise that issue with me," Oliver testified. "… she simply asked me about our investigation about the Manoogian party and the rumors that were floating around, and there were many."
Oliver's testimony contradicts assertions made by Beatty that she had no knowledge of such rumors at that point.
During her deposition, Beatty denied having any knowledge "that a member of the EPU had gone to the Internal Affairs to report wrongdoing on the Mayor's staff," according to the mediation summary. She also maintained that she had no idea that Brown was investigating the Manoogian party. Likewise, she denied asking Oliver to provide her with a report regarding the status of any investigations into EPU activity.
In their mediation summary, the plaintiffs argue that, given that Jones and Martin knew Nelthrope was talking to investigators, and the close ties the two cops had with the administration, "it is inconceivable that Jones and Martin did not tell Beatty and the Mayor of Nelthrope's allegations long before Beatty met with Oliver on May 6th."
"Beatty is not being truthful," asserts the mediation summary.
On May 9, following Beatty's recommendation, Brown was terminated from his position. Two days prior to that, in a highly unusual move, Beatty had ordered a staff member to copy files in computers used by Brown and two other members of the internal affairs unit, and then to block the officers' access to those computers, according to the mediation summary.
Why did Beatty urge Kilpatrick to terminate Brown?
Beatty testified that, one day after receiving the two-page memo from Oliver, which came as a surprise "out of the blue" without having been requested, she coincidentally received an anonymous memo contradicting information in the report. The confidential memo, which she said was one paragraph long, contained no specific details, but did allege that Brown was conducting an "unauthorized" investigation. The nature of that investigation was not disclosed. Beatty claims she shredded the anonymous message (without showing it to Kilpatrick) after reading it.
According to the mediation summary, Beatty testified that "she had no idea who had authored the anonymous letter and did nothing to determine whether it was credible." Nonetheless, "based on the anonymous letter, she determined that Brown should be terminated." Also, "Beatty testified that she came to this conclusion without examining Brown's personnel file or reviewing his record of twenty-six years or discussing the allegations with the Chief."
(The Kilpatrick administration claims Brown was never fired, merely removed from his deputy chief position and returned to the rank of lieutenant, and that he could have continued serving on the force had he chosen to do so. Brown says he was fired.)
When giving his deposition on Sept. 29, 2003, Oliver, who was then still chief, contended that the Kilpatrick administration never offered an explanation justifying Brown's removal.
During his deposition, however, Oliver testified that, after seeing Brown's original five-page memo that discussed all of Nelthrope's allegations, he concluded that Brown was removed because of concerns that he was looking into the Manoogian party rumors.
Oliver reportedly voiced his concerns to other members of internal affairs immediately following Brown's removal.
One internal affairs officer, Commander Donald Parshall, testified: "The Chief was saying … you guys are investigating the Mayor of Detroit, and something to that effect 'that's the dumbest shit I ever heard of.' And I remember that, because I hadn't heard the Chief use profanity before."
Asked during his deposition whether Oliver thought Brown's termination was related to the Nelthrope investigation, Officer Steve Dolunt testified: "He [Oliver] didn't say that. I don't think he said that specifically. We were told that we weren't to investigate the Mayor and that an amoeba had more sense than to investigate the Mayor and that apparently we had less sense than an amoeba and it went downhill from there. Oh. We were told not to investigate it anymore."
The mediation summary alleges that Brown's removal set back the city's efforts to reform the Police Department.
"At the time of Brown's appointment [to head Internal Affairs], the city was negotiating with the United States Department of Justice concerning the changes that would be required in the Detroit Police Department to meet the terms of an anticipated consent decree," the summary explains. "One of the problems the Department of Justice had and still has with the Detroit Police Department is that complaints concerning officers were sometimes not properly investigated and sometimes swept under the rug."
The Justice Department wanted policies put in place that would ensure "full, thorough and complete investigations."
With an exemplary record and a reputation for integrity, asserts the summary, Brown was put in charge of internal affairs to help ensure that that goal was achieved. Just prior to being dismissed, Brown was given a bonus for his job performance, according to the summary.
Brown's dismissal and the transfer of his top executives out of internal affairs "effectively put an end to the reform promised by Kilpatrick in his election campaign," the summary alleges. "These very competent police executives have been replaced by people who were chosen not so much on their abilities to get the job done, but primarily on their loyalty to Christine Beatty and the Mayor."
One week after Brown's removal, Bob Berg, a consultant who advised Kilpatrick's mayoral campaign and then contracted with the new administration to provide media services, leaked the bullet-point memo to the press, even though it was stamped confidential and identified Nelthrope as the source of the allegations it contained.
Berg was given the memo by Beatty, according to the mediation summary. Its release was discussed in a meeting attended by Beatty, Berg, Jamaine Dickens (then spokesman for the mayor), Derrick Miller (the administration's chief executive officer) and possibly Chief Corporation Counsel Ruth Carter, according to the summary.
On May 14, Nelthrope arrived home to find reporters on his sidewalk holding the confidential internal affairs memo.
'Clear my name'
"Nelthrope had not seen the memo before and was horrified to see his name in it," according to the mediation summary. "Nelthrope knew how volatile and dangerous Jones and Martin were. He knew that both men had extensive disciplinary records. He knew that Martin had been involved in several off-duty shootings and had been convicted criminally for one of them. Nelthrope knew that Martin had friends who were narcotics dealers and that both Martin and Jones knew many street people who would be only too happy to ingratiate themselves with Martin or Jones by seeing to it that Nelthrope or a member of his family paid a price for disrupting Martin and Jones' prestigious, cushy, high-paying jobs with the EPU."
Nelthrope contends that stress created by the disclosure made it impossible to work. He is currently out on what Stefani described as a "job-related disability."
Nelthrope feared retaliation because his name was revealed.
"It effectively painted a target on his back for any thug friend of Martin's, Jones' or the Mayor's or for others who might view his reporting as snitching," the mediation summary states.
If it goes to a jury, the whistleblower lawsuit brought by Brown and Nelthrope will succeed or fail based on the jury's evaluation of the foundation upon which their case has been built. The crux of their case is summed up in the mediation summary:
"The Mayor and Beatty were concerned that information about the Mayor's philandering would come to light as the result of Nelthrope's allegations, especially if Brown's investigation of those allegations involved, as it most certainly would, interviews of other former EPU members."
In a recent interview with Metro Times, Brown said he's pursuing this case for two reasons. One is to recover financially from the blow of losing his job as a deputy chief. The other motivation is to restore the reputation built up over the course of 25 years with the department.
"I'm not out to get the mayor," he says. "I'm out to clear my name."
"My reputation," he adds, "is all I have."
Brown, who says he was "devastated" by his firing, also hopes the suit will prompt further investigation into the Kilpatrick administration.
"There has been a clear pattern of retaliation against people doing something this administration doesn't want done," Brown says.
To counteract the chilling effect this has had on others who have information regarding the Kilpatrick administration but are afraid to come forward, Brown says the federal government has to become involved.
"There needs to be a federal grand jury," he says. "That's where this case will unravel."
Wayne and Detroit Ballot Proposals
No on medical marijuana and advisory ballot questions; yes on expelling felons from county commission
Detroit News
July 25, 2004
Detroit and Wayne County voters will be asked to vote on three ballot proposals dealing with separate issues in the August 3 primary. Following are our recommendations:
Proposal M: This Detroit initiative would amend the city code to allow patients to use marijuana under the direction of a licensed medical professional.
Marijuana can be an effective and cheap way of giving relief to patients in acute pain or suffering from diseases such as glaucoma. It has far fewer down sides than many prescription pain drugs. Many countries have removed penalties for medical marijuana use, as have eight states.
But amending marijuana laws through local ordinances without broader reform of state policies is inappropriate.
Drug laws should be established at the state level, to eliminate any confusion about legality and penalties. If every city passes its own ordinance, Michigan will have a hodge-podge of conflicting ordinances that might be hard to reconcile. A city ordinance may even violate state law.
For instance, Proposal M allows licensed medical practitioners besides doctors to prescribe marijuana. But other cities might restrict the prescription only to doctors. A nurse who prescribed marijuana in Detroit might be subject to penalties under some other city's ordinance.
Backers of marijuana legalization have been thwarted twice by state election officials in their efforts to launch a state-wide ballot initiative. The hurdles are certainly higher at the state level, but the outcome would be much cleaner.
Detroit voters should vote NO on Proposal M.
Proposal Q: This proposal would amend the county charter to allow the Wayne County commission to put advisory questions before voters.
This is a bad idea whose sole purpose is to allow commissioners afraid of taking a stand to use taxpayer dollars to conduct polls before voting on an issue.
Voters pay county commissioners a handsome salary - $70,000 every year - to make decisions on their behalf. But commissioners who insist on conducting referendums before making decisions undercut the representative system of government that Wayne County voters have opted for - not to mention the rationale for their own existence.
In addition, the proposal will invite paralysis in county governance. It will give commissioners a way to take their disagreements with the county executive directly to the voters, tipping the delicate arrangement of checks-and-balances in the county charter. This will make commissioners less willing to cooperate with the executive and resolve their differences in a speedy way.
Voters should vote NO on Proposal Q.
Proposal R: This county proposal will amend the charter to allow the county commission to expel members who are convicted of a felony. Its impetus lies in the scandal involving Wayne County Commissioner Keith Stallworth two years ago.
Stallworth pleaded guilty to laundering money for a drug dealer. But he refused to resign from his post and the county charter empowered his fellow commissioners only to censure him - not remove him from office. Gov. Jennifer Granholm had to use her powers to throw him out.
The state Constitution allows the legislature to remove lawmakers when there is cause. So it certainly makes sense to extend this check to the county level.
The only danger is that county commissioners, who sometimes harbor bitter rivalries toward each other, might abuse this tool for personal political ends. But the amendment mitigates this danger by requiring a two-thirds vote for the expulsion.
We recommend a Yes on Proposal R.
Guilty Plea Reveals Old Wayne County Attitude
New officials have pledged clean government, but they must overcome ingrained tradition
Detroit News
July 28, 2004
Wayne County has had an ordinance making it illegal to use county resources for political purposes for a decade - but it took federal agents and a federal prosecutor to enforce it. That says something about the culture of the prior county regime. Current officials should take a lesson from the federal investigation of the county.
This week, a former assistant county prosecutor, Wade McCann, entered a guilty plea to a federal misdemeanor. He was accused of using county interns to compile a database that could be used for political fund-raising for candidates and causes he supported.
It's not like McCann was engaged in embezzling huge amounts of money. But the offense, however minor, revealed a mindset in county government. It was seen as one more political tool during the administration of former County Executive Ed McNamara.
And though McCann's offense was petty, the interns and time used to compile the list was funded by the taxpayers, who expected that their money would go to combat auto theft.
McCann was head of the prosecutor's auto theft unit and the interns were paid with a state grant dedicated to that purpose.
A federal investigation continues into the McNamara years concerning the possible connections between the use of government offices and equipment to engage in political fund-raising; the awarding of county contracts, especially at Detroit Metro Airport, to campaign contributors; and the hiring of political cronies for county government positions.
So far, one former county official under McNamara, Wilburn Kelley III, has been charged in the federal inquiry - as has Kelley's wife. They await trial.
It's not known if the federal investigation will yield any more charges. It may not. Private understandings and mutual favors are hard to nail down.
County commissioners in prior years weren't immune from a casual approach to the law either. Former Commissioner Keith Stallworth pleaded guilty two years ago to laundering money, but then refused to leave the commission. He finally had to be kicked off the county board by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, which is why the commissioners have placed an issue on the this Tuesday's Wayne County to give themselves that authority.
There is a new county executive, Robert Ficano, and a new prosecutor and sheriff, as well as a differnt county board. They have all pledged to operate the levers of county government cleanly and fairly.
We have no reason to doubt them. But it will take continuous effort.
After all, Ed McNamara came to office as a reformer.
Police chief: Demoted cop lost her trust
Detroit officer wasn't punished for probe of stripper's death, testifies Bully-Cummings
Detroit News, The (MI)
October 13, 2005
Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings testified Alvin Bowman was demoted because she was unsure she could trust him.
Wayne Circuit Judge Michael Callahan presides over the civil case brought by ex-Lt. Alvin Bowman against the city of Detroit and Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings. An attempt to sue the mayor failed earlier.
DETROIT -- A veteran Detroit police lieutenant was demoted for twice ignoring the chain of command -- and not because of his continued involvement in an investigation into the death of a 27-year-old stripper, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings testified Wednesday.
Former Lt. Alvin Bowman sued Detroit, the chief and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in April 2004 after he claimed he was transferred to the 2nd (Southwest) District after pressing to investigate the April 2003 murder of Tamara Greene. A judge dismissed claims against the mayor.
Greene's murder was investigated by the Michigan State Police in connection with still unsubstantiated allegations of a wild party at the Manoogian Mansion, the Detroit mayor's official residence, along with actions by his police security detail. Kilpatrick has repeatedly denied any party occurred. Attorney General Mike Cox concurred during a 2003 investigation. Greene's death remains unsolved.
Bully-Cummings said Bowman, then head of a homicide squad, was transferred to the 2nd (Southwest) District after he twice violated the chain of command, which caused her to lose trust in him.
In one instance, he called a sergeant who worked in the chief's office and asked if he would agree to talk to state police investigating the Greene murder.
In another, he gave an envelope of information about Greene's death to an officer in Bully-Cummings' office to pass on to the chief.
The chief declined to read the file, she said, because it wasn't her job to investigate a homicide.
Violating the chain of command -- going to a higher-ranking officer rather than getting approval from a direct supervisor -- is a "very serious violation," Bully-Cummings said, adding it "raised the specter of whether he was trustworthy."
Bowman's attorney, Michael Stefani, asked the chief if "a lack of trust was a euphemism" for not being able to "control the investigation" if Bowman was involved. Bully-Cummings denied it.
Bowman and two other veteran Detroit police officers have filed lawsuits claiming they were reassigned or fired in connection with the rumored party.
Bowman, a Detroit officer for 31 years, retired in August 2004.
In November 2003, Bowman became a supervisor of the homicide squad that was investigating the death of Greene, known by her stage name, Strawberry.
"Some of the members of the squad were less than enthusiastic about working the investigation because if (Greene's) death were somehow connected to the alleged Manoogian Mansion party, pursuing the investigation could result in getting them transferred, or worse yet, ending their police career," the lawsuit said.
State police contacted Bowman in February 2004 to discuss their investigation into Greene's death. She was killed while sitting in a car with a companion in an early morning drive-by shooting.
On March 10, state police detectives turned over the results of their investigation to Bowman and other officials. Bowman then met with Bully-Cummings and then-Assistant Chief Harold Cureton.
The case was then transferred to the cold case squad, which is responsible for reviewing long unsolved cases.
On April 6, soon after he forwarded another package of state police documents, Bowman was transferred out of the homicide unit and to a uniformed position at the 2nd (Southwest) District working the night shift.
Still pending are the lawsuits of Gary Brown, a former Detroit police deputy chief and 26-year police veteran, who sued in June 2003 after he was fired as head of the Professional Accountability Bureau.
Brown is set to testify today -- though Wayne Circuit Judge Michael Callahan has severely limited the area to which he may answer questions.
The city plans to call three police officers in its defense.
Also Wednesday, one of the Michigan State Police detectives assigned to the case, Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs, testified the Detroit police had put up "roadblocks" that made the investigation difficult. The testimony taken outside the jury's presence was not allowed into evidence.
He also noted that the attorney general's office had rejected some requests for investigative subpoenas in June 2003 -- after Cox had closed the investigation.
He said Detroit police were told "not to talk to us without a subpoena."
Election episodes read like script from a soap opera
Detroit News, The (MI)
October 14, 2005
With the Detroit election just weeks away, every day brings a new episode of the region's hottest soap opera -- "Desperate Candidates."
There was the disappearance of the mayor's big diamond earring. And a trial that has dusted off old rumors of a wild whoop of a party in Detroit's Manoogian Mansion.
There was a widely circulated poem urging Detroiters to "shout with your vote." And the charging of a mayoral candidate's son with drunken driving and domestic violence smack in the middle of domestic violence month.
Whew.
Let's start with the diamond that used to glint in Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's left ear but vanished during his 2001 campaign. After winning, Kilpatrick reinserted his sparkler, earning the nickname Big Diamond.
But some Detroiters resented the mayor's "bait and switch" game, feeling they'd been conned. Now, according to published reports, hizzoner has decided he won't wear his earring again -- at least not while he's big chief.
Party surfaces again
Meanwhile, the party that the mayor and other officials say never happened never disappears.
It allegedly took place at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002, and a gorgeous exotic dancer named Tamara Greene allegedly attended it. She was gunned down in a drive-by shooting .
Since then, three veteran Detroit police officers have claimed they were reassigned or fired for probing Greene's murder, and police officials have denied those claims.
What bugs me is all those TV ads that ran this week, promising new nuggets of information about the Greene case. Nobody came up with a diamond, a rhinestone or even plain glass.
I mean, let's face it: remarks from a man whose face never appeared on camera and who gave only his first name isn't proof.
Neither is a police official's claim that someone whose identity he's forgotten invited him to some party that sounded like it was going to be a major whoop.
So here's my challenge to the local news stations: either get the goods in the Greene case or quit running phony come-ons.
Arrest was news
Meanwhile, no one can deny that, in the heat of an election, the arrest of challenger Freman Hendrix's 21-year-old son, Stephen, was solid-gold news.
But I have a feeling it will only humanize the elder Hendrix. One truth all parents recognize is this: well-raised or not, many young adults go through a period where they break rules just to show they can.
Meanwhile, the city's department of elections is doing its part to rally voters, only 21 percent of whom bothered to vote in the August primary.
There's even a poem in "Detroit Election News," a newsletter mailed to Detroit voters' households.
"We need to vote and continue to vote," it begins, "...While people are hungry and begging in the streets,
"While innocent children are killed while still between their sheets..."
Not really a diamond but, perhaps, a bead of hope.
Worthy to review dancer's death
Prosecutor to probe unsolved murder; woman allegedly performed at Manoogian party
Detroit News, The (MI)
October 14, 2005
DETROIT -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Thursday she would conduct an independent review into the unsolved murder of a 27-year-old exotic dancer rumored to have performed at a wild party at the mayor's mansion.
Worthy said she requested the file from Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings into the April 2003 murder of Tamara Greene.
"Investigating the rumor of a party is not a compelling public safety issue. Reviewing a cold homicide case is something we routinely do," Worthy said in a statement.
In June 2004, the Michigan Attorney General's Office turned over to Worthy its file on Greene's death -- part of a wide-ranging investigation into Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an alleged party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's official residence.
Detroit Police Lt. Alvin Bowman sued the city, the mayor and the chief in April 2004 after he was demoted, he claims, for pursuing the investigation of Greene's murder. Claims against the mayor were dismissed.
Bowman's lawsuit is in its second week of trial. Bully-Cummings said Bowman was demoted to a uniformed precinct job because he violated the chain of command.
The mayor has no problem with the prosecutor looking into Greene's death, mayoral spokesman Howard Hughey said.
"The prosecutor's job is to look into cases like this, and we certainly applaud those efforts," Hughey said.
Attorney General Mike Cox Thursday defended Kilpatrick saying he is getting a bum rap on unsubstantiated rumors of a party. He called the issue a "political football."
Meanwhile, a former deputy police chief, Gary Brown, held a fund-raiser for Detroit mayoral candidate Freman Hendrix at his Detroit home Thursday for about 60 people. Brown filed suit in June 2003 after he was fired as head of the Professional Accountability Bureau.
Jurors weigh case of ex-cop who says he was demoted over probe
Detroit News, The (MI)
October 20, 2005
DETROIT -- Wayne County jurors will begin deciding today whether a former Detroit police lieutenant was pushed into retirement for helping the investigation of a rumored bawdy party at the mayor's mansion or because he was an impulsive officer who couldn't follow rules or reassignment.
Alvin Bowman, a 31-year veteran, is seeking $268,000 in lost pay and up to $1.5 million for harm to his reputation after he quit the Detroit Police Department last year. He contends that the department punished him after he tried to give investigative files directly to the police chief rather than his supervisor.
His probe dealt with the shooting death of stripper Tamara Greene, who was at the center of a long-rumored -- and unproven -- party at the Manoogian Mansion, where Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resides.
Chief Ella Bully-Cummings testified during the three-week trial that Bowman broke the department's chain of command and she reassigned him.
Bowman's attorney, Mike Stefani, argued that was retaliation against a whistleblower.
"The evidence is very strong that being transferred from an elite unit like homicide to the 2nd Precinct is discrimination," he said during his closing argument to the jury. "They didn't want Mr. Bowman around."
Additionally, top police officials offered conflicting reasons for the reassignment during the trial.
But Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, an attorney for the city, urged jurors to separate "fact from fiction." Brown was reassigned, but kept his title and his pay, she said.
There has never been evidence to prove the party took place or that the police had any involvement in Greene's death, she said. Bowman failed to follow department rules and relied on unsubstantiated rumor to justify his own decision to retire, she argued.
Neither the attorney general nor the Michigan State Police turned up credible evidence of the alleged party.
Death off table for gang leader
Detroit convict cleared of murder charges by admitting to running a criminal enterprise
Detroit News, The (MI)
January 6, 2006
DETROIT -- One of Detroit's most notorious drug gang leaders will avoid the death penalty under a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors.
Milton "Butch" Jones, 50, the founder of Young Boys Inc., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor Thursday to one count of running a continuing criminal enterprise. He could have been sentenced to death if convicted of two counts of drug-related murder in 1998. He was convicted of another drug-related murder in 1975.
William Sauget, an assistant U.S. attorney, told U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara that Jones had been cooperating and that the government planned to seek a sentence of 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 6. As part of the deal, prosecutors will drop the death penalty request.
He wrote an autobiography in 1996, "Y.B.I.," in which he claimed he began his involvement in the drug trade at age 14 and made more than $100,000 a week selling heroin. A former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said in the mid-1990s that the gang was connected to at least 68 murders.
"Hell, somebody had to take over this city. Why not me?" Jones wrote in his self-published book. "It was just like any other business, such as Ford, or General Motors."
Young Boys Inc., the highly organized, profitable drug network Jones founded, used kids as young as 9 years old to sell drugs, terrorized neighborhoods and frustrated police as late as 1987.
Jones lived in Oak Park and expanded his drug crews into Pontiac and Flint. By the time he went to federal prison in 1983, Jones estimated he had squirreled away several million dollars, lost thousands in gambling, and had bought several houses and more than a dozen cars.
Jones used teens to sell drugs because they were difficult to prosecute and buffered leaders. The gang also gave top sellers cash bonuses and presents, such as fur trimmed leather coats that became extremely popular and known as Y.B.I. jackets. At its peak, Young Boys Inc. sold $25,000 to $30,000 a day per street corner.
After his release from federal prison in 1992, Jones moved to Pennsylvania and promised a life of honest work.
He and 13 others, including then-state Rep. Keith Stallworth, D-Detroit, were charged with conspiring to sell cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Stallworth later reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Federal prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty against two defendants.
Cox sues to recover workers' comp claims
The Argus-Press
January 27, 2006
AG sues former state rep
Grand Rapids Press
January 27, 2006
LANSING -- The Michigan attorney general has filed suit against former state Rep. Keith Stallworth to recover nearly $70,000 the state paid to settle workers' compensation claims against Stallworth's company.
Attorney General Mike Cox said Stallworth's company didn't insure employees under the Workers' Disability Compensation Act, forcing the Uninsured Employers' Security Fund to pay $69,000 worth of benefits to two employees.
Stallworth has only reimbursed $18,000 of the money he owes, Cox said. Stallworth, a former Democratic lawmaker from Detroit and one-time owner of a strip club, has been in legal trouble before.
In 2004, he was sentenced to six months home confinement for evading federal currency reporting requirements by directing another person to buy four cashiers checks for a total value of $20,000.
Politicians keep it all in the family
Michigan ballot will be filled with familiar names as candidates try to capitalize on relatives' legacies
Detroit News
August 3, 2006
Coleman Young. Levin. Hollister. Byrum.
Is this the lineup for the Michigan political hall of fame?
Hardly. These are all new faces -- if not new names -- on the ballot in Tuesday's primary and in the fall for state legislative seats.
More than ever, serving in the Legislature has become the family business, with an annual paycheck of $79,650.
Seats are passed from parent to child, brother to brother, spouse to spouse.
And while political legacies have been around for decades, family links are more pronounced than ever in this era of term limits.
"This is obviously the law of unintended consequences at work," said Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics newsletter. "You could argue that those behind term limits never envisioned a world in which spouses, daughters, nieces and cousins of term-limited lawmakers were running to succeed them and having a great deal of success in getting elected."
No harm, no foul, said Patrick Anderson, one of the architects of the term limits law.
"In the U.S., this kind of thing goes back to (Presidents) John Adams and John Quincy Adams," he said.
"Often, a relative represents a different ideology and always brings different experiences.
"It's wrong to assume all family members think alike. Just go to a family picnic and you'll see what I mean."
Under Anderson's term limits law, House members are shown the door after six years and senators are sent packing after eight.
There's no such thing anymore as making a career out of the Legislature -- like the late Rep. Dominic Jacobetti, otherwise known as "The Godfather," who served his Upper Peninsula district for 38 years. So increasingly, offices are being passed around like family heirlooms as voters continue to stick with familiar names.
Here's a look at some of the pages in this year's family album:
Beth Stewart of Plymouth is locked in a tough Republican primary battle to win husband John's House seat in western Wayne County. John Stewart leaves at year's end because of term limits.
House Minority Leader Dianne Byrum of Onondaga hopes to pass her seat on to her 28-year-old daughter, Barb, a favorite to capture mom's 67th District post in the Lansing area. Barb Byrum's campaign Web site features a picture of her with mom, who has served 16 years in the Legislature and is term-limited out of office.
Levin, one of the most revered political monikers in Michigan history, will show up on the ballot in the 13th state Senate district in Oakland County.
This time, it's Andy Levin, son of Congressman Sander Levin (former state senator, two-time Democratic nominee for governor and 12-term U.S. House member) and the nephew of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (a former Detroit City Councilman and now, in his 29th year, the longest-serving senator in Michigan history). Andy has no competition in Tuesday's primary, but he'll face the Republican primary winner in November in the GOP-leaning Oakland County seat.
He makes no bones about the family name being an asset.
"No question: It's an advantage in fundraising and getting attention from party leaders," said the 45-year-old labor attorney, who is making his first bid for public office. "And so many times when I knock on somebody's door, they say 'Oh, you're one of the Levins. Come on in.'
"My family's legacy of public service in Michigan is something I'm incredibly proud of, and I'd like to help build on."
Coleman A. Young Jr. is using the most recognizable political name in Detroit history in his bid for a seat in the House. His father, the late Coleman A. Young, served in the Senate and as mayor of Detroit for two decades, ending in 1994. Junior is in a 16-way Democratic primary for the 4th House District.
"I have been blessed by the hand of God to run," said the 23-year-old Young, who changed his name from Joel Loving after the mayor's paternity was proven in court. "My father will help me tremendously. It's such an honor to come from that great legacy. I want to uphold it well and carry it on into the next generation."
Young, who has never held office, recently resigned as a staffer for the Detroit City Council.
Jerry Hollister is running as a Democrat for the 68th House District. His father represented the area in the Legislature for 18 years before becoming a popular Lansing mayor and then a key player in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's cabinet, concentrating on economic development issues.
Aaron Dodak is vying for a House seat in the Saginaw area. He's the son of former House Speaker Lewis Dodak, who served 16 years, the last four as the chamber's top dog.
Thomas Stallworth, husband of former state Rep. Alma Stallworth of Detroit, is in an eight-way Democratic primary for the 8th House District in the city. His opponents include incumbent Rep. George Cushingberry Jr. He's also the father of former Rep. Keith Stallworth, who served until 2002.
Jackson's mayor, Martin Griffin, is running for a House seat. He's the son of Michael Griffin, who represented Jackson in the state House for 26 years, until 1998.
Marty Knollenberg of Troy, son of U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, is in a Republican primary for the 41st House District seat.
There are others, too.
But no legislative seat has a history of family dynasty like the Macomb County House district represented by the Rocca family for 30 of the past 32 years.
The office has been held at various times by Sal Rocca, his wife, Sue, and now their son, Tory, who is seeking a second term.
Not only were they trading seats in the Legislature, they were also swapping a chair on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, held at different times by both Sal and Sue.
Relatives of slain dancer revive lawsuit vs. Detroit
Detroit News, The (MI)
December 20, 2007
DETROIT -- Relatives of a slain exotic dancer filed new court documents Wednesday aimed at reviving their federal lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Detroit police officials.
Tamara Greene, who danced under the name "Strawberry" and has been linked to a long rumored but never substantiated stag party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion, was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's son, filed a lawsuit on behalf of his son in U.S. District Court in 2005, alleging Detroit police failed to investigate Greene's murder for political reasons.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen ruled last year the suit should be dismissed but said Flagg could file a revised lawsuit. Flagg did so in September 2006. The new claims against Kilpatrick, Attorney General Mike Cox, former Police Chief Jerry Oliver and other officials were dismissed by Rosen last month, though claims against the city and current Chief Ella Bully-Cummings remained.
On Wednesday, Flagg lawyer Norman Yatooma of Birmingham asked Rosen for permission to file a new complaint, which he also filed in federal court along with his request.
Filed as exhibits are documents that surfaced in recent civil lawsuits brought by former senior officers Gary Brown, Harold Nelthrope and Alvin Bowman, who alleged they were retaliated against for attempting to investigate stories about the party, at which a dancer was allegedly assaulted.
In documents filed Wednesday, Yatooma alleges former Detroit homicide Sgt. Marian Stevenson "concluded that someone ordered Greene's murder." Notes and files on the murder disappeared from Stevenson's police computer and a locked cabinet.
Stevenson could not be reached for comment. Deputy Chief James Tate, a spokesman for the Police Department, and James Canning, a spokesman for the mayor, declined comment.
Slain exotic dancer's family thinks text messages will help its cause
Detroit News, The
January 25, 2008
The recent allegations that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick lied in court when asked about his relationship with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty could be fuel for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene who has sued the mayor and city police officials in federal court.
Greene danced under the name "Strawberry" and had been linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion. She was slain in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer who represents Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's son, said a central allegation of his 2005 federal lawsuit is that Greene's family was denied access to the courts because Detroit police failed to investigate Greene's murder for political reasons. City officials deny the allegations.
Late Wednesday, Kilpatrick issued a statement that some of 14,000-plus text messages indicating he had a sexual affair with his chief of staff in 2002-03 were "profoundly embarrassing" and "reflect a very difficult period in my personal life." The mayor's prepared statement was released by his office after a report surfaced that text messages show he had an intimate relationship with Beatty who has been Kilpatrick's friend since they were classmates at Cass Tech.
Statements in text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty, both 37, that Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown was in fact fired, which Kilpatrick and other city officials had denied, are helpful to the federal complaint, Yatooma said.
Greene's family believes Brown was fired for trying to investigate Greene's killing, Yatooma said.
Yatooma said text messages that have not yet been disclosed may also be helpful to the case and he plans to begin efforts today to subpoena all the text messages from the city or whoever else possesses them.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen earlier dismissed both Kilpatrick and Beatty as defendants in the Tamara Greene lawsuit. But Yatooma said the revelations about the text messages make it unlikely the mayor and his chief of staff will be dismissed as defendants in an updated complaint filed in federal court earlier this month.
"There isn't a snowball's chance in the ninth circle of hell, as hoof-delivered by a flying pig, that the mayor and Christine Beatty are getting out of this lawsuit," Yatooma said.
Secret deal hid texts - Prosecutor opens probe
Mayor's aide will not resign, lawyer says
Detroit News, The (MI)
January 26, 2008
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick cut a secret deal that concealed embarrassing and potentially criminal text messages and settled whistleblower cases involving three ex-cops, sources involved with the agreement confirmed.
The messages between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, revealed this week, chronicle an affair that the two denied when testifying under oath in the August trial. They also denied sacking the cops who were probing alleged misbehavior in the mayor's office.
Meanwhile, the scandal's impact continued to unfold Friday:
- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she has assigned eight former cops on her staff to investigate Kilpatrick and Beatty, to determine if any laws were broken by their testimony.
- Worthy also revealed that one day before the story broke, Kilpatrick called her to say he would not campaign against her re-election this year. The two have never been close and she said they rarely speak, so his call came as a surprise.
- Kilpatrick and Beatty remained in seclusion, separately; their whereabouts were unknown. Beatty's attorney, Elliott Hall, said she remains on the city payroll and has not quit. Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel called on the mayor to come out of hiding.
- The City Council moved to determine if it can force Kilpatrick to reimburse the city for the $8.4 million in taxpayer money used to pay the officers in the whistleblowers case.
- Wayne County Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr. ordered SkyTel to preserve the messages. Colombo's order came in response to a contested Freedom of Information Act request for documents that outline the settlements of the whistleblower suits.
Colombo questioned deputy corporation counsel Ellen Ha, head of the city's Freedom of Information Section, about the existence of any "confidential" agreements that may not have been included in the settlement approved by City Council.
Both she and corporation counsel Valerie A. Colbert-Osamuede, who was part of Kilpatrick's defense team, told the judge no city lawyers or their agents were part of any deal or had knowledge of such an agreement.
Ha paused, however, when the judge asked her if Kilpatrick as a private citizen -- not as mayor -- could have reached a separate deal unbeknownst to city lawyers.
"Does it exist? ... it could," Ha told the judge.
Former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and former Officer Harold Nelthrope received an $8 million settlement from a jury that concluded Kilpatrick and his staff had retaliated against them for looking into how he conducted his business, including whether he used his body guards to facilitate sexual liaisons.
Former Officer Walt Harris received $400,000 for similar claims, but his case never went to trial. Harris, a former Kilpatrick bodyguard, testified at the trial that he drove Kilpatrick to meet women, including Beatty at her home when her husband wasn't there. The couple has since divorced.
Attorney Michael L. Stefani, who represented the police officers, revealed he had a "confidentiality agreement" preventing him from talking about certain aspects of the settlement, the text messages and whether they still existed.
The fired cops and Stefani had been very vocal about the case until recently.
Reached Friday afternoon, Nelthrope confirmed a confidential settlement agreement but declined to talk about it or the latest revelations involving Kilpatrick and a side deal.
"I'm not even thinking about what's going on right now. I have other things going on in my life," Nelthrope said.
Brown declined to comment.
Although Stefani had requested the records before the trial began, he did not receive the text messages until about two weeks after a jury, on Sept. 10, awarded Brown and Nelthrope $6.5 million plus interest.
The text messages, obtained by the Detroit Free Press, would have been bombshells if they had come up at the trial.
Not only did they show that Kilpatrick and Beatty had a sexual, intimate relationship but in the messages the pair stated they had fired Brown and had not simply demoted him.
During trial, Stefani had the right to ask the trial judge to review the messages to see if they contradicted anything that Kilpatrick and Beatty testified about, but he did not do so. The lawyer did say in negotiating a settlement with the city that he agreed to lower some of his legal fees.
By the time Stefani got the messages, he was waiting to see if the mayor would drop his threatened appeal of the verdict, which could have delayed the payout. Then, on Oct. 17, Kilpatrick announced he would settle for $8 million.
The agreements were signed by the ex-cops Nov. 1, but the mayor's lawyer, Sam McCargo, did not sign them until Dec. 5.
Although McCargo ostensibly was hired to handle the whistleblowers suit -- he had already been paid $169,000 even before the trial began -- Kilpatrick has also leaned on him for more personal representation.
McCargo has not returned repeated calls from The Detroit News.
The city's corporation counsel, John E. Johnson, denied there were any side deals and declined to comment further.
Deputy running city
At City Hall Friday, the mayor and Beatty both were absent, and the City Council became more and more focused on the scandal.
Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams is running the government in Kilpatrick's absence from his office, but aides said the mayor is in touch by Blackberry and telephone.
Kilpatrick, his wife and three sons left their Tallahassee, Fla., vacation home as reporters descended Thursday. The city-owned Manoogian Mansion was surrounded by news media trucks and cars Friday, but his whereabouts weren't certain.
The City Council fretted whether the interests of residents and taxpayers were given short-shrift by a secret deal that attempted to minimize Kilpatrick's embarrassment and potential criminal liability.
"I'm very concerned if he is blurring the lines between his duties as a public official and a private citizen," said Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel.
Council aides are trying to determine if a secret side deal cut without its knowledge and approval would enable the council, on behalf of the taxpayers who paid the damages, compel the mayor to repay the settlement.
Worthy: 'Fair' investigation
In a brief statement to reporters, Worthy promised that her office "will conduct an independent investigation that will be fair, impartial and thorough."
Lying under oath -- perjury -- is a felony that carries up to 15 years in prison.
Worthy took no questions after her statement; spokeswoman Maria Miller would not say who is in charge of the investigation or how long it might take. But she said no outside police agencies are involved.
It's unusual, but not unprecedented, for county prosecutors to conduct their own criminal investigations. Typically, investigations are conducted by police agencies which then present the results to prosecutors to decide whether charges should be brought.
Worthy's office has conducted several embezzlement and bribery investigations and has an open investigation into the death of Tamara Greene, the slain exotic dancer who was linked to a long rumored but never substantiated party at the Manoogian Mansion.
The dean of Michigan prosecutors, Gary L. Walker, who has been Marquette County prosecutor for close to 35 years, said most suspected crimes are investigated by the police but prosecutors have the power to do it also.
If Worthy had wanted to hand the issue off to another county prosecutor, she would have had to ask Attorney General Mike Cox to appoint a special prosecutor, Walker said.
Out of sight, Kilpatrick huddles with advisers
Detroit News
January 29, 2008
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick met with key advisers at the Manoogian Mansion on Monday contemplating how to respond to the growing questions about his behavior, but gave no indication when he might come out and speak to the residents of Detroit.
Cars and people came and went as television trucks, reporters and photographers staked out the city-owned mansion.
About 1 p.m., an unidentified man dropped off Mountain Dew and bags of carryout from the Chicken Shack. The mayor's father and political confidante, Bernard Kilpatrick, also toted in a plate of food and pop.
Kilpatrick's last public appearance was at a Martin Luther King Jr. event in Asheville, N.C., a week ago. Among those events he has scrapped since the text messaging scandal broke were scheduled appearances at the National Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, where he was to speak on the crisis in home foreclosures. He didn't attend services at his church Sunday.
He also customarily attends the governor's annual State of the State address, which is at 7 tonight. There was no immediate word as to whether he would be there.
At City Hall on Monday, the mayor's spokesman, James Canning, would say only that "the mayor doesn't have a public schedule today."
Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams, who is running the city while Kilpatrick is out, likewise would not comment when he arrived at work at 7 a.m.
At the mansion on the city's east side, several miles from City Hall, Kilpatrick huddled with aides including his attorney, William Mitchell, and his liaison to the City Council, Kandia Milton. Some council members took initial steps Monday to order their own investigation into whether the mayor's response to the whistleblowers suit filed by two former police officers cost the city unnecessarily.
The group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) on Monday called for his resignation.
BAMN, which describes itself as dedicated to defending "affirmative action, integration, and the other gains of the civil rights movement of the 1960s," has been at odds with the mayor. A protest including BAMN supporters and at least two local city union is planned for City Hall on Wednesday.
"We can not allow our city to be paralyzed by the mayor's latest scandal," BAMN said in a prepared statement.
"Kilpatrick has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not consider himself bound by the will or needs of his constituents. Mayor Kilpatrick has already done enough damage to the city. If he has any regard for the people of this city he will resign immediately."
Steve Mitchell, a political consultant who worked for Kilpatrick during his first term, was surprised he hasn't surfaced publicly yet, but said his lawyers are probably advising him against saying too much, given the pending criminal investigation mounted by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
But at the least, Mitchell said, Kilpatrick should make a short apology because pressure is growing for him to appear publicly.
The mayor has hired well-known attorney Meyer Morganroth, but not for this case. Morganroth, reached in Florida, said he is representing the mayor and the city in a lawsuit filed by the family of dancer Tamara Greene; the family says the city failed to investigate her death.
The scandal continued to be the talk of Metro Detroit. "Where's Kwame?" T-shirts were offered for $9.99 on eBay.
Sharon McPhail, Kilpatrick's general counsel, said Monday she had spoken with the mayor and he urged her to "just get the job done."
"He was all about business," said McPhail. But she said he's told his staff that he is "very regretful" about the situation.
Detroit moves to quash text message subpoena
Detroit News
February 1, 2008
DETROIT -- The city has moved to quash a subpoena served on the Detroit Free Press for text messages exchanged between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff.
The subpoena seeking records from the newspaper was filed by Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma, who represents the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene. That lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit in 2005, alleges the police failed to properly investigate Greene's death for political reasons and interfered with former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and other officers pursuing the investigation.
The city denies the claims. Greene, whose name was linked to a long rumored but never substantiated stag party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003, according to court records.
Yatooma said last week he plans to subpoena anyone who may have copies of text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty in 2002 and 2003 because they undermine the city's claim that Brown was not fired. Excerpts from the text messages were first published by the Free Press last week and a copy of a subpoena from Yatooma seeking the messages from the newspaper was filed in federal court this week.
Late Thursday, the city of Detroit filed a motion to quash the subpoena, saying it "seeks documents that are completely irrelevant" to the case. The subpoena is also premature because the city has not yet had a chance to try to dismiss the most recent version of the Tamara Greene lawsuit, filed on Feb. 12, the city's court filing said. U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen had earlier dismissed complaints against Kilpatrick and most other defendants named in earlier versions of the suit.
The Free Press has not yet filed a motion to quash the subpoena. Herschel Fink, a lawyer for the newspaper, said today he did not think the newspaper has been served with the subpoena. If it has been served, the newspaper will also seek to quash the subpoena, he said.
"If Yatooma wants the text messages, he knows where to get them -- and it's not the Free Press," Fink said.
Family of slain Detroit stripper seeks City Hall records
Detroit News
February 12, 2008
DETROIT -- The lawyer representing the family of Tamara Greene, a slain exotic dancer whose name was linked to a widely rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in 2002, subpoenaed a huge raft of new documents today, including records related to a prosecutor's investigation of Greene's death and satellite positioning records showing where various city employees were at the time she was shot to death.
Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma, representing Greene's son, Jonathan Bond, had already sought pager text messages and e-mail messages for 34 city officials. Yatooma added eight new names to the list Monday, including Detroit Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott and Matt Allen, the former press secretary to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The city's attorney on the case, Mayer Morganroth, said the city will seek to quash the subpoenas and records related to an ongoing criminal investigation at the Wayne County prosecutor's office.
"It's harassment and overwhelming," said Morganroth, adding that Yatooma has requested "literally millions of documents."
Greene was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Yatooma said he believes she performed at the rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion late in 2002. The lawsuit alleges Bond, a teenager, was denied access to the courts to make a wrongful death claim because the Detroit police investigation into Greene's death was halted prematurely for political reasons.
He believes his case is strengthened by the text message scandal involving Kilpatrick. The messages between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, appear to contradict their testimony in a whistle-blowers' trial that former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, who had looked into reports of the rumored party, wasn't fired.
Yatooma is seeking information from anyone who may have sent or received communications about the party, Greene's death, or the investigation into Greene's death, he said.
Among the items Yatooma subpoenaed Monday from SkyTel, the city's pager company, is global positioning satellite information showing where various city officials were on the morning Greene was shot. Yatooma said he believes the SkyTel pagers, which are issued to some but not all city employees and police officers, contain GPS tracking information.
"I feel like we're making the first steps" to find out what happened, Yatooma said.
Yatooma also subpoenaed records from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and an assistant prosecutor in her office. Worthy has an open investigation into Greene's death.
The city of Detroit asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss the lawsuit. Earlier versions of the lawsuit, first filed in 2005, were dismissed twice by U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen. The city said in a court filing late Friday that if "veiled allegations that a police officer killed Greene were true, which they are not," it was in state court, not federal court, that Yatooma should have brought a wrongful death lawsuit.
Counsel: Suit deal ethical
Detroit's top attorney defends department role in whistle-blower case
Detroit News
February 12, 2008
DETROIT -- In a Jan. 30 e-mail Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson Jr. sent to his staff in the wake of the text message scandal, he refers to "all of the recent media hoopla" surrounding the scandal and then attempts to quash concerns over whether he and other city lawyers had acted ethically.
"The attorneys in this matter, Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, Sam McCargo and Wilson Copeland vigorously represented the City and the Mayor, and at all times exhibited integrity and competence," he wrote. "I was personally involved in the settlement, and can assure you that we represented the City in a completely ethical and professional manner."
James Canning, a spokesman for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said Johnson was referring to the $8.4 million settlement and not the side deal Kilpatrick and then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty inked as private citizens.
Johnson said no city attorney, either in-house or outside counsel, ever "possessed, read or used those text messages."
He also reiterated that the $8 million to settle the lawsuit filed by Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope "was in the best interest" of the city. He notes that when the matter was settled, the city owed $9.4 million for both the jury verdict and interest dating back to when it was originally filed in 2003.
"The media is hell bent on framing this as a conspiracy to hide the truth," Johnson wrote to his staff, which he asked to contact him personally if they still had questions. "Please keep in mind that this was a Whistleblower case involving the alleged firing of a person for investigating a still-unproven party. This was not about two people (the Mayor and Ms. Beatty) on trial for alleged adultery."
One of the elements of the whistleblowers lawsuit was that the officers, Nelthrope and Brown, had been retaliated against because had police probed allegations they had raised of misconduct by the mayor's staff, they may have uncovered the affair.
In addition, Kilpatrick and Beatty adamantly testified they only demoted Brown, but the text messages indicate they believed they had fired him.
The details of the secret deal did not come out until more than a week after Johnson's e-mail.
In addition, the Detroit City Council today is expected to consider hiring from among a who's who list of prominent local attorneys, including Wayne State's law school dean and ex-U.S. attorneys, for help in the scandal.
The council wants legal advice from outside the city law department because it believes city attorneys withheld the existence of a secret side deal, signed by Kilpatrick, to hide damaging text messages in exchange for settling the whistle-blowers' suits.
The council signed off on the deal obligating the city to pay $8.4 million to ex-cops who believed they were demoted or fired because they were looking into behavior in the mayor's office.
Among the outside attorneys the council is considering hiring: Former U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District Saul Green, Jeffrey Collins and James K. Robinson.
Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said she wants an aggressive attorney who will "not be intimidated by the administration."
"I would like us to get someone who has a little fire in their belly," Collins said.
Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. wants the council to intervene in The Detroit News' and Free Press' lawsuit aimed at forcing Kilpatrick to release the remaining secret documents.
A Wayne County judge ordered the city to release them, and the Michigan Court of Appeals is reviewing the ruling.
The released documents show Kilpatrick signed an agreement to keep the messages secret. Those messages contradict his sworn denials of an affair with Beatty, and that Beatty fired police Deputy Chief Gary Brown, one of three police officers who sued the city. The council could vote as early as today on an outside attorney and whether to intervene in the case seeking release of the documents. Both proposals appear to have enough votes to pass.
At least three of the seven attorneys being considered said they would be available for council interviews today, city clerk staffers said Monday afternoon. There's been no discussion yet of how much it would pay.
Royal Oak attorney Robert Palmer, who had been the leading council choice, was removed from consideration Monday because his law partner, Michael Pitt, was quoted in a profile of Michael Stefani in Monday's Detroit News. Stefani was the attorney who represented the ex-cops.
"It's very important whoever we hire does not have even the appearance of a conflict of interest," said Cockrel, who removed Palmer for consideration.
Brown said Monday that Jeffrey Collins, who was the U.S. attorney for the eastern district from 2001-04, is a friend.
"(Collins) knows how to separate business from neighbors," said Brown. "He'll do what's in the best interest of the city."
Collins didn't return calls to his office Monday.
Besides Collins, Green and James K. Robinson, the candidates include:
William Goodman, former legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, currently in private practice in Detroit specializing in civil rights law.
David A. Robinson, a former officer with the Detroit Police Department who has specialized in police misconduct lawsuits.
Amos Williams, who ran unsuccessfully in 2006 for Michigan attorney general.
Frank Wu, outgoing dean of the Wayne State University law school.
The council also is expected to meet in a closed session today, to be briefed on the lawsuit over the settlement documents and a separate lawsuit filed by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, whose name was linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated party at Manoogian Mansion.
MANOOGIAN MANSION PARTY Ch 4 INVESTIGATION
WDIV News - Detroit
Feb 14, 2008
In this 2005 video WDIV Detroit/Kevin Dietz investigates the "Alleged" 2002 Manoogian Mansion Party at the residence of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, now under investigation for a text message scandal and for perjury. Southfield Chief of Police is on camera stating he was invited to the Party. Ambulance driver also interviewed about Strippers. A.G.Mike Cox also interviewed
Solving Detroit murders should be a top priority
Detroit News
February 15, 2008
Homicides in Detroit declined last year compared with the prior year, but too many are still unsolved. All of the members of the criminal justice system, police, prosecutors and the courts, should work together to improve the murder clearance rate.
Last year, there were 17 fewer homicides than in 2006, according to Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings. That's good news, but the fact remains that according to the department's own statistics, it had a 44 percent closure rate -- in which suspects were arrested and presented for prosecution. That's below the national average, based on the most recent statistics, of around 60 percent overall and a bit more than 50 percent for larger cities.
The police chief and her spokesman point to other segments of the system, including the prosecutor's office and the courts, as part of the problem. The chief says the police aren't getting warrants issued for some cases from the prosecutor. And her spokesman, James Tate, points to the arrest Thursday of a youth for a shooting who'd previously been picked up in a carjacking. "How'd he get out?" If more pending warrants are issued, the percentage could improve to 49 percent, they say.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has replied that it is the department's responsibility, not the prosecutor's, to fully investigate homicides in Detroit and bring prosecution-ready cases.
Tate acknowledges the police role and says the chief does not want to fight with the prosecutor. That's good, because some sort of feud won't solve the problem. The monthly meetings between the chief and prosecutor would be a good place to work out ideas for improving the clearance rate.
It is true, as the chief notes, that many murders have a drug connection and many witnesses are reluctant to come forward. That, says Tate, is the biggest problem in solving murders.
But it is also true that, as University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford has noted in a study on homicide clearance rates, "organization matters."
Unsolved murders breed suspicion and problems for the city. The family of murdered stripper Tamara Greene, for example, has filed suit in Detroit Federal Court contending that police officers were pulled off an investigation of her slaying for "political reasons." The city denies it.
And family members of Kyle Smith have said they have been told the police have a strong witness in her murder during Detroit's Super Bowl events, but can't bring the case to closure.
There ought to be some accountability within the criminal investigation system for seeing that there is appropriate investigation and follow-up.
The chief says she has instituted special meetings with her command officers that have led to a reduction in murders and shootings.
She and the prosecutor also should see if they can discover if aspects of murder cases are somehow falling through the cracks in the system.
The taking of a human life should carry a greater risk of arrest and prosecution in this city.
Hip-hop twist
Detroit Metro Times
Feb 20, 2008
He was long ago christened "the hip-hop mayor" — so when even the local rap community starts to turn on Kwame Kilpatrick, it's a good indicator that he's losing some of his staunchest allies.
A Detroit-based rapper named the Virus has just recorded a new track that points an accusatory finger at the mayor, linking him to the highly publicized 2003 murder of the stripper named Tamara "Strawberry" Greene (who is rumored to have performed at a Manoogian Mansion party dubbed an urban legend following an investigation by the state's attorney general) — and alleges that the Kilpatrick administration covered the whole sordid mess up.
The track — titled "Strawberry Letter 313 (If I Did It ...)" — is based around samples from the 1977 Brothers Johnson hit, composed by the legendary Shuggie Otis, "Strawberry Letter 23" (as well as taking its subtitle from O.J. Simpson's notorious book). Music biz legend Quincy Jones — who produced the original track and owns the publishing rights — has approved the samples, as has Universal Records, according to the track's executive producer, Jerome Almo.
In 2005, a jury awarded $200,000 to Alvin Bowman, a former Detroit police lieutenant who alleged in a lawsuit against the city that he was transferred out of the department's homicide unit as retaliation for investigating the death of Greene, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
"Right now, he's a walking stereotype," says Almon of the mayor, "and I know the hip-hop community is running away from him because he's a fake. He doesn't really care about the hip-hop community any more than he cares about the greater Detroit community or the church, with the amount of money he's taken from us, not to mention his actions. To me, the hip-hop community is more positive than negative these days. There's been too much violence over the years, a la Tupac, and he's just bringing up all those bad memories. He's not the hip-hop mayor. He's just another extremely corrupt politician who's broken every one of the Ten Commandments."
Almon and the Virus have gained a much larger profile in the last week due to the track. "Based on the notoriety we've been receiving, this track is headed for platinum with a bullet, pun intended," Almon laughs.
Just go
Detroit Metro Times
Feb 27, 2008
The scene last week in the Detroit City Council chamber was deceptively cordial.
In a rare appearance before this city's legislative body, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick once again displayed many of the qualities that helped him become the youngest man to ever lead Detroit. The intelligence and command of facts, engaging manner and the ability to seem candid even under difficult circumstances — all were apparent as he sat calmly in the packed room, the focus of everyone's attention.
A respectful council asked tough questions — about police department staffing, about the budget and about plans to stimulate the local economy ... Kilpatrick fielded the council's queries with ease, taking a bit of blame for some of the problems, explaining away others with the promise that fixes were under way, all the while giving the impression that he was firmly in control and that the city is in capable hands.
Business as usual.
Except that we all know it is not business as usual in Detroit these days. The mayor's performance was a fig leaf unable to conceal the truth: He has failed this city and the voters who put their trust in him. His credibility is in tatters and his reputation indelibly stained. And as a result, this beleaguered city has become the punch line for jokesters from The Washington Post to Real Time with Bill Maher.
But he says he won't quit on us. Because, as he says, he's on a mission from God. And as for the scandal enveloping him and this city for the past month, well, as Kilpatrick told one local radio station, "God let this happen to me."
As if he were somehow hit by a random lightning bolt, and it was just him suffering the consequences of his actions. That one line says a lot: Whatever happens, it is all about Kwame Kilpatrick.
But it is not just about him. It is about this city, and the people who live and work here, the taxpayers who pay the mayor to represent our interests and improve our lot; it's about a region that has Detroit as its heart and the mayor of Detroit as its most prominent politician.
So, if what Kilpatrick says is true, and it was indeed his deity that somehow let all this happen, then we have a question for the theologians out there: What's God got against Detroit?
Because what God "let" happen to Kwame Kilpatrick has cost this impoverished city $9 million and counting. And that's just the part we can put a price tag on.
In 2002, Kwame Kilpatrick, then 31, strode into office carrying a world of promise on his massive shoulders, a young, charismatic politician whose future seemed to have no bounds. The voice of a new generation, he vowed that a resurgence, which took wing under Mayor Dennis Archer's administration during the 1990s, would gain even more impetus under his youthful, energetic leadership.
Kilpatrick pulled off hosting Super Bowl XL, revised development deals with the city's three casinos that resulted in permanent gambling houses and hotels being built, closed a deal to restore the landmark Book-Cadillac Hotel. The NEXT Detroit project is to revitalize six targeted neighborhoods over five years; Quicken Loans is to relocate its headquarters downtown. There have been years during his administration when, remarkably, Detroit has led the area in housing starts. The mayor has also made some unpopular but necessary changes, most notably the significant downsizing of the city's workforce to reflect the reality of a less populous city.
Those accomplishments make Kilpatrick's fall from grace all the more a heartbreaker for many of those who once believed in him.
But there is an even greater tragedy under way — the tragedy of a city that has long struggled to lift itself from urban decay and disinvestment only to find yet another massive impediment on its uphill road to recovery. The tragedy of a city that suddenly finds its attention focused not on revival efforts but rather speculation about whether its mayor is going to be charged with perjury, speculation about court maneuvers, about investigations, about the morning's headlines and sound bites in the city's ongoing soap opera.
"I keep trying to get attention focused on these very important issues — what to do with the waste incinerator, the issue of predatory lending and home foreclosures, regional transportation issues — but I can't get publicity for these things," says Councilmember JoAnn Watson. "The climate has been challenged by trust issues and integrity issues. The atmosphere here is very heavy with tension and drama. Business has not stopped, but it is a real challenge getting around the cloak of intrigue surrounding this crisis."
These are the questions occupying the minds of people not just in Detroit but throughout the metro area: Will Kwame Kilpatrick remain in office? And if he does, how effective a leader can he be after sustaining the immense political damage from a long-simmering scandal that boiled over last month when the Detroit Free Press uncovered tawdry text messages between the mayor and the woman who served as his chief of staff. (The Kilpatrick administration, for the record, has claimed — and the Freep has denied — that the messages were obtained illegally. The administration hasn't protested their accuracy.)
Text messages prove the mayor and his mistress, Christine Beatty, lied under oath while on the stand during a whistle-blower lawsuit last year, and lied for years before that after allegations of impropriety became public as far back as 2003.
Opinions vary as to whether the mayor can retain his office. The offspring of a powerful political family — his mother is a former state legislator and current member of Congress, and his father served as a Wayne County Commissioner and then chief of staff to former County Executive Ed McNamara — Kilpatrick might still defy the odds and keep calling the Manoogian Mansion home.
But doing so would not be in the best interests of Detroit.
Kilpatrick says he would never quit on this city. But he has already failed us.
Our city — just identified by Forbes magazine as America's worst big city — can no longer afford having Kwame Kilpatrick as mayor.
We can't afford the financial costs of Kwame Kilpatrick's blundering, bad judgment and arrogance. And we can't afford the distractions those character flaws have created.
We can't afford his lies and cover-ups. We certainly can't afford the divisiveness he fosters when, to divert blame for wrongdoing, he claims to be the victim of racism and mass media simply manufacturing scandal to boost television ratings and newspaper circulation. And that's not to overlook the wariness and hostility in some quarters to a thirtysomething African-American who dresses sharp and identifies himself as the hip-hop mayor.
Let's be clear about one thing: We would not be calling upon Kwame Kilpatrick to resign if all he'd done was have extramarital affairs come to light. History is filled with politicians similarly inclined, who managed to serve their constituents well. Even for a politician, there is such a thing as a personal matter.
Look at the sex ads in the back of this paper. No one has ever accused us of being prudes, or of pretending to be holier than thou. And we don't expect our politicians to be saints. We do, however, expect them to tell the truth, especially when they are on the witness stand and under oath.
Certainly the mayor would like to have us think that this scandal is all about the sex. Such a transgression should be easy to overlook, especially when the betrayed wife is willing to choke back humiliation as she steps stone-faced into the harsh spotlight and stands by her man.
If Carlita Kilpatrick can forgive Kwame's carousing, then we the public certainly should be able to do the same and accept his apology.
But for the public, there have been so many interlocked transgressions that we can't be exactly sure what he's apologizing for.
We do know this: He never issued a direct apology to the cops whose careers he ruined for doing nothing more than their jobs.
And that is what this is all about — that and the wave of problems those firings have created.
It is about a city swimming in red ink having to pay out nearly $9 million to three good cops who had their lives upended by a mayor who ruthlessly attacked them, slandering their reputations to protect himself.
No one should be surprised by all this. Evidence of Kilpatrick's reliance on mendacity as a handy political tool surfaced before.
When running against Gil Hill for mayor in 2001, Kilpatrick lambasted his rival for accepting campaign contributions from controversial attorney Geoffrey Fieger, a white suburbanite. That proved to be a mistake, because Fieger quickly responded by releasing a voice-mail message from Kilpatrick asking the lawyer to support his campaign.
During that same election, the mayor-to-be was asked about a $50,000 donation to one of his nonprofit entities from the operator of a homeless shelter himself under a legal cloud. Kilpatrick blithely responded that he would have asked Mother Teresa for a donation if she were still writing checks. Realizing afterward that it was probably a bad idea to be making that kind of crack about the sainted and deceased Nobel laureate, Kilpatrick, as The Detroit News reported at the time, then denied in a radio interview that he'd ever made so crass a comment.
The most blatant example came in early 2005, when Steve Wilson, the investigative reporter for television station WXYZ, discovered that the administration had surreptitiously leased a luxury Lincoln Navigator for the mayor's wife and children to be chauffeured around in. This when the administration was announcing the need for hundreds of layoffs to help address a projected $230 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year.
What fueled the outrage was the fact that the cherry-red Navigator was leased for $24,995 — $5 below the limit that would trigger the need for City Council approval of the contract. Even worse was the fact that the initial response from Kilpatrick and his chief of police, Ella Bully-Cummings, was to say that the vehicle had been obtained for use by undercover narcs — because, apparently, that's the kind of flashy vehicle drug dealers roll in.
Kilpatrick finally fessed up, sort of, attributing his initial lies to "communication" problems. He promised to correct that by holding weekly news conferences; they lasted about six weeks, then he stopped showing up.
The Navigator fiasco seems like small change compared to the recent payout to cops, but at the time it seemed to offer the kind of concrete evidence that the public could wrap its mind around, the anecdote that illuminates a larger truth.
But 10 months later, the people of Detroit re-elected Kwame Kilpatrick to a second term as mayor.
REGIONAL EYES
When people talk about the need for southeast Michigan to come together and function as a cohesive region, they are not mouthing platitudes. They are acknowledging the realities of a global economy.
We will rise or fall as a region. And Kwame Kilpatrick is an impediment to regional cooperation because he fans the flames of racism — and the urban-suburban divide it helps create — every time he tries to use it as a defense.
That was never more apparent than when a jury of 11 whites and one black found in favor of two former cops who had filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against Kilpatrick, his chief of staff Christine Beatty and the city. Never mind that the two ex-cops — former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope, who served on Kilpatrick's security detail — are also black. So is Walt Harris, another former Kilpatrick bodyguard who received a $400,000 settlement after claiming that he too was harassed after speaking out about problems with the mayor's security detail.
Kilpatrick took the same low road when locked in a vicious re-election battle against challenger Freman Hendrix in 2005. That was when one of Kilpatrick's campaign operatives ran a newspaper ad depicting the mayor as the victim of a media lynch mob. Among the members of this mob was Metro Times columnist Jack Lessenberry. Also pictured in the ad was radio talk show host Mildred Gaddis, who is an African-American. Kilpatrick never disavowed the ads. After he was re-elected, Gaddis says Kilpatrick sent her funeral flowers.
When Kilpatrick first ran for office, part of his promise was that his youth would help him break down the racial barriers that keep Detroit so terribly divided from the rest of this region.
Tom Barwin, then city manager for the city of Ferndale, looked forward to that promise being fulfilled. But he never saw it. Now manager for the village of Oak Park on the outskirts of Chicago, Barwin was a driving force behind formation of a coalition of older suburbs surrounding Detroit in 2002.
"When I was in Ferndale, we did what I thought was the closest thing to a miracle Detroit could ever hope for by forming the Michigan Suburbs Alliance," says Barwin. The nonprofit organization brought together older, inner-ring suburbs beginning to experience some of the same problems Detroit had been dealing with for decades. With issues such as smart growth and regional mass transit atop its agenda, and almost a million people in the cities represented, the group offered the prospect of being a powerful ally for Detroit.
"If I had been the mayor of Detroit and heard about what we were doing, I would have got down on my knees and thanked the Lord. But we couldn't even get in to see the mayor."
It was a huge disappointment.
"A lot of us were really enthused by the mayor's rhetoric when he was running for office," says Barwin. "That rhetoric may have even helped lead to our coalition-building."
But once Kilpatrick got into office, the tune changed.
"It was our clear impression that Detroit and the mayor were not understanding the real-world need to build coalitions," says Barwin. "The message we got was, 'We don't need any great white hope to come in and save us.' It was a continuation of metro Detroit's unfortunate racial stratification."
Looking at the situation from afar now, he sees Kilpatrick's current problems as doing even further damage to any prospects of regional bridge-building.
"If you lose your integrity, or are even perceived to have lost your integrity, it is tough to get much accomplished," he says.
And what does attempting to deflect blame by playing the race card do?
"In terms of public policy," Barwin says, "playing that card is a disaster."
But there's more than that one blunt club in our mayor's deck.
"Kwame Kilpatrick has consistently played three cards — the media card, the race card and the God card," says political consultant Sam Riddle. "And we can't let him get away with it anymore, because it is an insult to everybody."
In 2005, Riddle worked to help get Kilpatrick re-elected. Now he works as chief of staff for City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers. If Kilpatrick were to leave office early, Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. would move into the mayor's office and Conyers would become council president. But Riddle says his motivation for speaking out against Kilpatrick has nothing to do with helping his boss move up Detroit's political ladder.
"I helped get this guy re-elected," says Riddle. "But now I have to be on the opposite side. It is the decent thing to do. It is the right thing to do. This administration has institutionalized arrogance."
"This is a guy who had the whole national stage at his beck and call," says Riddle, observing that Kilpatrick had the potential to take the same meteoric rise now being experienced by Illinois Senator Barak Obama. Instead, a lack of "moral fiber" has caused that future to flame out.
"I'm disappointed," Riddle says, "and I'm acting on that disappointment by speaking out now."
Riddle describes a city government at war with itself, with the administration on one side of the barricade and the council on the other. Predicting that the situation is "going to get uglier before it gets better," he contends the administration is "mortally wounded."
But don't expect the mayor to suddenly decide to leave before forcing us all to suffer the agony of his administration's potential death throes.
Riddle isn't alone when he speculates that one reason Kilpatrick's refusing to resign now is to hold a bargaining chip; if Kilpatrick is indicted for perjury, he could use his exit as a way to negotiate a lesser charge or lesser penalties, much the same way former Vice President Spiro Agnew did when accused of corruption during his days in Richard Nixon's administration. Others speculate he'd rather fight the potential charges as mayor than as a private citizen.
Speaking of Nixon, people looking to make analogies between Kilpatrick's situation now and similarities to experiences occupants of the Oval Office have had might be better served paying more attention to Tricky Dick and less to Bill Clinton.
Yes, Clinton lied in a deposition and to the public about having sex with "that woman" Monica Lewinsky. But Clinton's dissembling was so far removed from the underlying crime being pursued by Special Prosecutor Ken Starr that few Americans could explain the connection even at the time. Kilpatrick, on the other hand, did more than lie about not having sex with former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, who recently resigned in disgrace. The mayor and his mistress stopped an investigation by Internal Affairs head Gary Brown.
Brown was responding to allegations made by bodyguard Harold Nelthrope that Kilpatrick pals running his security detail (and facilitating his philandering) were adding hundreds of hours of unearned overtime to their pay sheets, and that these same guys had been drinking and driving city vehicles, allegedly resulting in at least one accident that was said to have been covered up.
And then there's the infamous party at the Manoogian Mansion — the party Attorney General Mike Cox declared "urban legend" after conducting an investigation that neglected to produce sworn statements from any potential witnesses. It's at this same party that never happened that Carlita Kilpatrick was rumored to have shown up unexpectedly and attacked and injured one of the strippers.
And Brown's investigation wasn't the only one that was shut down. After a stripper named Tamara Greene, who performed under the name Strawberry, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting, the homicide investigator looking into that killing was transferred out of the unit and the case was prematurely put into the "cold case" file.
That cop, the now-retired Lt. Alvin Bowman, also sued, claiming he too was the victim of retaliation. A jury sided with Bowman in 2005, awarding him $200,000.
So you can add that to the tab of the party that never happened.
In addition, one consequence of the recent text message revelations is that a stalled lawsuit brought on behalf of Greene's children has been revived, with their attorney seeking yet more of the messages, and Greene's mysterious death again making headlines. (The Detroit Police Department has even asked the public for help with tips in the case in recent weeks.)
What's sad from a taxpayer perspective is that most of the $9 million that has been paid out so far could have stayed in the city's coffers instead of going into the pockets of wronged cops and attorneys. Brown — whose stature and sterling reputation leant credibility to all the allegations of retaliation — told Metro Times in the past that he would have walked from the force quietly if the Kilpatrick administration had just allowed him to retire as a deputy chief instead of first firing him, then lying about that and forcing his retirement at a lower rank and pay grade.
And here's another thing to remember about those text messages uncovered and published by the Free Press: They weren't all about illicit sex between Kilpatrick and Beatty. Some of them recorded a back-and-forth chat between the two as they discussed the need to fire Brown, something they claimed under oath not to have done.
That, however, doesn't guarantee the two will be convicted of perjury if charges they are brought by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. One legal expert we talked to, Detroit appellate attorney Mark Bendure, explained to us that proving the charge — which carries with it a potentially penalty of 15 years in prison for each lie told — can be more difficult than many laymen assume.
From questions about corroborating evidence to potential questions about the text messages under wiretap statutes, he describes this case as having "a whole lot of practical wrinkles." And those are aside from the politics of an elected prosecutor and a sitting mayor.
And, absent being forced from the mayoralty, there are plenty of people who believe that our mayor could remain in office at least until he's up for re-election again in 2009.
"Before this scandal, I told people he could be mayor for as long as he wanted. Now I'm not saying that," says Ollie A. Johnson III, an assistant professor of African studies at Wayne State University who has written extensively on black politics in America and Latin America.
But he isn't predicting an early exit for Kilpatrick either.
"He still has that talent for connecting with people and making things happen."
The mayor can still count on a certain level of support from black churches, black activists and black media. There have been no large shows of support for the mayor — at least not yet — like the letter of support signed by 150 Detroit ministers in the last election race. "He's an embarrassment to this city and to his supporters and that's just the reality of the situation," says Johnson.
On the other hand, adds Johnson: "I think it is very difficult to predict how it's going to eventually be resolved because there are so many potential variables at play. He shouldn't be counted out."
THE SURVIVOR
If he does stay in office, how effective can Kilpatrick be?
No one we've talked to predicts the city will grind to a halt, but many worry about how much a city facing enormous challenges can get done with the multiple distractions of courts, investigations and newspaper headlines.
One investment counselor with a number of wealthy clients who do business in Detroit told us that as long as there's money to be made here, people will continue to invest no matter who it is in the mayor's office that's cutting deals.
That may be true, but getting anything achieved for the foreseeable future is, at very best, going to be a much more difficult task for the Kilpatrick administration than it has been in the past.
"There's no way he can continue to exert power and influence the way a popular incumbent could," says Bill Ballenger, editor of the publication Inside Michigan Politics. "A lot of the mayor's power is derived from people being afraid of him coming down on them and playing hardball. But no one is fearing him now. He's like a drowning man reaching for a life raft."
Political consultant Riddle made a similar observation:
"What's the incentive for people to cut a deal with a mayor whose longevity is suspect, and whose word is suspect? Where's the incentive to do business with him if he might not be around to close the deal?"
There's no telling what surprises the coming days and weeks could bring. The state Supreme Court could issue its ruling regarding the disclosure of secret documents associated with the whistle-blower case at any time.
Moreover, the Free Press still has those 14,000 text messages in its possession. During a recent appearance on the local public radio program Detroit Today, M.L. Elrick, half of the reporting team that broke the text message story, said that there is much more there than what has been reported so far, and that more stories are in the works.
And then there's the City Council, which Riddle says could be the real wild card in this deck. He explains that, according to the City Charter, council has the ability to hold "Watergate-style hearings, complete with subpoenas," and that if the mayor is found to be in violation of the charter — by using public office for private gain, to cite just one example — council could force his removal from office.
In addition, the city's Board of Ethics was asked last week to evaluate a complaint filed against Kilpatrick as a result of the recent revelations. The board has the power to investigate complaints against public officials and recommend forfeiture of office to the City Council.
Beyond that, the City Council has hired its own attorney — esteemed civil rights litigator Bill Goodman — to represent that body. Last week Goodman filed documents with the state Supreme Court urging disclosure of the whistle-blower case documents the Kilpatrick administration is trying to keep secret. The council approved the settlement after being kept in the dark about the full agreement.
Two lower courts have already ruled against the administration, and experts say it is highly unlikely the Supreme Court would overturn those decisions.
Attempts by the administration and its lawyers to defend their position have been positively Orwellian in terms of the doublespeak being unleashed. They are in the unenviable position of trying to convince the public that documents they initially claimed didn't exist somehow haven't been kept secret while at the same time declaring the attempts to keep the information secret is really in the best interest of all of us.
In his court filings, Goodman quoted a ruling by the highly respected Detroit jurist Damon Keith, senior judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
"Democracies die behind closed doors," wrote Keith. "When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation."
Aside from the outrage of trying to keep public information hidden, if the administration loses, as is highly likely, the city will almost certainly be required to pick up the tab for lawyers representing Detroit's two daily papers attempting to bring the documents into the public realm. That's a provision of Michigan's Freedom of Information Act.
The mayor, in this regard, has shown absolutely no compunction about wasting our money.
Yet he continues to vow that he won't quit on us. Even though he has failed us in so many ways.
In an appearance on the NPR program News and Notes, Mary Frances Berry, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and the former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, observed that the question of whether Kwame Kilpatrick violated the law remains unanswered for the time being. But, she concluded, one thing is obvious:
"He is a huge embarrassment and in a way it would just be much better if he would simply resign."
We agree.
Ex-police official believes Greene killed by Detroit cop, court record shows
Detroit News
March 4, 2008
DETROIT - A former homicide lieutenant who investigated the death of exotic dancer Tamara Greene said in a sworn affidavit he believes the woman was killed by a member of the Detroit Police Department.
Lt. Alvin Bowman also said in the affidavit he is aware of links between Greene and "high-ranking city employees" and an unnamed associate of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Bowman gave the deposition in a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's family against the city of Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials.
Greene's family alleges that top city officials interfered with the investigation of Greene's April 30, 2003, drive-by killing for political reasons. City officials deny the allegations.
Greene's name has been linked to a long rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion.
Bowman, who alleged in a separate lawsuit that he was transferred out of homicide for attempting to investigate Greene's killing, said in a Feb. 29 affidavit, "I suspected that the shooter was a law enforcement officer, and more specifically, a Detroit Police Department officer."
Bowman was awarded $200,000 in a jury trial against the city.
Deputy Chief James Tate, a spokesman for Detroit police, could not be reached for comment this morning. Calls to Mayer Morganroth, the lawyer representing the city in the Greene civil lawsuit, and James Canning, a spokesman for the mayor, were not immediately returned.
Greene was shot about 18 times with a .40 caliber weapon - the kind issued to Detroit police - while sitting in a parked vehicle, Bowman said in the affidavit.
Bowman believed Greene was the target of a contract killing, partly because the shooter had ample opportunity to shoot the male passenger in the vehicle, but did not do so, he said.
"In the course of our investigation, I learned from the Michigan State Police that they possessed a telephone record linking Ms. Greene to high-ranking city employees not long before her murder," Bowman said in the affidavit.
"I also learned that Tamara Greene danced for and was employed by an associate of Mayor Kilpatrick."
The mayor is embroiled in a controversy over $8.4 million in city settlements paid to three other former Detroit police officers who filed whistle-blower suits alleging they were retaliated against for reporting or investigating matters related to the party and/or alleged wrongdoing by the mayor and his police bodyguards.
The mayor signed a secret agreement as part of the settlements requiring that text messages exchanged in 2002 and 2003 between him and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty be kept under wraps. The text messages, disclosed by the media in January, point to an affair between Kilpatrick and Beatty, and possible perjury after both testified at a whistle-blower trial last year. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worth is investigating.
Bowman alleged both former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver and current Chief Ella Bully-Cummings gave "an unexplainable amount of attention" to the Greene case, with Oliver on numerous occasions requesting the file be sent to his office for review.
"On each occasion, the file was returned ... with reports missing from the file," Bowman alleges in the affidavit.
Under Bully-Cummings, the file was prematurely sent to the "cold case" file, despite the fact the killing was less than a year old and was being actively investigated, he said.
Another officer on the homicide squad, Sgt. Marion Stevenson, said her case notes on the Greene murder "were erased from her computer hard drive" and "her zip storage files disappeared from a locked cabinet inside the police department," Bowman said.
"The members of my squad and I were aware or otherwise believed that the filed was given to cold case and that I was transferred because neither Mayor Kilpatrick not his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty wanted there to be an investigation of the Manoogian Mansion party," Bowman alleged.
The lawyer representing part of Greene's family, Norman Yatooma, also filed in court a Michigan State Police report of an interview with an emergency medical technician who said he witnessed a disturbance at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall of 2002 at which he was told "the mayor's wife had beat down some b----."
A prominent feature of the Manoogian Mansion party rumor has been the allegation that Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, arrived at the party and assaulted an exotic dancer.
Douglas Bayer, described in a Michigan State Police report as an EMT with the Detroit Fire Department, said he arrived at the hospital on a call and "observed a large crowd in the reception area who were causing a commotion." He said the crowd of about 20-25 people included blacks and whites, males and females, some well-dressed, and "two individuals had Secret Service-type earpieces."
On the way out of the hospital, Bayer asked a group of EMT workers outside the hospital what the commotion was about and was told it related to an assault on a woman by the mayor's wife, the police report stated.
Violent crime task forces make a difference
Detroit News
March 4, 2008
I read with interest the Feb. 15 editorial ("Solving Detroit murders should be a top priority").
Consider here in Flint, which is really a mini-Detroit, that an FBI-led violent crime task force comprised of FBI agents, Genesee County narcotic deputies, Flint city officers and Michigan State Police troopers targeted two vicious violent gangs, ultimately indicting 42 for murder, drug trafficking, and racketeering.
And behold: The murder rate in Flint dropped from 49 in 2005 and 55 in 2006 to 30 in 2007. This is no coincidence. It was the gangs that were committing a large share of the homicides.
Now this was no easy task. It required seasoned detectives and hard work plus the feds' ability to wiretap.
I know Detroit used to have a similar task force because I was a captain in the State Police at the criminal investigation unit in Livonia from 1991 to 1996.
We had four troopers assigned, Detroit had eight and the FBI had four. It was a dynamite investigative unit.
My point is you cannot just throw manpower at crime. It must be first supervised by innovative leaders who put only the proven investigators to the task.
The Tamara Greene murder case should be worked hard. One can only speculate why it is not and why a veteran homicide detective was pulled off the case. I wonder where the innovative leadership is in the Detroit Police Department.
James S. Gage, Undersheriff
Genessee County/Flint
Is there an end?
Detroit News
March 4, 2008
We cannot feel good about the ongoing saga we call the Detroit text message scandal. The door is opening wider and as we get closer to seeing what is inside there are far more questions than answers. There are places we don't want to go and things we don't know. This is the kind of thing that you just hope goes away.
There is a call for justice in the murder of Tamara Greene and this call is getting louder each day. There as always been people that wanted this murder solved. We live in a city where murder is common and unresolved murders are more common than not. Few murderers are brought to justice in the city, so it is not news that this one has not been resolved.
The good people that are now pushing openly and loudly for the killer or killers to be brought to justice have the case of Gary Brown and Harold C. Nelthrope on their side. The loss of this case by the city and the discovery of the text messages has given motivation and hope to the call for justice in Greene's murder.
The problem is there is more looking back to solve this case than going forward and the more we look back, the more people can be hurt by this scandal, which grows wider and wider.
Police chief said murder of Detroit dancer remains open case
Detroit News
March 4, 2008
DETROIT -- Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings angrily chastised a former homicide lieutenant Tuesday for alleging that the police had a role in the death of an exotic dancer.
The chief said a sworn affidavit by former Lt. Alvin Bowman in a lawsuit involving dancer Tamara Greene was ridden with errors.
"The integrity of every member of the department was painted by this broad brush," she said at a press conference.
"That is reprehensible. It really is."
Citing one inaccuracy in the affidavit, Bully-Cummings said the medical examiner said Greene had been shot three times while Bowman claimed it had been 18 times.
The chief said her department is doing everything it can to solve the murder, and asked the public to come forward with any new information.
"Our officers are doing everything possible to bring this case to justice," she said.
The dancer's death has political overtones because her family claims in the lawsuit that top city officials interfered with the investigation. Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in April 2003.
Her name has been linked with a long-rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Manson.
Police chief denies allegations
She criticizes cover-up claim in dancer's death
Detroit News
March 5, 2008
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully- Cummings says an affidavit by former Lt. Alvin Bowman in a lawsuit involving dancer Tamara Greene was riddled with errors.
DETROIT -- Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings angrily chastised a former homicide lieutenant Tuesday for alleging that the police had a role in the death of an exotic dancer.
The chief said an affidavit by former Lt. Alvin Bowman in a lawsuit involving dancer Tamara Greene was riddled with errors.
"The integrity of every member of the department was painted by this broad brush," she said at a press conference. "That is reprehensible. It really is."
Citing one inaccuracy in the affidavit, Bully-Cummings said the medical examiner said Greene had been shot three times while Bowman claimed it had been 18 times.
The chief said her department is doing everything it can to solve the murder, and asked the public to come forward with any new information. "There is no cover-up in this Police Department into the death of Ms. Greene. Our officers are doing everything possible to bring this case to justice," she said.
The dancer's death has political overtones because her family claims in the lawsuit that top city officials interfered with the investigation. Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in April 2003.
Her name has been linked with a long-rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion.
Bully-Cummings said the investigation into Greene's death is continuing.
In his affidavit, Bowman said he suspects Greene, who died April 30, 2003, as she and her boyfriend sat outside a home on Roselawn at Outer Drive, was killed by someone in the Detroit Police Department. Greene allegedly danced at a party at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has denied a party ever took place.
Bowman's affidavit is part of a federal lawsuit filed by Greene's family against Kilpatrick, the city of Detroit and other city officials. Greene's family accuses high-ranking city officials of thwarting the investigation into her murder for political reasons.
The allegations have been denied.
The chief said "there are many, many erroneous statements in that affidavit I have refuted.".
Efforts to reach Bowman on Tuesday were unsuccessful. In his affidavit, Bowman said Greene's murder was a contract killing because the shooter had the opportunity to shoot her boyfriend but did not.
"In the course of our investigation, I learned from Michigan State Police that they possessed a telephone linking Ms. Greene to high-ranking city employees not long before her murder," Bowman said in the affidavit.
"I also learned that Tamara Greene danced for and was employed by an associate of Mayor Kilpatrick," Bowman said.
Bowman, who no longer works for the Police Department, said he was blocked in his investigation into Greene's murder. He later sued the city and won $200,000. Bully-Cummings said the Greene homicide has been thoroughly investigated, and the case is still active. "We exhausted all of the leads we had in this case," she said. "If we have nothing else we can go on, there is nothing else we can do on the case."
Attorney Norman Yatooma, representing Greene's family, called the chief's comments "an affront to the family."
Who killed Strawberry?
Detroit News
March 5, 2008
So who killed stripper Tamara Greene, a.k.a. Strawberry, supposedly a nude hit at Manoogian Mansion? Was she knocked off in some coverup? So far, the best case for city hall is that it's just another street murder in Detroit.
One of those things. Maybe drug related. Nothing out of the ordinary.
And that's the best case.
The worst case is that a cop killed her for some nefarious reason linked to city hall, a prospect raised under oath by a former cop.
No wonder the Conference of Black Mayors cancelled their convention in Detroit and headed for hurricane-pocked New Orleans. The mayors don't want to be associated with things Detroit.
Kill rumors by solving Detroit dancer's murder
Police chief should move Greene case to top of her priority list
Detroit News
March 6, 2008
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings Tuesday called "reprehensible" allegations that exotic dancer Tamara Greene was killed by a Detroit police officer.
The best way for Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings to remove the cloud of innuendo from over her department is to solve the murder of exotic dancer Tamara Greene.
Greene was shot to death in 2003, and her slaying has triggered a spate of rumors about who killed her and why. Greene was linked to a much rumored but never proven 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion, official residence of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
A federal lawsuit filed by her family charges Detroit police failed to aggressively investigate her murder because the probe risked revealing improper behavior by the mayor. An affidavit by former Detroit Police Lt. Alvin Bowman claims that Bully-Cummings prevented him from pursuing the investigation and prematurely placed Greene's murder in the cold case files.
Bowman, who won a $200,000 wrongful discharge suit against the city, says he believes the dancer was shot by a Detroit police officer.
Bully-Cummings responded to Bowman's allegations in a press conference this week, saying the murder case is still active.
But she didn't say how active, who was investigating or where the investigation stands.
Nor did she specifically address most of the claims made by Bowman.
More details would give the chief's denials more credibility.
Bully-Cummings is right -- the rumors disparage the entire department. But she has the ability to put them to rest.
Detroit has a dismal homicide resolution rate. Charges are brought in fewer than half the homicides committed in the city. That means in Detroit, killers have a better than 50-50 chance of getting away with murder.
Greene's slaying may be just one more case that goes unresolved because of a lack of resources, a shortage of highly skilled investigators and the reluctance of the community to cooperate with the police.
But solving this homicide should be moved to the top of the priority list for the police department, if for no other reason than to put to rest some very troubling allegations.
The more details Bully-Cummings can give about how her department intends to do that, the better.
Judge orders texting saved from 34 city pagers
Morning Sun (Mt. Pleasant)
March 7, 2008
DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the City of Detroit and SkyTel to preserve certain messages from 34 city pagers, including Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's.
Wednesday's decision is connected with a lawsuit brought by the family of a slain 27-year-old exotic dancer.
Tamara Greene was shot to death April 30, 2003 in a car. The case remains unsolved. The father of Greene's 14-year-old son has filed a $150 million lawsuit against the mayor and other city officials.
Greene's name has been linked to a long-rumored party at the mayoral mansion in 2002. Former homicide investigator Alvin Bowman says he suspects an officer killed Greene. Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings says Bowman has no evidence to back up his claim.
Old murder case causes chaos in Detroit mayor's office
The Repository - Canton Ohio
March 9, 2008
DETROIT - In a city that routinely sees more than 400 murders a year, the 2003 slaying of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was an easily overlooked crime.
Few people initially took notice when the 27-year-old stripper was found slumped over the steering wheel of her green Buick Skylark. But soon the city was buzzing with rumors that she had danced at a party at the mayor's mansion — a story that never has been proved.
The investigation into the rumored party and her death helped launch Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick's avalanche of current woes, but nearly five years later, Greene's death has been overshadowed by recent revelations of an affair between the mayor and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
TEXT-MESSAGED LOVE NOTES
The scandal, complete with text-messaged endearments, has been fueled by reports Kilpatrick and Beatty lied about the affair while testifying last year.
Now Greene's death in April 2003 is emerging as a key story line in the city's civic soap opera.
Lawyers for Tamara Greene's 14-year-old son are pushing forward with a $150 million federal civil lawsuit against the mayor and the city, for allegedly quashing the investigation of her slaying.
They recently filed a statement from a former Detroit police officer alleging that his homicide unit was pressured to drop the case, even though it appeared to him that Greene's death was a hit.
They also have subpoenaed a slew of text-messages among city employees, including those sent between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. the day Greene was killed.
The city is petitioning for the case to be dismissed. A federal judge ordered SkyTel and the city to save certain messages from 42 city pagers, including Kilpatrick's, as well as all messages sent the day Greene died.
MAYOR DENIES PARTY
The mayor, who declined to comment for this story, has denied that the party and the alleged assault took place. So, too, have Detroit police officials — at least publicly. A state investigation resulted in Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's dismissing such claims as urban legend.
"They have no eyewitnesses, no caterers, not one person that said they were there that has been named," said attorney Mayer Morganroth, who is defending the city and the mayor in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Greene's son, Jonathan Bond.
A COVER-UP?
Bond's attorney Norman Yatooma said, "The mayor is a proven liar and perjurer. Neither the party nor Tammy's murder are urban legend. It's another legendary cover-up."
Police Deputy Chief Gary A. Brown, a 25-year veteran, also was looking into allegations that officers on the mayor's security team falsified overtime payroll, drank on the job and hid accidents in city cars.
He was fired unexpectedly after the 2003 memo -- in part, Brown claimed, for investigating the rumored party and because the mayor and Beatty feared their relationship would be exposed.
Ex-clerk: Mayor's wife hit dancer, report said
Alleged assault happened at Manoogian party, court filing saysCity officials deny allegations
Detroit News
March 11, 2008
DETROIT -- A retired Detroit Police Department clerk said an exotic dancer whose murder remains unsolved filed a police report in 2002, wanting to press charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife for allegedly beating the stripper during a party at the Manoogian Mansion.
The claim, made Monday in a federal court filing, alleges that Tamara Greene was sent to the hospital after Carlita Kilpatrick walked in, saw Greene touching the mayor and then beat Greene "with a wooden object."
Joyce Rogers, 65, of Troy signed an affidavit saying she saw the police report in 2002. The accusations, if true, could put a dent in claims that the party and the beating never took place. On April 30, 2003, Greene was murdered and her family has said top city officials interfered with the murder investigation for political reasons.
City officials have denied the allegations and said there is no proof of a party at the mayoral residence.
"I think it's nuclear," said Norman Yatooma, the attorney representing Greene's family. "It certainly makes it clear neither the party nor the assault are urban legend. It's just another of the mayor's legendary cover-ups."
A Detroit police spokesman said the department was "very interested" in what Rogers said and intends to go through paperwork, apparently to see whether it can find the report.
"We're hearing about it just like you are," said Second Deputy Chief James Tate.
Calls to the city's attorney handling the Greene case, Jeffrey Morganroth, and the mayor's spokesman were not immediately returned.
Rogers was a senior clerk with the Police Department in 2002, assigned to open and sort inter-office mail. She said she remembers the report because it involved the mayor. Typically, reports involving police officers or the mayor were handled by supervisors and not sent via the department's mail system, she said.
According to Rogers, Greene alleged that she and two other strippers were dancing at a party at the mayoral mansion when Carlita Kilpatrick arrived unexpectedly. The report claimed that Greene sought medical attention, Rogers said. After looking at it, Rogers said she put the report in the "incoming" basket.
She said she never talked about it with anyone and forgot about it until recently, when Greene's death and the lawsuit against the city became part of the aftermath of the text-message scandal.
After Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings recently called on residents to help solve the murder by calling Crime Stoppers, Rogers said she called the tip line. No one has called her back, she said.
"I can't understand why no one came up and said there was a report," she said in an interview on Monday. "I know the officers who were there know about the report."
Tate said Rogers called the Crime Stoppers program, which is not handled by the city. Crime Stoppers does not attempt to call tipsters back, he said, to protect their anonymity.
John Broad, president of Crime Stoppers of Southeast Michigan, said it would be difficult to know whether Rogers' tip was forwarded to Detroit police. He said it "absolutely" should have if it came in, yet said there have been "very few" calls regarding Greene's death.
Rogers retired in 2002, saying she was forced out. She later filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the Police Department. Yatooma said Rogers was a good employee who was well regarded by her peers.
In October 2002, a sergeant investigating her claim "sustained" her gender discrimination complaint and another police official concluded that Rogers' supervisor had created a "hostile environment" for Rogers and other women. Despite acknowledging those findings, the city fought Rogers' lawsuit and disagreed with her contention that she "performed her job competently."
The federal lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, and the parties settled the case through mediation, said Cary McGehee, an attorney who represented Rogers.
The Rogers affidavit is the latest recollection from former police employees. Ex-homicide Lt. Alvin Bowman told Yatooma recently he believed a member of the Police Department killed Greene. Bowman alleged in a separate lawsuit that he was transferred out of homicide for trying to investigate Greene's killing.
A day after Bowman's affidavit was filed, Bully-Cummings said it contained several errors, including the number of bullet wounds Greene suffered. Bowman said 18; the Wayne County medical examiner said three.
Greene was gunned down April 30, 2003, as she and her boyfriend sat outside a home on Roselawn at Outer Drive. In his affidavit, Bowman said Greene's murder was a contract killing because the shooter had the opportunity to shoot her boyfriend but did not.
Rogers' and Bowman's affidavits are part of a federal lawsuit filed by Greene's family against Kilpatrick, the city of Detroit and other city officials. Greene's family accuses high-ranking city officials of thwarting the investigation into her murder.
Following a five-week investigation in 2003, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said his investigators could not confirm that the party occurred, labeling it an "urban legend." The mayor has long denied there was party.
A spokesman for Cox said a joint investigation by the Michigan State Police and the Attorney General's Office never received a copy of a police report, despite many rumors about the party. "We tracked every one of them down and each one was found to be unsubstantiated," Rusty Hills said.
As for the mayor, Rogers said she initially thought about his youth; Kilpatrick was 32 at the time. "He just wasn't thinking. His hormones were thinking," Rogers said.
The Greene case has gotten a boost since a controversy erupted after the city paid $8.4 million to settle lawsuits with three other former Detroit police officers who filed whistle-blower suits alleging they were retaliated against for reporting or investigating matters related to the alleged party and/or alleged wrongdoing by the mayor and his police bodyguards.
The mayor signed a secret agreement as part of the settlements requiring that text messages he and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty exchanged in 2002 and 2003 be kept under wraps. The text messages, disclosed by the media in January, point to an affair between Kilpatrick and Beatty, and possible perjury after both testified at a whistle-blower trial last year.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is investigating.
New lead in Manoogian rumors
Detroit New
March 11, 2008
So now there's a witness who remembers that a stripper filed a complaint against the mayor's wife following a spat at Manoogian Mansion. Well, it's only a secondary source, the witness wasn't at the mansion.
But on the other hand, she swears she saw the complaint. And it's hard to believe an old lady would risk going to jail with a fib like that.
Anyway, here's the story: Stripper Tamara Greene, later gunned down, wanted to press charges against the Detroit mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, who reportedly barged in on a party the mayor was having with three strippers, presumably all lovlies. Mrs. Mayor allegedly pounded Greene.
At a minimum, the police clerk's report gives the police and prosecutor some leads -- a specific place to look for paperwork and other witnesses, including a hospital where Greene was reportedly treated.
Former cop clerk saw stripper's report of assault
Affidavit says 2002 police file described party at Detroit mayor's mansion
Grand Rapids Press
March 11, 2008
DETROIT -- A former police desk clerk says she read a report filed by stripper Tamara Greene claiming she was assaulted by the wife of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick during a party at Manoogian Mansion.
Rumors of a party involving strippers at the mayor's official residence have never been proven. Kilpatrick repeatedly has denied the party ever occurred.
But a signed affidavit from Joyce Carolyn Rogers says a police report filed in 2002 details the party and Greene's assault.
The affidavit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court by attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing the family of Greene's 14-year-old son, Jonathan Bond, in a $150 million lawsuit against Kwame Kilpatrick, former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
Greene, 27, whose stage name was Strawberry, was found shot to death early April 30, 2003, in a car on the city's northwest side.
Investigation stifled
Yatooma claims Kilpatrick's office has stifled the investigation into her death.
Rogers said in the affidavit she worked as a senior clerk at police headquarters from 1997 until her December 2002 retirement.
As part of her duties, Rogers said she opened and read mail, and reviewed and coded police reports.
The affidavit says the 2002 police report stated Greene and two other women were dancing at a party at the Manoogian Mansion when Carlita Kilpatrick returned unexpectedly.
Rogers recalled the report stated Carlita Kilpatrick saw Greene "touching Mayor Kilpatrick in a manner that upset the Mayor's wife."
She said the police report also stated Carlita Kilpatrick "left the room, and returned with a wooden object in her hand and began assaulting Ms. Greene."
Men at the party tried to restrain Carlita Kilpatrick, the report claims.
It also claims Greene was taken to a hospital for her injuries.
"By filing a report, it was clear to me as a clerk working in records, that Ms. Greene wanted to press charges against Carlita Kilpatrick," Rogers said in the affidavit.
Rogers said she placed the report in an incoming basket where it should have been sorted the following day into a record file by a police sergeant.
Rogers said she called a tip line last month to disclose what she knew about the report to Detroit police, but no one called her back.
A police spokesman said Monday evening the department doesn't operate that tip line and information left on it is anonymous.
James Tate also said Greene's death is an open homicide investigation.
"There are some things that we found that were questionable," he added.
Rogers called the tip line earlier this year after hearing a public plea by Bully-Cummings for anyone with knowledge about Greene's death to come forward, Yatooma said.
She left her name and received a confirmation number, but no one called her back, he said.
"She's the first person to put a fix on the party, Tammy Greene's presence at the party, and Carlita Kilpatrick's assault on Tamara Greene," Yatooma said. "It's becoming very plain that the party and assault on Tammy Greene is not an urban legend."
Light for the darkness
Detroit News
March 12, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had the opportunity to bring light to the darkness, but failed to do so on the night of his State of the City message. There are more questions than answers, which have the good people of this city walking in the darkness. No one knows what to expect next.
The mayor needed to have said to all of those that love and support him that no matter what you are reading in the newspapers, things he said in the past about a wild party at the Manoogian Mansion still stand. He could have said that he will do everything to bring an end to the questions around the murder of Tamara Greene.
To let the world know where he stands and what he is doing to bring this dark night to an end is what the public needs. That is what I mean by shining light in dark places.
Say where you are and where you are going Mr. Mayor. It only adds to the darkness to talk about death threats and name-calling. Making statements that sell more newspapers only brings more darkness.
Thanks for the initiatives on police and improvements to the public schools. We need all of that.
I have been positive and supportive from the day the first story broke about a wild party and my hope is we can get this out of the way and move on. We need you, as the mayor, to stand strong, but be open so that there will be less questions and more answers.
The City Council should have been there in full numbers and no one should have been protesting at the speech. We are all in this together and we cannot make the mayor look bad without making the city look bad. Let the process in place be the guiding light; the greatest thing we have in this country is the election process and people must remain confident in the process.
Bring light to the darkness.
Cop claims he was told to 'keep my mouth shut' about Manoogian party
Detroit News
March 12, 2008
DETROIT -- One of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's former bodyguards claimed Wednesday he knew a bartender who arranged for strippers at an alleged wild but unsubstantiated party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Tony Davis, a member of the Police Department's gaming division and Kilpatrick's bodyguard from 2000-03, wrote a letter Monday to Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the police union and the Mayor's Office suggesting he has been intimidated, abused by supervisors and reassigned from the mayor's protection unit. If true, the 23-year veteran's claims could undercut denials from the mayor and others that the party ever happened.
"During my (Executive Protection Unit) assignment, I was subjected to intimidation and abuse by my supervisors. I was ordered by my supervisors to keep my mouth shut and to say that there never was any party," Davis wrote in the letter obtained by The Detroit News' reporting partner, WXYZ-TV Channel 7.
"The chief hasn't received a letter," said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate about Davis' allegations.
City spokesman James Canning declined to comment.
Davis' accusations surfaced days after a retired Police Department clerk said in a federal court filing that an exotic dancer whose murder remains unsolved filed a police report in 2002, wanting to press charges against the mayor's wife for allegedly beating the stripper during the party. The dancer, Tamara Greene, was murdered April 30, 2003, and her family has said top city officials interfered with the investigation for political reasons.
Davis said a former supervisor confronted him three weeks ago.
"If this abuse and retaliation does not stop immediately, I will have no alternative other than to take legal action," Davis wrote.
Attorney Mike Stefani said he talked with Davis during his preparation for last year's whistle-blower trial of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and former bodyguard Harold Nelthrope and felt that his story could not be proven. Davis had wanted Stefani to represent him in a case against the department and Stefani declined.
"I wasn't able to establish credibility," Stefani said.
Davis told Stefani that he knew a bartender who arranged for strippers at the Manoogian Mansion. Stefani met and interviewed the bartender and concluded the story was "too convenient."
Davis did not return calls Wednesday.
The Royal Oak attorney was contacted Tuesday by a union attorney who wanted Stefani to interview Davis.
Brown, who along with Nelthrope and another former officer received $8.4 million following the whistle-blower trial, also questioned Davis' credibility and why he would wait so long to share his story publicly.
"It's coming up because we won $9 million," he said. "Everybody's trying to jump on the bandwagon."
Nelthrope questioned the timing but said Davis might want to document the threats.
"He probably did this to put it on the record in case something happens to him," Nelthrope said.
Tamara Greene Son Speaks on Kwame Kilpatrick (interview)
Channel 7 News - Detroit
Mar 13, 2008
Jonathan Bond, Tamara Greene's son speaks about the situation. Ernest Flagg talks about the threats on Tamara Greene's life.
Ex-cop talks of alleged mansion party
He says he knew about bartender who arranged for strippers to perform
Detroit News
March 13, 2008
DETROIT -- One of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's former bodyguards claimed Wednesday he knew a bartender who arranged for strippers at an alleged wild but unsubstantiated party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Tony Davis, a member of the Police Department's gaming division and Kilpatrick's bodyguard from 2000-03, wrote a letter Monday to Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the police union and the mayor's office suggesting he has been intimidated, abused by supervisors, and reassigned from the mayor's protection unit. If true, the 23-year veteran's claims could undercut denials from the mayor and others that the party ever happened.
"During my (Executive Protection Unit) assignment, I was subjected to intimidation and abuse by my supervisors. I was ordered by my supervisors to keep my mouth shut and to say that there never was any party," Davis wrote in the letter obtained by The Detroit News' reporting partner WXYZ-TV (Channel 7).
"The chief hasn't received a letter," said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate about Davis' allegations. City spokesman James Canning declined to comment.
Davis' accusations came days after retired Police Department clerk Joyce Rogers said in a federal court filing that an exotic dancer, whose murder is unsolved, filed a police report in 2002, wanting to press charges against the mayor's wife for allegedly beating the stripper during the party. The dancer, Tamara Greene, was killed April 30, 2003, and her family has said top city officials interfered with the investigation for political reasons.
Davis said a former supervisor confronted him three weeks ago.
"If this abuse and retaliation does not stop immediately, I will have no alternative other than to take legal action," Davis wrote.
Attorney Mike Stefani said he talked with Davis in preparation for last year's whistle-blower trial of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope and felt his story could not be proven. Davis wanted Stefani to represent him in a case against the department. Stefani declined.
Davis told Stefani he knew a bartender who arranged for strippers at the Manoogian. Stefani interviewed the bartender and found the story was "too convenient."
Davis did not return calls Wednesday.
Stefani also said he interviewed Rogers in the past and did not find her credible.
The Royal Oak attorney was contacted Tuesday by a union attorney who wanted Stefani to interview Davis.
Brown, who along with Nelthrope and another former officer received $8.4 million following the whistle-blower trial, also questioned Davis' credibility and why he would wait so long to share his story publicly.
"It's coming up because we won $9 million," he said. "Everybody's trying to jump on the bandwagon."
Nelthrope questioned the timing but said Davis might want to document the threats.
"He probably did this to put it on the record in case something happens to him," Nelthrope said.
Norman Yatooma, the attorney representing Greene's family, said Davis' letter corroborates the clerk's affidavit and that he will push to have Davis deposed for the lawsuit the family has filed.
Correction: Detroit Police Officer Tony Davis worked in the city's Executive Protection Unit from 2000-03 and served as Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's bodyguard following the 2001 election. The years Davis served as Kilpatrick's bodyguard were incorrect in an article that appeared Thursday on Page 6A.
Cox will look into clerk's claims about Manoogian party
Detroit News
March 13, 2008
Attorney General Mike Cox intends to have criminal investigators talk with a retired Detroit police department clerk about her claims that she saw a police report about the long-rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Rusty Hills, a spokesman for Cox, said this afternoon that the decision to interview Joyce Rogers does not indicate the attorney general is reopening the investigation into the party. In 2003, after dozens of witnesses were interviewed, including Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Cox concluded the party was "urban legend."
"She's got to tell us who filed that report (and) who that report went to," Hills said.
Joyce Rogers, 65, of Troy has said she saw a report in which a now-dead stripper claimed that she was beaten by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife after she was caught touching the mayor at a party. The city has claimed such a party never existed.
A Birmingham attorney representing the son of Tamara Greene, the slain stripper, filed Rogers' affidavit on Monday. Norman Yatooma claims that the city hindered murder investigation for political reasons.
Cox on Wednesday became the highest ranking politician to call on Kilpatrick to resign, saying "he's not fit to be mayor anymore."
Rogers and police officer Tony Davis have both come forward with information recently about the party. Davis, who works in the department's gaming division, said he knew a bartender that arranged for strippers at the party.
Hills said the attorney general's investigators talked with Davis in 2003. "His story now is substantially different from what he told us then," Hills said.
Mike Stefani, the attorney who successfully represented two former officers who won a related whistle-blower lawsuit against the city, said Wednesday that he talked with both Rogers and Davis years ago and did not feel their stories could be corroborated.
Hills said investigators would schedule an interview with Rogers soon. He declined to say what would happen next or whether a full-blown investigation could ensue.
"We'll go where the evidence leads us," he said. "But first we have to have some evidence."
Caption: Attorney General Mike Cox concluded the alleged Manoogian Mansion party was an "urban legend" in 2003.
Kilpatrick's show should hit the road permanently
Oakland Press
March 13, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Tuesday night did what he seems to do best - he perverted the truth and made what should have been an upbeat speech about all of the good things happening in the city into a "poor me" pity party.
Kilpatrick turned Tuesday night's State of the City address into a showboating circus.
He took the classic action of lashing out at the messenger instead of admitting his own, numerous shortcomings.
The mayor accused opponents and the news media of showing a "lynch mob mentality" in the aftermath of the scandal over his exchange of sexually explicit text messages with a former top aide.
Note, he didn't deny the messages or the presumably torrid affair that he had with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. He just tried to deflect angst from himself to the media.
But there's much more than just immoral activity going on here.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is expected this week to decide if she will pursue perjury charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty. The text messages contradict both Kilpatrick's and Beatty's testimony under oath that they were not having an affair.
The alleged perjury occurred during a trial in a lawsuit filed by two former Detroit police officers who said they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs. That lawsuit cost taxpayers $8.4 million.
Perjury is a criminal offense, and we hope Worthy pursues this to the fullest extent of the law.
But Kilpatrick's dubious actions don't end here. There are mounting questions about the infamous party at the mayor's mansion and the death of Tamara Greene, who reportedly was a dancer at that party.
Also, there are other questionable actions by Kilpatrick that haven't quite surfaced yet but we're sure are working their way into public view.
However, the text-messaging controversy already has cost Detroit. The National Conference of Black Mayors has chosen another site for its convention in April.
Kilpatrick's arrogance and refusal to take responsibility for his immoral and possibly criminal actions will eventually be his downfall.
Unfortunately, he's pulling Detroit - and peripherally, the whole metro area - down with him.
If he cared at all about Detroit, he'd resign. But it doesn't appear that he cares about anyone but himself.
What's sad is there are people in Detroit who still think he's a wonderful mayor. Those residents have our sympathy, but the citizens we most empathize with are those who know Kilpatrick is destroying the city but currently have to live with him.
There is an out for this latter group. We've continually said that recalls are a waste of time and money - usually.
But there are exceptions, and Kilpatrick is probably the biggest exception the metro area has seen in the past couple of decades.
He's a horrible example of a mayor, and he's damaging not only the fragile reputation of Detroit but also that of the metropolitan area.
He should resign. But since he refuses to do so at this point, recall appears to be the best option, unless the criminal justice system eventually comes through for the citizens.
One way or another, Detroit needs to rid itself of Kilpatrick - and the sooner the better.
Who killed Tamara Greene?
Detroit News
March 14, 2008
Evidence suggests the stripper may have been slain by an angry drug dealer, was not victim of a cover-up
DETROIT - Her real name was Tamara Greene, an arresting, thick-bodied stripper known as Strawberry. By now her death is the stuff of Detroit legend, a whodunit of sex and politics and power.
The most incredible plot is a simple one: She is said to have danced at a party at the mayor's mansion and was executed because she knew too much.
The party, of course, has never been proven, and the facts about Greene, as told by investigators, friends and family members, reveal something far less sinister. A portrait emerges of a woman who ran with bad men and died with two black eyes.
Greene, 27, was Detroit murder victim No. 113 in 2003. There were 366 homicides in the city that year, just half of those resolved. At first, her death was considered an ordinary blue-collar murder -- a drive-by job -- in a city with too many of them. She died in a hail of bullets, slumped over her steering wheel, her eyeglasses broken, the car still in drive, creeping down the street.
Her murder case went cold; a suspect was never publicly identified.
Then the mayor's spectacular political troubles began, and Greene became the mystery woman whose noir life took on mythological proportions. It begins with a former homicide investigator who says he is convinced that the disgraced mayor and his cronies in the Police Department are crooks and killers.
The case of her death was resurrected earlier this month, when that investigator, former Detroit Police Lt. Alvin Bowman, claimed that police brass squelched his inquiry into the supposed party at the Manoogian Mansion in late fall 2002 and Greene's murder in April 2003 because he got too close to making a connection. The Detroit Police Department has reopened the case as has the Wayne County prosecutor.
"I suspect that the shooter was a law enforcement officer, and more specifically, a Detroit Police Department officer," Bowman said in an affidavit. Reached by telephone, he elaborated: "She wanted money to stay quiet and they wouldn't give it to her."
And yet no evidence from the early morning crime scene suggests that any police officers were involved. According to police reports, the medical examiner's findings and investigators, it is most likely that Greene was done in by Detroit's wild streets.
In early April, two weeks before her murder, Greene had danced for a corroborated party of men. That party was held at the Residence Inn in Southfield, a run-down motor lodge modeled after a Swiss chalet. The party was attended by known drug dealers, hooligans and other all-stars of city life, authorities say.
Greene got into an altercation with a small man -- 5 1/2 feet tall -- with a big ego and a record for trafficking cocaine. He wanted sex. She refused. He punched her once in the eye, then punched her once in the other eye.
That's when Greene's boyfriend, Eric "Big E" Mitchell, stepped in, according to statements both Mitchell and a stripper named Taquela Anjema Bates gave police. The two men had an altercation, the bigger man winning. The Southfield police responded to the fight, but by then, the principals had left.
Nevertheless, the glove had been thrown. Disrespect had been committed.
The addresses and phone numbers for Mitchell and Bates have gone stale. Mitchell recently re-emerged in Romulus, where he was arrested on felony drug charges. The Residence Inn is under new management and has a new name. A lot changes in six years.
Greene led a 'wild life'
Tamara Greene grew up on Detroit's east side, graduating from Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in 1994. She had her first child, Jonathan Bond, when she was 17 years old. She gave birth to her second child, Ashly, when she was 19 and her third, India, when she was 26.
The first two children live with their fathers and the youngest with Greene's brother.
A $150 million federal lawsuit has been filed on Jonathan's behalf, charging primarily that police executives sank the investigation, preventing her murderer from being caught, though not claiming a City Hall role in her death. Taris Jackson, the father of her second child, has followed with a claim on Greene's estate should any money be forthcoming from the oldest child's suit.
It is unclear when Greene took to the street life, began stripping or working as an escort. Her price, according to confidant and lawyer Dennis Mitchenor, was $500 "just to look" and hundreds more "to touch," he said. Voluptuous and regal, Greene would quickly become a superstar in the sex-charged world of politics, business and the streets.
"God gave her that body and she knew how to use it," Mitchenor said.
"If there was a high rollers' party, she was definitely the girl to be there. It was a wild life, though. She changed (cell) numbers like a drug dealer."
Greene had a taste for dangerous men, according to those who knew her. She ran under the aliases Veronica, Linda and Laurie, and of course her professional name Strawberry. She served as a front for check-kiters, drug kingpins and the like. She drove a $70,000 BMW leased under her grandmother's name and freely lent it to her coterie of suspicious men, thus allowing them to drive around unmolested by police.
"I didn't know the full extent of what she was doing, but she didn't deserve this," said her grandmother, Bertha Powell, of Columbus, Ohio. "Tammy was not a bad person. She told me she got beat up at a party. I told her to come home and let her face heal. Of course she didn't come."
Boyfriend was shot, too
A week after the party with the 5 1/2 -foot drug dealer, the BMW was shot up, a car Greene had loaned to her paramour, Mitchell. No one was in the car that time. Powell would eventually assume payments of the car and sell it at a substantial loss.
Constantly in need of money, Greene accepted a dancing engagement the week she was beaten.
"You can't dance tonight, you've got black eyes," Mitchenor remembered telling her. "She said she had to do what she had to do. She did the party in sunglasses. It was something of an occupational hazard."
In the early morning of April 30, Greene and Mitchell left the All-Star club on Eight Mile where she worked as a stripper. It was 3:40 a.m. The couple idled outside his home on Roselawn near West Outer Drive in the Bagley section of Detroit. A large white SUV turned the corner, a hand holding a pistol out the window.
Mitchell saw the man
"Light-skinned," he described the shooter to police that morning, like the short man he had the fight with a few weeks before. Mitchell, 6 feet tall and 265 pounds, ducked for cover into the foot-well of the Buick Skylark. He said nothing to Greene. She was struck three times, according to the medical examiner's report: once behind the left ear, once through the jaw, and once through the left arm and chest. Mitchell was struck by five bullets, including once in the neck, according to official reports.
Mitchell staggered around the street, knocked on a neighbor's door (the neighbor threatened to shoot him), then made a call to a friend. The hit man never returned to finish him off. Hardly the mark of a professional.
Ex-cop stands by his words
Still, Bowman, the former Detroit police lieutenant, insisted it was a professional police job. He pointed to the fact that .40-caliber ammunition was used.
"I stand by what I said. Police-issued Glocks use .40-caliber ammunition," he said in a rambling telephone interview.
Glock does, in fact, manufacture handguns that fire .40-caliber ammunition, but so does Smith and Wesson and a slew of other gun manufacturers. Bowman said he did not remember if ballistic tests have been made on the casings to determine the specific brand of gun. In fact, they have not.
Greene was struck 18 times from a moving vehicle, Bowman said. Yet the medical examiner's report shows she was struck just three times and just 12 bullets casings were found at the scene, according to the police report that morning.
With all the discrepancies, is it not possible that he could be wrong? Bowman was asked. It is his theory, after all, that the street corners and the corridors of power intersected Tamara Greene's doorstep. It is his theory that has launched a thousand barstool conspiracies.
There was a prolonged silence. Then Bowman offered this: "To be perfectly honest, it's like an octopus's tentacles that spread all over. Once you see it, once you connect the dots, it's obvious."
Correction: Taris Jackson, the father of deceased dancer Tamara Greene's second child, has established an estate that would collect judgments from any lawsuits on behalf of all of Greene's children. A story on 1A Friday incorrectly described his actions regarding the estate.
Court to look over more text messages
SkyTel records of mayor, 33 Detroit officials to be reviewed in Greene case
Detroit News
March 15, 2008
DETROIT --A federal judge Friday said the court will review an even bigger trove of text messages that could prove damaging to the city and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and shed light on the unsolved killing of stripper Tamara Greene five years ago.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen told attorneys handling the case that he will issue an order in the next couple of weeks detailing how he will handle text messages from the mayor and other city officials and other requested evidence. The materials will first be reviewed by federal magistrates before being turned over to the attorneys for the son of Greene, 27, who was gunned down in 2003.
"I'm tremendously pleased with the decision to allow discovery to proceed," said Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene's 14-year-old son.
The court fight is the second time in recent months that text messages have played a central role. Text messages between the mayor and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty obtained by the Detroit Free Press in January revealed conflicts with their sworn testimony from last year's whistle-blower trial that they did not have an affair or discuss the firing of Deputy Chief Gary Brown. The settlement with Brown and two other former police officers totaled $8.4 million.
Rosen is expected to order the city to produce a list of everyone who had a SkyTel pager during the time period in which Yatooma requested messages --Aug. 1, 2002, to Oct. 31, 2007, Yatooma said.
The judge said Yatooma needs to narrow the time frame and shorten the list, which includes Kilpatrick, Beatty, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and more than two dozen other current or former city officials.
The messages will be produced and reviewed by two federal magistrates who will decide which messages may be relevant. At that point, the information will be shared with the city's attorneys, who can object to any release.
Then the court will decide which messages, if any, will be released to Yatooma.
"We are comfortable with the ruling," said lawyer Jeffrey Morganroth, who is representing the mayor, Beatty and other city officials. He called the judge's decision "reasonable and appropriate."
Rosen also asked the lawyers involved to tone down their remarks to the press, Yatooma said.
The father of Greene's 14-year-old son sued the mayor and other city and police officials in 2005, alleging the investigation of Greene's April 30, 2003, murder was hampered and interfered with for political reasons.
Last week, Rosen ordered the city and SkyTel to preserve all text messages sent and received on the SkyTel pagers of Kilpatrick and 33 other current or former city officials for selected periods between fall 2002 and fall 2007.
SkyTel has indicated a willingness to comply with the court's orders, and Rosen said he presumes SkyTel will comply voluntarily.
Greene's name has been linked to a long rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
At least two former Detroit police officers who filed the whistle-blower lawsuits against the city claimed that their investigation into the alleged party and/or Greene's murder were among the reasons for retaliation against them.
Magistrates will review Kilpatrick's text messages
Grand Rapids Press
March 15, 2008
DETROIT -- A federal judge said he will appoint two magistrates to review text messages from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, police chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other city employees.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen's order came Friday. It followed a conference with a lawyer representing Kilpatrick and the city and an attorney for the 14-year-old son of stripper Tamara Greene.
Greene, 27, was shot to death outside her home in 2003. She is rumored to have danced at a 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's official residence.
Attorney Norman Yatooma claims in a $150 million civil lawsuit that Greene's death was not properly investigated.
Story of party with strippers surfaces
Repository, The (Canton, OH)
March 15, 2008
The state attorney general said his office will look into new claims that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick threw a party with strippers at the mayor's mansion in 2002.
Attorney General Mike Cox told reporters Thursday he wants to meet with retired Detroit police desk clerk Joyce Rogers. The woman recently came forward and said she read a report filed by stripper Tamara Greene claiming she was assaulted by Kilpatrick's wife during a party at the mansion.
Rumors of a party involving strippers at the mayor's official residence have never been substantiated.
Greene on crime Web site
Crime Stoppers adds the murder of the Detroit stripper to its site with a $1,000 reward for tips
Detroit News
March 17, 2008
DETROIT -- For weeks, police have called on the public to help solve the 2003 murder of Tamara Greene, a onetime stripper whose death has become a politically charged mystery.
But until Friday, the Web site for Crime Stoppers made no mention of Greene. Dozens of other victims from Detroit to New Baltimore are profiled on the site, which allows visitors to submit tips that make them eligible for rewards of from $1,000 to $200,000.
"I think it's a good idea," said John Broad, the president of Crime Stoppers of Southeast Michigan, an independent nonprofit that accepts the anonymous tips and passes them along to area police departments.
Hours after The Detroit News contacted Broad, he called back to say Greene had been added to the site.
Indeed, details of her death -- gunned down about 3:40 a.m. April 30, 2003, on Roselawn near Outer Drive -- now are posted, along with a picture of Greene. The reward: $1,000, the minimum amount.
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings made an impassioned plea in February for any information on Greene's death, which Norman Yatooma, an attorney for her family, has claimed was not properly investigated for political reasons. It's been rumored that Greene danced at a party at the Manoogian Mansion and got into an altercation with Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife.
No evidence has been produced to prove that claim, however.
Yatooma said he was "disappointed but not surprised" that Greene wasn't listed on Crime Stoppers until The News inquired.
On a site listing more than a hundred crimes, Greene is listed in the middle, between Detroit murder victims Kenneth Cole (Nov. 12, 2007; $5,000 reward) and Desmond Rondale Brumfield (Nov. 2, 2006; $1,000 reward).
Some crimes get larger rewards than others and Broad said the larger ones are provided by family and friends of the victims. The current largest is for tips to solve the 2006 murder of Ronald and Christine Jabalee of New Baltimore. Once $80,000, the reward jumped to $200,000 this year.
Meanwhile, a judge on Friday denied the city's motion to dismiss Yatooma's lawsuit, which seeks $150 million for Greene's family. However, the judge left the door open to rehear the city's argument.
Review of text messages in stripper case could open up more probes, expert says
Detroit News
March 18, 2008
A federal review of a trove of text messages from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials in a lawsuit resulting from the death of stripper Tamara Greene could potentially launch more investigations if any wrongdoing is uncovered, one law expert said.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said federal magistrates will review more text messages and other requested evidence. Those materials are expected to be turned over to attorneys representing the son of Greene, 27, who was shot to death in 2003.
Rosen also is expected to order the city to produce a list of everyone who had a SkyTel pager during the time period in which attorney Norman Yatooma requested messages -- Aug. 1, 2002, to Oct. 31, 2007. Rosen ordered the city and SkyTel to preserve all text messages sent and received on the SkyTel pagers of Kilpatrick and 33 other current or former city officials.
Greene's name has been linked to a long rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. At least two former Detroit police officers who filed the whistle-blower lawsuits against the city claimed their investigation into the alleged party and/or Greene's murder were among the reasons for retaliation against them.
"With the large volume of text messages that are going to be examined by the magistrates," said Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, "it is possible that if they came across information that involved the possible existence of other crimes having occurred, that information could be made known to federal authorities."
Dubin said additional investigations could possibly be launched based on review of other messages.
"An examination of further text messages may provide evidence of whether or not additional crimes might have occurred," Dubin said.
Dancer's pastor says she felt threatened
Tamara Greene told man she called Dad that someone was 'out to get her' in 2002 meeting
Detroit News
March 20, 2008
DETROIT -- Former exotic dancer Tamara Greene confided in her pastor that she feared for her life some six months before her shooting death, he said Wednesday.
Pastor Ken Hampton of Detroit's Grace Bible Chapel said he told investigators in an affidavit given last week as part of a federal lawsuit filed by Greene's family against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the city of Detroit and other city officials, that Greene feared someone was "out to get" her.
"She said she really felt threatened," said Hampton, whom Greene affectionately called "Dad." "I just didn't know what was going on."
Hampton said the meeting at a local bookstore occurred sometime in fall 2002 -- shortly after an alleged wild but unsubstantiated party at the Manoogian Mansion at which Greene is said to have danced.
In the affidavit, Hampton said he advised Greene to stay with relatives in Ohio. "I said, 'I would rather never see you again than see you in a casket.'"
Hampton never saw her alive again.
Greene, 27, was gunned down early on April 30, 2003, as she and her boyfriend sat outside a home on Roselawn at Outer Drive.
The affidavit was not filed because a federal judge last week denied the city's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, said attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene's family.
But he said the information presented still is "very significant" and disputes a theory that her death could have stemmed from a fight at a local motor lodge two weeks earlier.
"It demonstrates that she was in fact a target and that her life had been threatened long before," Yatooma said Wednesday.
At least two former Detroit police officers -- Deputy Chief Gary Brown and ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope -- who filed the whistle-blower lawsuits against the city claimed they were retaliated for their investigation into the alleged mansion party and Greene's murder.
As part of the settlement, they and a third officer were awarded $8.4 million.
Hampton's statements follow other recent claims about Greene. Joyce Rogers, 65, of Troy, a retired Detroit Police Department clerk, has said in a federal court filing she saw a report in 2002 in which the stripper claimed she was beaten by Kilpatrick's wife after she was caught touching the mayor at the rumored party.
Officer Tony Davis, who worked in the city's Executive Protection Unit from 2000-03 and served as Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's bodyguard following the 2001 election, said in letters to Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the police union and the mayor's office that he knew a bartender who arranged for strippers at the alleged party.
And in an affidavit, former Detroit Police Lt. Alvin Bowman said he believed a member of the city police department killed Greene.
Attorney Mike Stefani said he talked with Davis in preparation for the whistle-blower trial and felt his story could not be proven. Stefani also said he interviewed Rogers in the past and did not find her credible.
Voice of the People
Mayor is creating big problems for Detroit
Jackson Citizen Patriot (MI)
March 20, 2008
JACKSON - Some pundits predict the mayor of Detroit may go down as the "black Nixon" for his alleged political crimes. I think it might be time for Kwame Kilpatrick to hit I-75 south and go live in his Florida home.
Some of his own police officers have described the mayor as carrying on like the Sopranos or the Purple Gang. A former Detroit police clerk signed an affidavit saying she saw a police complaint from Tamara Greene saying she was hit by the mayor's wife after giving Kwame a lap dance. A couple of months later, Greene is assassinated by a Glock pistol. And now a current police officer wrote a memo collaborating the clerk's affidavit.
Detroit has ranked in the top-five most-dangerous and violent places to live. Compare any month of Detroit's murders with the rate of killings of U.S. soldiers in some of our hot spots for the same time. The problem is that evidence slowly is dripping out that the mayor might be contributing to the crime statistics, and the police may be covering it up for him.
The Michigan attorney general is requesting the mayor step down, which is appropriate. However, if Mike Cox would have flushed out the information that's now dripping out we would have been spared this grief. It seems only the national media can put on the needed pressure. The media is now focusing on the New York governor's scandal, which doesn't have anything on what's happening in Detroit.
In my opinion it could be better than some fictional, political crime movies. Remember "Murder at 1600" and "Absolute Power"? It's up to Detroit to clean up its mess and send Kwame packing to Florida.
Judge appoints magistrates to review text messages in Tamara Greene case
Detroit News
March 22, 2008
DETROIT -- A federal judge has selected two magistrates who will review a trove of text messages sought by lawyers representing the son of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, according to court records released Friday.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen set up a series of rules temporarily shielding text messages sent from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials and employees in a detailed court order. The rules are intended to keep the text messages confidential until they can be reviewed and it can be determined which, if any, will be given to Greene's lawyer, Norman Yatooma.
Rosen also issued an opinion denying the city's attempts to quash subpoenas served on SkyTel, the city's text-messaging service.
The order was released one week after Rosen said Yatooma can pursue text messages that could prove damaging to Kilpatrick and the city. Yatooma has requested messages sent or received by Kilpatrick and 33 city officials and employees between September 1, 2002, and Oct. 31, 2007. But, the order also said Yatooma needs to narrow the time frame and shorten the list of officials who had SkyTel pagers, a list that currently includes Kilpatrick, former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and more than two dozen other current or former city officials.
Last week, the judge said he would allow Skytel to produce text messages sent by any city official or employee between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on April 30, 2003, the day exotic dancer Tamara Greene was killed.
Text messages between the mayor and Beatty obtained by the Detroit Free Press in January revealed conflicts with their sworn testimony from last year's police whistle-blower trial that they did not have an affair or discuss the firing of Deputy Chief Gary Brown. The settlement with Brown and two other former police officers totaled $8.4 million.
Rosen identified the two magistrates who will review the text messages once they are produced by SkyTel. They are Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen and Magistrate Judge Michael J. Hluchaniuk.
They will review the messages and determine whether each message is eligible for discovery.
The judge ordered Yatooma to produce by March 28 identification, or "PIN" numbers for text messaging devices of each official or city employee between August 2002 and September 2007, along with names of individual officials or employees. Yatooma also must specify time periods that each employee or official was assigned the "PIN" numbers.
Once the PIN numbers are produced, lawyers for the city and Greene's son will meet with the judges and file any objections to the review.
If Yatooma has not sufficiently shortened the list of officials, the judges can narrow it for him and both sides can file objections.
Each magistrate will get his own sealed copy of the text messages, which will be sent directly to Rosen's chambers, where they will be forwarded, under seal, to the magistrates.
Rosen also wants SkyTel to provide the text messages on a compact disc, rather than in a hard copy form.
City lawyer may face contempt charge
Johnson, deputy HR director must tell why they haven't helped in criminal probe of mayor
Detroit News
March 22, 2008
DETROIT -- The city's top lawyer and its deputy director of human resources have been ordered to appear in court Monday to say why they should not be held in contempt for apparently failing to cooperate with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's investigation of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy M. Kenny signed the order Friday directing Corporation Counsel John Johnson and Patricia Peoples to appear in his courtroom at 9 a.m.
The order capped a day in which the mayor huddled with top advisers and suffered another blow in his -- and the city's -- attempt to prevent the public release of the text messages that prompted Worthy's investigation. In a morning court hearing, a judge rejected Kilpatrick's argument that text messages between him and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, should be private.
Worthy is investigating whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury during a trial in August regarding a claim by two police officers that they were demoted or fired for their involvement in a probe of alleged misconduct in the mayor's executive protection unit.
The whistle-blowers, including a third officer, received an $8.4 million settlement from the city.
Worthy has said she will announce at 11 a.m. Monday whether Kilpatrick, Beatty or any others will face criminal charges resulting from the scandal.
The order that requested Johnson and Peoples, a cousin of the mayor's mother, to appear in court was taped to the human resources department door on the third floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Friday. It does not detail what prompted the court order, but says it is regarding "possible perjury of Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty." Although it had long been speculated by the media and legal analysts, it marks the first public confirmation from Worthy's office that it is exploring perjury charges.
Lawyer James W. Burdick was hired to represent the city to acquire, organize and deliver documents sought by Worthy's investigators. He said he has produced thousands of documents and has not received any court order directing Johnson or Peoples to do anything.
"I would know if there was an investigative subpoena or any other kind of subpoena saying 'John Johnson do this.' I would know. That's why I was hired. It would have come to me."
Burdick said Peoples' name hadn't surfaced during the investigation until Wednesday.
"I can't tell you (why). It's part of a sealed record," he said. "I gave that information to the prosecution. It's not because of something they discovered."
Worthy spokeswoman Maria Miller declined to talk about the order. Calls to Johnson and Peoples, who in 2003 was paid $120,000 a year to help recruit and select mayoral appointees, weren't returned.
Earlier Friday, Kilpatrick attended a meeting with about 80 department directors and deputy directors at Cobo Center to discuss what an aide said were routine questions related to city business.
Mayoral spokesman James Canning said the meetings are regularly scheduled at facilities that can accommodate such a large crowd.
Some messages to be released
Friday morning, Wayne County Judge Robert Colombo Jr. said he intends to release select text messages from Beatty from 2002 and 2003, after reviewing their content. He said he will release only messages related to a romantic relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty and messages about the firing of ex-Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, one of three former cops who filed the whistle-blower lawsuits.
Colombo made the rulings in the Freedom of Information Act case against the city by The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press aimed at releasing details of the secret deal between Kilpatrick and the officers that sought to shield text messages from public disclosure.
"This is performing an official function, in my opinion, and therefore would have to be disclosed," Colombo said in explaining why he considers the text messages public.
The text messages from 2002 and 2003 contradict sworn testimony given by Kilpatrick and Beatty at the whistle-blower trial last summer, when both said they did not have an affair or discuss Brown's firing.
Colombo gives orders
Colombo could soon release more recent text messages as well. The newspapers also are trying to get Kilpatrick's text messages from Aug. 1, 2007, through Jan. 28, 2008, that have anything to do with the whistle-blower lawsuit. Colombo on Friday agreed to take testimony from two city employees to determine what type of communications equipment Kilpatrick and Beatty used during that time period and whether the city was paying the bill.
In addition Friday, Colombo:
- Ordered attorneys in the whistle-blower cases to produce a proposed motion crafted by the police officers' attorney, Michael Stefani, that included portions of the messages.
- Kilpatrick dropped an appeal of a jury's verdict in one of the whistle-blower lawsuits after the city's outside attorney, Sam McCargo, saw the motion. Stefani and city attorneys McCargo and Wilson Copeland, along with Kilpatrick's personal attorney Bill Mitchell, must produce the motion.
- If any of the four attorneys had the motion at some point but don't currently have it, they must tell the court what happened to it, the judge said.
- Allowed the Detroit City Council to intervene in the newspapers' lawsuit. But he denied the council's motion in a separate case to enforce a City Council-issued subpoena for communications company SkyTel to produce Kilpatrick's and Beatty's text messages. Colombo questioned whether the council has subpoena powers.
- Ordered Stefani to give him all the e-mail correspondence he had with city attorneys regarding the whistle-blower cases.
It's not clear how soon Colombo would release the text messages -- for the periods of Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, 2002, and April 1 through May 31, 2003 -- or the Stefani motion. Before releasing the messages, Colombo said he would allow attorneys for the city to review the material and make arguments on whether certain portions should be public.
Taxpayer dollars used
Details of the text messages' existence and a secret deal signed by Kilpatrick to keep them shielded were withheld from the City Council when it approved a settlement. But The News reported this week that records show taxpayer dollars were spent on private attorneys to research and set up a safe deposit box that eventually was used as the depository for the roughly 14,000 text messages that are at the vortex of the scandal. City officials say the billing was an error.
William Liedel, an attorney for the city, argued that the texts are private, in part because they are different from other documents and e-mails since they are not retained in the city's electronic system. But newspaper attorneys argued that Kilpatrick, early in his first term, signed a directive to his staff that "all electronic communications" sent on city equipment should be considered public.
Liedel said that city policy doesn't apply to the SkyTel pages because they were not a part of the city's electronic system.
"It doesn't utilize the city's system," Liedel said. "These aren't public records."
Liedel said after the hearing that he didn't know if the city would appeal Colombo's ruling.
Also at the hearing, Beatty's personal attorney, Mayer Morganroth, and James Thomas, a new attorney hired by Kilpatrick to represent him personally, said they planned to file a motion to intervene in the case.
Court order vs. federal law
Thomas and Morganroth argued that federal law -- the Stored Communications Act -- stops the disclosure of private communications and said the Free Press, which first printed portions of the text messages in January, could face penalties for publishing them . Free Press attorney Herschel Fink disagreed, saying the law doesn't apply to this situation.
Detroit News attorney James Stewart said the judge's court order releasing the messages would trump the federal law.
"Christine Beatty and the mayor continue to use every possible means to avoid public accountability," Stewart said.
Colombo said he is concerned about the amount of time it will take him to review the close to 14,000 text messages and decipher any shorthand. He said he just recently learned about the meaning of "lol" in texts, which translates to "laugh out loud."
"I thought that meant 'lots of love,'" Colombo said. "But I am told it means something else."
Another judge is also expected to sort through thousands more administration text messages in a separate but related lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen selected two magistrates who will review a trove of text messages sought by lawyers representing the son of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, according to court records released Friday.
Rosen set up rules temporarily shielding text messages sent from Kilpatrick and other city officials and employees.
The rules are intended to keep the text messages confidential until they can be reviewed and it can be determined which, if any, will be given to Greene's lawyer, Norman Yatooma.
Mayor charged!
Timeline of Detroit mayor's text scandal
Oakland Press
March 24, 2008
A chronology of the text-messaging sex scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:
2002: A rumored, but never proven, wild party takes place at Manoogian Mansion, the Detroit mayor's home.
April 30, 2003: Exotic dancer Tamara Greene, 27, is shot to death inside her car. She is rumored to have danced at the Manoogian Mansion party.
May 9, 2003: Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown is fired by Kilpatrick for conducting unauthorized investigations.
June 2003: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox clears Kilpatrick after a five-week investigation into the rumored Manoogian party, saying he has found no evidence of such a party. Michigan State Police investigators also say they have found no evidence of wrongdoing following claims of a cover-up.
Oct. 13, 2005: Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announces plans to conduct an independent review of Greene's death.
Oct. 21, 2005: A jury orders the city to pay $200,000 to former police Lt. Alvin Bowman. The jury rules that Bowman's transfer was in retaliation for his probe into the alleged Manoogian party and Greene's death.
Aug. 28, 2007: Kilpatrick Chief of Staff Christine Beatty testifies in a whistle-blowers' trial that she did not have a romantic or intimate relationship with the mayor in 2002 and 2003.
Aug. 29, 2007: Kilpatrick denies under oath that he had an extramarital affair with Beatty in 2002 and 2003.
Sept. 11, 2007: A jury awards $6.5 million to two former police officers in the lawsuit, capping the three-week trial. Kilpatrick vows to appeal.
Sept. 28, 2007: Michael Stefani, attorney for the officers, subpoenas SkyTel, the city's communications provider, for text messages transmitted on Beatty's city-issued paging device.
Oct. 5, 2007: Stefani gets the text messages.
Oct. 17, 2007: The city and the whistle-blowers reach a settlement worth $8.4 million. It includes a clause referring to the text messages.
Oct. 19, 2007: The Detroit Free Press files a Freedom of Information request to see the settlement.
Oct. 27, 2007: Kilpatrick rejects the terms proposed for the settlement from Oct. 17.
Nov. 1, 2007: Kilpatrick approves the terms and conditions of an agreement approved Oct. 23 by the City Council. One part is for the public to see -- not mentioning the text messages -- but the other remains confidential.
Nov. 13, 2007: The Free Press files a second FOIA. It and The Detroit News later file a lawsuit seeking documents.
Jan. 23: The Free Press posts stories on its Web site, citing text messages that allude to Kilpatrick and Beatty having a physical relationship in 2002 and 2003 and that they misled jurors about Brown's firing. It is unclear how the newspaper obtained the text messages.
Jan. 25: Worthy says she has opened an investigation into whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury during the whistle-blowers' trial. She says the independent investigation "will be fair, impartial and thorough."
Jan. 30: Kilpatrick delivers a televised public apology about the text-messaging sex scandal from his church with his wife, Carlita, at his side.
Feb. 5: Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. orders that documents detailing the confidential settlement agreement from the whistle-blowers' lawsuit be made public. The mayor's office later appeals that ruling.
Feb. 8: Kilpatrick gives a radio interview saying he believes he's "on an assignment from God" and vows not to resign as Detroit mayor. Beatty's resignation as chief of staff becomes official.
Feb. 13: The Michigan Court of Appeals agrees with Colombo's ruling.
Feb. 15: Kilpatrick's attorneys appeal the Court of Appeals ruling to the state Supreme Court.
Feb. 19: The Detroit City Council asks the state Supreme Court to refuse Kilpatrick's request to stop the release of the documents.
Feb. 27: The Michigan Supreme Court declines to hear an appeal. The documents are released.
March 11: Kilpatrick gives his annual State of City address in which he singles out City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. for not sitting on the stage with him. Cockrel would become mayor if Kilpatrick leaves office. Kilpatrick also uses the N-word to describe threats he and his family have received and describes opposition and media coverage as a "lynch mob mentality."
March 12: Cox calls on Kilpatrick to resign, accusing him of race-baiting during the State of the City address.
March 13: Cox says his office will look into new claims concerning the rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
March 18: The City Council votes 7-1 on a nonbinding resolution asking Kilpatrick to resign.
March 21: Colombo rules some text messages that indicate a romantic relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty may be made public.
March 24: Worthy authorizes a 12-count criminal information against Kilpatrick and Beatty on charges including perjury and obstruction of justice.
Charges boost case in stripper's death, lawyer says
Indictment supports idea that mayor stalled efforts to find her killer, family's attorney says
Detroit News
March 25, 2008
The lawyer representing the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene says Monday's criminal charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff bolster the credibility of his case.
Norman Yatooma said it is significant that obstruction of justice charges against Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty relate to allegations that they fired former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown to hamper Brown's criminal investigations related to the mayor and his police bodyguards. Among the allegations Brown was looking into was a rumored party with strippers at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's official residence.
"Terminating Gary Brown was done in order to avoid the investigation of the party," and Monday's charges show Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy holds a similar view, Yatooma said.
Greene, an exotic dancer linked to a rumored party at the mayor's mansion, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Yatooma represents the father of Greene's 14-year-old son. The family is suing in U.S. District Court, alleging the investigation of Greene's killing was hampered for political reasons.
City officials have denied the allegations.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, the judge hearing the lawsuit, has ordered the city and SkyTel, the city's paging contractor, to preserve all text messages sent and received on the city-issued SkyTel pagers of Kilpatrick and 33 other current or former city officials for selected periods between Sept. 1, 2002 and Oct. 31, 2007.
Disclosure in January of pager text messages sent and received by Beatty led to Monday's charges against her and Kilpatrick. The messages point to an affair between Kilpatrick and Beatty and contradict sworn testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave at a police whistle-blower trial in 2007.
Southfield attorney Mayer Morganroth, who represents Beatty in the criminal case and represents Beatty, Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit in the federal civil case, said Yatooma is wrong and the criminal charges have no bearing on the civil case.
"There's no evidence of the party" and "there's no evidence that the party had anything to do with the death," Morganroth said.
"Mr. Yatooma can pipe dream all he wants."
Rosen said at a recent closed-door status conference he would deny Morganroth's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, meaning the case will almost certainly go to trial, Yatooma said. He said a settlement with the city is highly unlikely.
Morganroth said he still expects the case to be dismissed after the judge determines text messages he ordered preserved have no relevance to Yatooma's claims.
City seeks gag order in lawsuit involving exotic dancer's death
Detroit News
April 1, 2008
The city of Detroit has asked for a temporary halt to proceedings and a gag order in a federal lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer, saying the court case could interfere with the ongoing police investigation of Tamara Greene's killing and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's right to a fair trial in a separate criminal case.
Also, lawyer Mayer Morganroth, who has been criticized for having a possible conflict of interest in the case, withdrew today as lawyer for Kilpatrick and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, after earlier withdrawing as lawyer for the city of Detroit. Now, the only defendant Morganroth will represent in the Greene case is former mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. Morganroth also represents Beatty in the Kilpatrick-Beatty criminal case.
Greene, whose name was linked to a long-rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's teenage son, alleges the Detroit police failed to properly investigate Greene's killing for political reasons.
Friday was the deadline for the city to provide Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham attorney representing Flagg, with a copy of Greene's police homicide file. Yatooma said Monday he was planning to file a motion asking U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to order the city to "show cause" why it should not be found in contempt of court for failing to turn over the homicide file and other records it was ordered to produce.
City Assistant Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon said in a court filing late Monday that Detroit police are aggressively pursuing leads received since Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings -- a defendant in the lawsuit -- appealed through the media for tips on the Greene case.
"Given the fact that disclosure of the facts and information gathered by the Detroit Police Department to date concerning the Greene matter could seriously compromise the ongoing police investigation into Greene's death, Defendant City of Detroit respectfully requests that this Honorable Court stay the instant civil proceedings until the Detroit Police Department has had an opportunity to attempt to develop leads which have only recently been given to the department," Crittendon said in the court filing.
"Tendering the homicide file involving the death of Tamara Greene to the court in this matter will deprive the Detroit Police Department of an active homicide file at a crucial time of the investigation."
Yatooma could not immediately be reached for comment.
On March 24, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct in a criminal case arising from the city text message scandal.
SkyTel text messages from Beatty's pager first published by the Detroit Free Press pointed to a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty and possible perjury by both when they testified at a police whistle-blower trial last year. Other records since made public as a result of a lawsuit by The Detroit News and the Free Press show Kilpatrick and Beatty signed a secret deal to keep the text messages under wraps as part of a settlement that paid $8.4 million in city funds to three police defendants in whistle-blower lawsuits.
In requesting a stay in the civil case, city attorneyscited the recent criminal charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty. Having to give evidence in the Greene lawsuit could potentially interfere with Kilpatrick's and other potential witnesses' Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, Crittendon said.
In addition, "given the ongoing investigations being conducted by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Michigan State Police, Detroit City Council and State Bar of Michigan, various employees, appointees and elected officials of the City of Detroit may also have to invoke the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination provision, if called to testify" in the civil case.
The city also asked for a gag order, arguing Yatooma's frequent media interviews "will severely hinder the defendants' ability to receive a fair trial."
Morganroth never acknowledged a conflict of interest in representing Beatty in a criminal case while also representing Beatty, the city, Kilpatrick and Bully-Cummings in the federal civil case. His recent withdrawal from representing the city did not stop criticism from members of Detroit City Council and others who said Beatty's interests could be in conflict with Kilpatrick's interests.
Morganroth said today the talk of a possible conflict by pundits and others was creating "a sideshow" that could take away from a proper defense of the case, so he decided to withdraw from representing anyone but Beatty.
In addition to Greene's homicide file, Rosen had ordered the city to provide Yatooma by Friday with user identification numbers that would help SkyTel produce pager text messages from nearly three dozen city and police officials that Rosen has ordered preserved as possible evidence in the lawsuit. The text messages are to be privately reviewed by U.S. magistrate judges to determine if they are relevant to the lawsuit.
Crittendon's motion did not specifically address the city's failure to turn over those records.
Hearing set for April 14 on gag order request in stripper lawsuit
Detroit News
April 2, 2008
A federal judge today set an April 14 hearing on the city of Detroit's requests for a temporary halt to proceedings and a gag order in the federal lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer.
Stripper Tamara Greene, whose name was linked to a long-rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's 15-year-old son, alleges Detroit police failed to properly investigate the killing for political reasons.
The mayor has denied the party took place and Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, a defendant in the lawsuit, denies the police have shirked the investigation, holding a recent news conference to seek tips on Greene's killing.
In a recent court filing, the city asked for a stay of proceedings in the court case, saying it would be harmful to the police investigation to have to turn over the homicide file and other requested records to Greene's family.
Lawyers for the city also cited the recent perjury and other criminal charges brought against Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty -- both defendants in the case -- in connection with the city text message scandal. Having to give evidence in the civil case could conflict with the Fifth Amendment rights of Kilpatrick, Beatty, and other potential witnesses in the case to remain silent, the city said in a court filing.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen today ordered the city to file a brief supporting its position by April 7 and ordered Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Flagg, to file a brief in response by April 11.
The city is also seeking a gag order, saying Yatooma's statements to the news media will prevent the case from being tried fairly.
Yatooma said today he is opposed to both a stay and a gag order.
He said Bully-Cummings had sent the Greene murder file to the "cold case" unit and she's only recently shown a public interest in solving the case. The best leads in the Greene homicide investigation have come as a result of the lawsuit, not the police investigation, Yatooma said.
As for a gag order, that would be unfair to Greene's 15-year-old, Jonathan Bond, Yatooma said.
"It's an abomination," he said. "Jonathan's constitutional rights have already been violated. That's what gives rise to this lawsuit in the first place.
"Now they also want to take away his constitutional right to free speech."
Lawyer: No texts in Greene suit
Beatty's attorney seeks to quash subpoenas seeking city, police officials' messages
Detroit News
April 28, 2008
DETROIT — The attorney for former mayoral chief of staff Christine Beatty wants text messages that were sent between city and police officials excluded from a lawsuit brought by the family of Tamara Greene, the exotic dancer who was killed in a 2003 drive-by shooting.
Mayer Morganroth, Beatty's attorney in the Greene case, on Friday filed a motion in U.S. District Court to quash subpoenas seeking the text messages, claiming the federal Stored Communications Act bars their release in a civil lawsuit, unless the person sending or receiving the messages gives permission for their release.
"This court should prohibit all discovery of electronic communications purportedly pertaining to Beatty from any source whatsoever inasmuch as Beatty has not authorized the release of any communications relating to her," Morganroth wrote in his motion.
"The clear purpose of the SCA is to protect the privacy of 'users,' regardless of who owns or pays for the equipment or service," Morganroth wrote.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Greene's 15-year-old son, Jonathan Bond, by his father, Ernest Flagg, claims city officials failed to properly investigate Greene's murder.
Greene, who used the stage name "Strawberry," has been linked to a long rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
Norman Yatooma, Flagg's lawyer, several weeks ago subpoenaed SkyTel pager text messages for Kilpatrick and 33 other current or former police and city officials. Yatooma on Sunday called the motion to quash subpoenas seeking the text messages "ridiculous."
"First of all, Beatty is not a subscriber, and this act protects only the subscriber," Yatooma said. "The city is the subscriber, not Ms. Beatty. And the city is in conflict with itself, because the city, through the City Council, is asking for these same text messages.
"Also, the mayor has already waived these arguments many years ago when he said all such information is public information," Yatooma said. "He put that in writing."
University of Detroit Mercy law professor Larry Dubin believes Yatooma's argument is valid.
"I think there is a good possibility that the judge will find that the defendants do not have a legitimate basis for blocking the release of these messages," Dubin said. "There's a strong argument to be made that the messages are public records and that the subscriber was the city of Detroit — not the individuals who used the devices."
But Morganroth in his motion claims the text messages should not be allowed, no matter who owned the pagers.
"It is perfectly reasonable for Beatty to expect that her electronic communications would remain private, even when such electronic communications were sent or received via city-provided equipment," Morganroth wrote.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen expressed frustration two weeks ago when a city attorney said Detroit officials destroyed records showing which employees were using which city pagers at the time Greene was killed in April 2003.
Rosen said if he does not receive the "personal identification numbers" that show which specific Detroit Police and city officials had which pagers, he will order SkyTel, the city's former pager contractor, to turn over all pager text messages for all city employees for the time periods relevant to the lawsuit.
SkyTel officials have agreed to turn over the records so that federal magistrates could review them, but they said they first needed the pagers' personal identification numbers showing which employees had specific pagers.
Rosen had ordered the city to turn the PINs over to Yatooma by March 28, but city attorney Krystal Crittendon told the judge April 14 that she was unable to locate the records. She said they possibly were destroyed after the city stopped using the SkyTel pagers in 2004.
Rosen said if the records are not produced, he would "order the production of all text messages during the relevant time period."
Text messages from Beatty's SkyTel pager, which were published in the media in January, led to criminal charges being brought March 24 against Kilpatrick and Beatty.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct in a case related to a police whistle-blower trial in 2007.
The pager text messages hinted at a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty.
Both the mayor and his former chief of staff denied under oath having a sexual relationship during the whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former Detroit police officers, who said they were fired or demoted for investigating wrongdoing by the mayor.
The cost of the settlement was $8.4 million.
Daughters of slain exotic dancer join lawsuit against city of Detroit
Detroit News
May 5, 2008
Two daughters of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene are seeking to join a federal lawsuit brought against the city of Detroit and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on behalf of Greene's 15-year-old son.
Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma filed court papers Monday seeking to add Ashly Jackson, 12, and India Bond, 6, as plaintiffs in the lawsuit now filed on behalf of Jonathan Bond, 15.
Greene, an exotic dancer linked to a rumored party at the mayor's mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
The lawsuit alleges Detroit police failed to properly investigate the killing for political reasons and concealed evidence related to the incident.
Lawyers for the city, the mayor and police officials deny the allegations and have asked U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to dismiss the lawsuit.
Attorney: Cop sent text day of slaying
Message from mayor's bodyguard to Beatty after dancer shot may involve case, lawyer in suit says
Detroit News
May 6, 2008
DETROIT — It could be significant that a police bodyguard sent a text message to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's top aide just hours after exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was shot to death, a lawyer for Greene's family said Monday.
New court papers that Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma filed in a lawsuit against the city over Greene's death highlight a text message reportedly sent to former mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty on April 30, 2003, the day Greene was shot to death in the early morning hours.
"When you get a chance, could you give me a call?" officer Loronzo Greg Jones text-messaged Beatty that day, according to documents recently released in a separate court case.
"Yes," Beatty replied.
Yatooma detailed the reported exchange between Jones and Beatty and information about the background of Jones, the former head of Kilpatrick's executive protection unit, in a motion filed Monday seeking to amend his lawsuit against the mayor, the city, and top police and city officials.
"It's at least curious — it piqued my curiosity," Yatooma said of the Jones-Beatty exchange. It was quoted in a court brief prepared last year by police whistle-blower lawyer Michael Stefani, who subpoenaed the text messages from SkyTel Corp. Stefani later gave the messages up to representatives of Kilpatrick and Beatty as part of a secret settlement agreement.
"That text message may be innocuous, but the fact that a member of the EPU and a member of the mayor's office are in communication the day that Tamara Greene is killed — that's what we are looking into," Yatooma said.
"I want to see who else in the EPU was texting the day Tammy Greene was killed."
Jones, who was transferred from his EPU post in 2003, could not be reached for comment. Mayer Morganroth, Beatty's attorney, called Yatooma's latest claims ridiculous and absurd.
"She was getting text messages from the police all the time — that was her job," Morganroth said of Beatty.
Greene's name was linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated party involving strippers at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in fall 2002. Yatooma's suit, filed on behalf of Greene's 15-year-old son Jonathan Bond, alleges the police failed to properly investigate the killing and concealed evidence for political reasons — charges the police, mayor and city deny.
Former homicide lieutenant Alvin Bowman said in a sworn affidavit he believes a Detroit police officer killed Greene with a .40 caliber police-issue handgun, but has provided few details to back his view. Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings has described the Bowman affidavit as irresponsible and wrong.
Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr., who ordered the Stefani brief made public last Tuesday, said it was the document that broke a negotiating impasse and caused attorneys for the mayor and the city to settle police whistle-blower suits for $8.4 million. A secret side agreement not disclosed to Detroit City Council was intended to keep the text messages — which pointed to a Kilpatrick-Beatty affair and possible perjury by both of them when they testified at the whistle-blower trial — under wraps.
Yatooma's motion Monday details Jones' "tarnished record," including a misdemeanor gun charge in 1992, later expunged, a 1995 incident in which Jones was accused of shooting into a man's car while off duty, and a 1996 incident in which Jones, again off duty, fought with another police officer who pulled over his car.
The motion also seeks to add Greene's two daughters as plaintiffs in the lawsuit — Ashly Jackson, 12, and India Bond, 6.
Wayne County Prosecutor charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with perjury and other felonies in March.
Judge orders pager records
City lawyers scolded for not providing text message lists for use in Tamara Greene lawsuit
Detroit News
May 7, 2008
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the city of Detroit to produce the city's contracts with pager provider SkyTel Corp. — documents that could determine whether text messages sent and received by the mayor and city employees can be subpoenaed in a lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen also scolded lawyers for the city and former mayoral chief of staff Christine Beatty for possibly trying to impede the gathering of documents relevant to the Tamara "Strawberry" Greene lawsuit.
"The court discerns a troubling trend in this case, where a city attorney has stated on the record that at least some of the pertinent documents ... have been shredded, and where defendant Beatty has now interposed a dubious challenge to plaintiff's court-authorized effort to obtain this information through other means," Rosen said in a court order.
Greene's name was linked to a long-rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. She was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of Greene's 15-year-old son, alleges Detroit police failed to properly investigate the killing for political reasons.
The defendants, who include the city, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Beatty, and police officials, deny the allegations.
Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer representing Greene's family, subpoenaed text messages sent and received by the mayor and more than two dozen other current and former city and police officials.
Audit will probe Greene case
State Police forensics unit to look into Detroit's gun lab to see if investigations were mishandled
Detroit News
May 14, 2008
DETROIT — State Police forensics investigators auditing the city's firearms laboratory will look into whether evidence in the 2003 fatal shooting of stripper Tamara Greene was handled properly, the man in charge of the audit said.
The city's gun lab was shut down last month after an independent investigator determined that Detroit lab technicians mishandled evidence in a shooting case. Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings ordered the lab closed and requested an audit by the state police to determine the scope of the problem.
As part of that audit, which is scheduled to start today and is expected to last four months, state investigators will randomly inspect cases handled by the city's nine firearms examiners. But Capt. Mike Thomas, director of the State Police Forensic Science Division, said investigators also will hand-pick certain cases — including the Greene shooting — as part of the audit.
"We're trying to identify all the cases where there's been a question about whether the evidence was handled properly," Thomas said. "Those are the cases we'll also take a look at, in addition to the random cases."
Greene, who danced under the stage name "Strawberry," was killed in a drive-by shooting on April 30, 2002. Her name has been linked to a long-rumored, but never substantiated, party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion.
Former Detroit homicide Lt. Alvin Bowman in February said in a sworn affidavit that he suspects Greene was killed by a member of the Detroit Police Department.
Bowman made the allegation during a deposition in a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's family against the city of Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials. Greene's family alleges in the suit that top city officials interfered with the investigation of Greene's murder. City officials have denied the allegation.
Bowman also said in the affidavit there were links between Greene and "high-ranking city employees," including an unnamed associate of Kilpatrick. The former homicide detective alleged in a separate lawsuit that he was demoted for attempting to investigate Greene's killing.
"I suspected that the shooter was a law enforcement officer, and more specifically, a Detroit Police Department officer," he said in his Feb. 29 affidavit. He was awarded $200,000 in a jury trial against the city.
As part of the lawsuit brought by Greene's family, U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen in March appointed two federal magistrates to look at text messages sent to and from city officials around the time of her murder. However, SkyTel Corp., the city's former pager service provider, has not turned over the text messages because the company first needs personal identification numbers (PINs), to identify which messages the court is requesting. The city has not provided those PINs.
Detroit Police say the Greene shooting case remains open.
"We've never closed the case," said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate.
"We've said that all along, and we hope anyone who has information about the case comes forward."
Norman Yatooma, the attorney representing Greene's children, said he was pleased by the new State Police probe.
"I'm glad to see someone giving time and attention to the case instead of covering it up," he said.
Greene was shot numerous times with a .40 caliber weapon — the kind issued to Detroit police. Bowman said he believed Greene was the target of a contract killing, because he said the shooter had plenty of time to also shoot her boyfriend, who was a passenger in the vehicle.
"In the course of our investigation, I learned from the Michigan State Police that they possessed a telephone record linking Ms. Greene to high-ranking city employees not long before her murder," Bowman said in the affidavit. "I also learned that Tamara Greene danced for and was employed by an associate of Mayor Kilpatrick."
As part of the State Police audit of Detroit's gun lab, Thomas said he also wants to look at four other cases where Detroit police allegedly mishandled gun evidence. Those cases involve clients of Marvin Barnett, the Detroit attorney who was responsible for the chain of events leading up to the shutdown of Detroit's lab and the subsequent audit.
Barnett hired independent forensics investigator David Balash to examine evidence in a case in which he said Detroit police mishandled gun evidence. In that case, two of Detroit's firearms examiners said that 42 spent shell casings came from one gun. But Balash found 24 bullets came from one weapon, 17 from another, and one was impossible to determine. An independent examiner retained by the prosecutor confirmed Balash's findings.
In another development, SkyTel filed a motion Tuesday seeking to quash Yatooma's subpoenas.
The motion by SkyTel, a division of Bell Industries Inc., is significant because up until Tuesday SkyTel had indicated it was prepared to comply with subpoenas seeking text messages in connection with the case.
SkyTel attorney Thomas Plunkett noted that Mayer Morganroth, an attorney representing former mayoral chief of staff Christine Beatty in the case, has said SkyTel could be sued if it releases text messages in connection with a civil case.
SkyTel wants to comply with court orders but also wants to avoid civil claims based on such compliance, Plunkett said.
He asked U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to quash Yatooma's subpoenas or order the city to request and obtain any subpoenaed information from SkyTel.
Kilpatrick controversy splits Detroit
Embroiled in a costly scandal, the 2nd-term mayor maintains a loyal following while others press for his impeachment
Blade, The (Toledo, OH)
June 29, 2008
DETROIT — As Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick fights for his political life and perhaps his freedom in the wake of felony charges stemming from a text-messaging scandal, feelings of racism, unequal treatment, political corruption, and perceived ignorance about the mayor are dividing the predominantly black population of the troubled Motor City.
In January, the Detroit Free Press published a story detailing text messages sent in 2002 and 2003 between Mr. Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff, that strongly suggest the mayor lied under oath during a four-year whistleblower lawsuit filed by three former Detroit police officers.
The mayor and city lost a jury verdict of more than $6 million and later withdrew an appeal of the case and quickly settled for about $8 million after the incriminating text messages were received under subpoena by attorney Mike
Stefani, who represented all the former officers.
In his criminal case, the mayor is accused of lying under oath about an extramarital affair with Ms. Beatty and about the reasons for firing Gary Brown, one of the officers in the lawsuit.
After the Free Press story ran, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy issued charges against Mr. Kilpatrick, including perjury and misconduct in office, and a divided Detroit City Council voted 5-4 in May to impeach him or have him removed from office.
There's no way to tell what will happen to the mayor once his case goes to court, but equally unclear is his standing in Detroit's court of public opinion.
In April, Detroit resident Angelo Brown started a recall campaign to remove the mayor from office as soon as November. The mayor's term doesn't end until 2010.
Since then, Mr. Brown has been joined by other Kilpatrick critics and recall organizers, including Chris Beatty, the uncle of Lou Beatty, who is the ex-husband of Mr. Kilpatrick's former chief of staff.
Mr. Beatty has been walking the streets of Detroit since the beginning of June, trying to convince people to sign a petition to put a mayoral recall on the November ballot.
"I believe a great majority wish he would just go away and let Detroit start over, but I find more citizens than I would believe that still sit on the fence," he said. "So many people believe he should be left alone. They say, 'Well [white public officials commit crimes and adultery] so why y'all running [Kilpatrick] out?' The people will tell you that they dislike what he's doing, but they have a difficulty signing."
Mr. Kilpatrick's office declined repeated requests to comment on this story, saying his lawyers needed to approve before he could talk to the Blade.
Polling numbers
The most recent poll of Detroiters' opinions on the mayor was conducted March 25 and 26 by the public opinion research group Selzer & Co., which was commissioned to do a poll by the Detroit Free Press.
Ann Selzer, president of the research group, said her firm polled 503 Detroit residents and found that 49 percent said they would definitely vote for someone other than Mr. Kilpatrick in November, 2009, while 23 percent said they would definitely vote for Mr. Kilpatrick.
But only 48 percent of those polled felt the mayor should leave office immediately, while 40 percent said he should not.
"In terms of there being a base of support for Mayor Kilpatrick, I think that's true," Ms. Selzer recently told The Blade. "One in five thought the mayor would be acquitted and remain in office. That's not a small group. It's not enough, but it's a group of people who are standing by to help him stay in office."
A source of debate
Some of those supporters can be found at D' Woods Barber Shop on Eight Mile Road on Detroit's East side, where owner David Woodger says his customers constantly debate about the mayor.
During a recent visit, Bo Thomas, 43, was one of several people with strong opinions who support the mayor remaining in office. "I don't want to say it's about race because we've had too many black mayors to say that," he said. "But if you're a black man, you're guilty until proven innocent . . . [Kilpatrick's accusers] want him out of the way because they can't control him."
Detroiters such as Mr. Beatty describe the city as one of the most segregated major cities in the country. The city has a black population of about 81 percent and a white populaton of about 12 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some neighboring suburbs such as Warren have a population about 90 percent white and less than 5 percent black.
Support and criticism
The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, a Kilpatrick supporter who is pastor of New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, said many of the mayor's critics dislike him because he stands up for the people of Detroit where other mayors have not.
He said former Mayor Dennis Archer was politically favored by whites in and around Detroit because he supported giving up city property and services to suburban communities.
"Under Archer, we lost residency, our courts, and income tax," he said. "The police and fire don't have to live here any more," Mr. Sheffield said. "The suburban populations tend to prefer mayors that are not strong black men," he said. "It's almost as if we prefer you if you don't have a certain demeanor. We would like you if you weren't so black. We like you if you support our agenda at the expense of your own people."
Mr. Kilpatrick has been criticized and revered for his image as the "Hip-Hop Mayor," a nickname he earned for wearing diamond-studded earrings and flashy suits and frequenting social scenes that cater to a younger audience.
Even Mr. Kilpatrick's toughest critics acknowledge the embattled mayor is a gifted, talented politician, who began his mayoral career with the charisma of another prominent black public official.
"The truth of the matter is Kilpatrick with his talents could have been Barack Obama before there was a Barack Obama," said Detroit TV and radio personality Mildred Gaddis, host of Inside Detroit, which airs on WCHB-AM 1200 radio from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Mrs. Gaddis credits herself with being a tough critic of the mayor since he first took office in 2002.
"I was the only person who recognized from day one that Kwame Kilpatrick had talents that would take him where his character could not keep him," she boasted. "He is smart. The camera loves him. He has a great smile. He's a very likable guy, quite appealing . . . [But] he is the consummate con man, and con men have great skills. That's how they're successful. It may get you there, but it certainly won't keep you there."
Motor City woes
It's hard to tell if the number of people calling for the mayor to resign has increased as a result of the text-messaging scandal or whether the voices of people who always disliked him have just gotten louder.
For the last seven years, John Reihl of Detroit has been president of Local 207 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a union representing more than 1,000 government employees.
Mr. Reihl is one of several Detroit union leaders supporting the recall campaign against Mr. Kilpatrick, but he said the text-messaging scandal has little to do with it.
He said the mayor has laid off more than 1,000 government employees since he took office in 2002 and has supported a policy of privatizing city services.
"I do not give a hoot who he has sex with on any particular day, but we do feel like we're being raped on a regular basis by him," he said. "Fifty-one percent of the work goes to contractors. They're just throwing money at these people and the contractors often do poor jobs. It's not saving money . . . You'd be hard pressed to find anything that's improved in the city. The city's kind of gone to hell in some ways."
Council perspectives
Kilpatrick critics such as City Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, who authored the resolution to impeach Mr. Kilpatrick, said many of the mayor's supporters give him credit for initiatives that were started under Mr. Archer, the former mayor, but that Detroit's problems have worsened under Mr. Kilpatrick's watch.
"Under him we've still been considered one of the poorest cities, one of the dumbest cities, one of the fattest cities, according to Forbes magazine," Mr. Kenyatta said, referring to a story in the magazine's Jan. 30 issue that declared Detroit America's most miserable city.
"These people did not pay a trash fee eight years ago. We were not in the national spotlight with a mayor that had been indicted with eight counts and the butt of jokes of every comedian around the country . . . We have to look at what the reality is vs. what uninformed people may feel on the basis of emotion."
Councilman Monica Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, voted against having the mayor removed.
"They had nothing to base it upon asking him to resign other than newspaper articles," she said in a recent Blade interview. "I believe if the election was held today, the mayor would get re-elected. He's charismatic, the people love him, and the people of Detroit are forgiving."
Legal issues
Media personalities, public officials, religious leaders, and residents debate and disagree on how the Kilpatrick saga will end, but city officials say Detroit is in turmoil and in need of strong leadership regardless of who the mayor is.
Meanwhile, the mayor's legal troubles continue unabated, with lawyers representing him filing suits to block council's impeachment attempts.
City Council recently delayed impeachment proceedings until August but has asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove the mayor from office. The governor's said she is investigating the case.
The mayor's lawyers also are preparing for preliminary hearings for Mr. Kilpatrick and Ms. Beatty's criminal case, which begins in September.
Recall organizers need about 60,000 signatures by Aug. 5 to place an ouster question on the November ballot, but they won't disclose how close they are.
And there is the $150 million lawsuit filed in federal court against Mr. Kilpatrick and the city by attorneys for Jonathan Bond, 15, son of the late Tamara "Strawberry" Greene. The suit accuses the mayor's office of interfering with the investigation into Miss Greene's slaying and preventing investigators from probing allegations of a 2002 party involving strippers at the Manoogian Mansion, Detroit's official mayoral residence.
Miss Greene - an exotic dancer working under the name Strawberry and allegedly at the party - was killed on April 30, 2003, in a drive-by shooting.
It was the Detroit police's probe of the killing - and questions about the purported party at the mayor's mansion - that led to the disciplinary action against the officers, their lawsuits against Mr. Kilpatrick, and the text-messaging scandal.
CHRONOLOGY OF A SCANDAL
November, 2001: Kwame Kilpatrick defeats City Council President Gil Hill to become the youngest mayor of Detroit.
March, 2003: Harold Nelthrope, a guard for Mayor Kilpatrick, reports to police internal affairs he has heard from other police officers that they attended a party at the mayor's official residence, the Manoogian Mansion, where a nude dancer allegedly was assaulted by the mayor's wife, Carlita.
April, 2003: Gary Brown, deputy chief of internal affairs for the Detroit Police Department, is fired after meeting with Michigan State Police and after asking questions about the party and other police misconduct.
April 30, 2003: Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, the stripper alleged to have been assaulted by the mayor's wife, is killed in Detroit near the home of a male acquaintance. Investigators assigned to the case describe the slaying as a targeted assassination, or "hit."
May, 2003: Michigan State Police officially begin investigating the purported Manoogian Mansion party and possible criminal misconduct by the mayor, his wife, and Detroit police officers. The office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox also begins investigating.
June, 2003: Mr. Brown and Mr. Nelthrope file whistleblower lawsuits against the mayor, claiming wrongful termination and discrimination for cooperating with a police investigation.
June 24, 2003: The state attorney general's office announces it is closing the Manoogian Mansion investigation, describing the party as an "urban legend."
January, 2004: The Michigan State Police close their Manoogian Mansion investigation, citing a lack of evidence.
May, 2004: Former mayoral police bodyguard Walter Harris files a lawsuit against Mr. Kilpatrick and the city, claiming discrimination against him in his job duties as a result of his reporting information to the Michigan State Police buttressing reports of misconduct made by Mr. Nelthrope.
May, 2005: Detective Alvin Bowman sues Mr. Kilpatrick and the city for transferring him from his job as a homicide detective to the graveyard shift at another precinct because he was investigating the Tamara Greene homicide. Miss Greene's file was transferred to the department's "cold case" section around the time of Mr. Bowman's transfer.
April, 2006: Mr. Bowman's case is settled for $340,000.
September, 2007: A jury rules in favor of officers Mr. Brown, Mr. Nelthrope, and Mr. Harris for a total verdict of about $6.4 million. City attorneys working for Mr. Kilpatrick appeal the verdict.
October, 2007: City attorneys decide to drop their appeal and settle with the former officers for $8 million after the content of text messages is obtained by the officers' attorney.
January, 2008: The Detroit Free Press publishes a story detailing the contents of 14,000 text messages sent between the mayor and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, indicating the two had an extramarital romantic relationship and apparently lied under oath about the reasons Mr. Brown was fired.
January 20, 2008: Mr. Kilpatrick goes on local television with his wife and apologizes for the scandal. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy begins investigating the text messages for proof of criminal misconduct.
March 12, 2008: The mayor delivers a passionate state-of-the-city address, challenging what he calls the media's "lynch mob mentality" and vowing to remain in office.
March 19, 2008: Detroit City Council issues a vote of "no confidence" in the mayor, asking him to resign.
March 24, 2008: After a 56-day investigation, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charges the mayor and Miss Beatty with multiple felony counts, including perjury, misconduct in office, and obstruction of justice.
May 13, 2008: City Council votes 5-4 to move to impeach the mayor and asks Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove him from office.
KWAME MALIK KILPATRICK
Born: June 6, 1970; age: 38
Party affiliation: Democrat. He spoke at the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Education: Graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. He received his political science degree from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, where he was captain of the football team. He later received a law degree from Michigan State University's college of law.
Public service: Mr. Kilpatrick worked as a teacher at Detroit's Marcus Garvey Academy before beginning his political career.
In 1996, he was elected to the seat in the Michigan House of Representatives vacated by his mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who was elected to represent Michigan's 15th Congressional District. He was elected mayor in November, 2001, and won a controversial re-election battle over challenger and fellow Democrat Freman Hendrix in November, 2005.
Family: Mr. Kilpatrick's mother is the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. His father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was chief of staff to former Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara.
Mr. Kilpatrick and his wife, Carlita, have three sons, Jelani and Jelil, who are twins, and Jonas.
Police investigate felon in shooting death of exotic dancer Tamara Greene
Detroit News
August 1, 2008
DETROIT — Law enforcement officials say they have reason to believe — if not yet evidence enough to prove — that Darrett King killed stripper Tamara Greene.
King, 35, was expecting to be released from prison next month. Instead, he was in court Thursday to face new charges related to a 2004 Christmas Eve gas station stick-up.
King knows, however, the assault charges are meant simply to keep him in custody while investigators attempt to cement his role in Greene's April 30, 2003, slaying, according to his lawyer.
The life and death of the exotic dancer known as Strawberry has taken on mythological proportions in Detroit city lore. Identifying King, the 5 1/2 -foot-tall, 160-pound street hustler known as "Little D," as the suspect in the slaying could deflate the legend.
Greene was 27 when shot to death in a car on the city's west side. She is said to have danced months earlier at a rumored raunchy party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion sometime late in 2002 and may have been caught in a compromising position with Kilpatrick by the mayor's wife, Carlita. According to the legend, Greene was beaten for it by Carlita Kilpatrick.
Greene, the story goes, was killed because she knew too much or because she was shaking the mayor down for hush money.
But the very existence of the party never has been confirmed, nor has any connection been shown between Greene's early-morning slaying and City Hall.
Investigators believe they have nailed-down the true scenario, working from the recollection of informants who said King went around town bragging about the killing and from a statement given by Eric "Big E" Mitchell, who was in the car with Greene when she was gunned down.
Two law enforcement officials familiar with the case, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that King is a suspect in Greene's murder.
"He knows what it's all about, and it's bull----," King's lawyer, Carl Jordan, said Thursday. Jordan described his client as "flustered" when he appeared in 36th District Court Thursday.
"What makes this 4-year-old assault case so important all of a sudden? It's not a stretch to figure out that my guy knew Tamara Greene," Jordan said. "But I don't think Mr. King is as much of a suspect as a possible witness who they (police) might want to put some pressure on to get him to talk to them."
King has a long rap sheet. He is doing time for being a felon in possession of a firearm. King pleaded guilty to the charge in June 2004, and drug dealing charges dating to 2002 were dropped.
The new charges, two counts of assault with intent to murder and being a four-time felony offender, stem from a case that somehow slipped through the cracks years ago during the police investigation and are being brought now to keep King locked up, law enforcement officials told The News.
The scenario surrounding Greene's death pieced together by investigators goes this way: Mitchell and King, both of whom have been arrested for narcotics possession, were colleagues in the rough and tumble of the Detroit drug scene.
The two were business associates, law enforcement officials say, who bickered bitterly in summer 2002 about a load of cocaine gone missing. The beef culminated with the torching of Mitchell's SUV, parked in his condominium parking lot. A security guard said it was a man in a white SUV. As, it happened, King's wife owned a white SUV and King bragged around town that he was the one who torched Mitchell's car, informants told police.
Greene, a known consort of both men and something of a famed talent in Detroit, was caught in the middle. Two weeks before her murder, Greene danced for a party of men that was attended by "Little D" (King) and "Big E" (Mitchell).
King made sexual overtures toward Greene, the law enforcement officials say, which Greene declined. Angered, King allegedly punched her first in one eye, then the other. Autopsy reports show Greene died with two black eyes.
Her beating was confirmed by Greene's grandmother, Bertha Powell of Columbus, Ohio. "She told me she got beat up at a party," Powell said. "She told me she was afraid."
Mitchell, who stands 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs in excess of 250 pounds, intervened, authorities say. The large man beat down the little man — an embarrassment for King because it was witnessed by Detroit's gangland scene.
The feud escalated, investigators say. A week after the party, and a week before Greene's death, an expensive car leased by Greene's grandmother and used by Greene and Mitchell, was shot up.
A week later, in the early morning hours of April 30, 2003, Greene and Mitchell sat in her car idling in front of his home in the Bagley section of Detroit. According to a statement Mitchell gave to the police, a white SUV turned the corner, a left hand emerged holding a pistol from the driver's side window, and unleashed a barrage of at least 12 bullets, according to crime scene investigators.
Greene was struck three times, including once in the face and once in the neck. Her body slumped over the steering wheel, her eyeglasses were broken and the car, still in drive, crept down the street.
Mitchell was struck five times, but having seen the SUV, he ducked without warning next to Greene. He was not seriously injured, he told police. In fact, Mitchell got out of the car, called a friend on his cell phone and knocked on a neighbor's door. A few minutes later, Mitchell told the police on the scene, "It was Little D," law enforcement officials say.
Still, the case went cold until the mayor's spectacular problems began and the Detroit Police Department stepped up efforts to solve the case.
"He slipped through the cracks of a broken system," an investigator said of King.
"A broken system in a broken city."
A preliminary examination on the new assault charges was postponed Thursday.
Judge Katherine Hansen ordered King returned to court on Aug. 26. He is being kept, temporarily, in the Wayne County Jail.
Darrett King - Investigated for murder of Tamara King
Michigan Department Of Corrections
August 1, 2008
Darrett King - Investigated for murder of Tamara King
Michigan Court Of Appeals
2004 Conviction Affirmed
Police building case against felon as shooter of Tamara Greene
Detroit News, The (MI)
August 1, 2008
DETROIT – Authorities say they have reason to believe – if not yet evidence enough to prove –
that Darrett King killed stripper Tamara Greene.
King, 35, was expecting to be released from prison next month. Instead, he was in court
Thursday to face new charges related to a 2004 Christmas Eve gas station stick-up.
King knows, however, the assault charges are meant simply to keep him in custody while
investigators attempt to cement his role in Greene's April 30, 2003 slaying, according to his
lawyer.
The life and death of the exotic dancer and call-girl known as Strawberry has taken on
mythological proportions in the annals of Detroit city lore. Identifying the 5 1/2 -foot-tall, 160-
pound street hustler known as "Little D" as the suspect in the slaying could deflate the legend.
Greene was 27 when shot to death in a car on the city's west side. She is said to have danced
months earlier at a raucous and raunchy party at the mayor's Manoogian mansion sometime late
in 2002 and is said to have been caught in a compromising position with the mayor by
Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita. Greene allegedly was beaten for it by Carlita Kilpatrick.
Greene, the story goes, was killed because she knew too much or because she was shaking the
mayor down for hush money.
But the very existence of the party never has been confirmed, nor has any connection ever been
shown between Green's early morning slaying and city hall.
Investigators believe they have nailed-down the true scenario, working from the recollection of
informants who said King went around town bragging about the killing and from a statement
given by Eric "Big E" Mitchell, who was in the car with Greene when she was gunned down."He
knows what it's all about, and it's bull," King's lawyer Carl Jordan said Thursday. Jordan
described his client as "flustered" when he appeared in 36th District Court Thursday.
King has a long rap sheet. He currently is doing time for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
King pleaded guilty to the charge in June of 2004 and drug dealing charges dating to 2002 were
dropped.
The new charges, two counts of assault with intent to murder and being a four-time felony
offender, stem from a case that somehow slipped through the cracks years ago during the police
investigation and are being brought now to keep King locked up, authorities told The News.
The scenario surrounding Greene's death pieced together by investigators goes this way: Mitchell and King, both of whom have been arrested for narcotics possession, were colleagues in the rough and tumble of the Detroit drug scene.
The two were business associates, authorities say, who bickered bitterly in the summer of 2002
about a load of cocaine gone missing. The beef culminated with the torching of Mitchell's SUV,
parked in his condominium parking lot. A security guard said it was a man in a white SUV. As, it happened, King's wife owned a white SUV and King bragged around town, that he was the one who torched Mitchell's car, informants told police.
Greene, a known consort of both men and something of a famed talent in Detroit, was caught in
the middle. Two weeks before her murder, Greene danced for another party of men that was
attended by both "Little D" and "Big E."
King made sexual overtures toward Greene, authorities say, overtures that Greene declined.
Angered, the King punched her first in one eye, then the other. Autopsy reports show Greene
died with two black eyes.
Her beating was confirmed by Greene's grandmother, Bertha Powell, of Columbus, Ohio. "She
told me she got beat up at a party," Powell said. "She told me she was afraid."
Mitchell, who stands 6-feet 5-inches-tall and weighs in excess of 250 pounds, intervened,
authorities say. The large man beat down the little man – an embarrassment for King because it
was witnessed by Detroit's gangland scene.
The feud escalated, investigators say. A week after the party, and a week before Greene's death,an expensive car leased by Greene's grandmother and used by Greene and Mitchell – was shotup.
A week later, in the early morning hours of April 30, 2003, Greene and Mitchell sat in her car
idling in front of his home in the Bagley section of Detroit. According to a statement Mitchell
gave to the police , a white SUV turned the corner, a left hand emerged holding a pistol from the driver's side window, and unleashed a barrage of at least 12 bullets, according to crime scene investigators.
Greene was struck three times, including once in the face and once in the neck. Her body
slumped over the steering wheel, her eyeglasses were broken and the car, still in drive, crept
down the street.
Mitchell was struck five times, but having seen the SUV, he ducked without warning next to
Greene. He was not seriously injured, he told police . In fact, Mitchell got out of the car, called a friend on his cell phone and knocked on a neighbor's door. A few minutes later, Mitchell told the police on the scene. "It was Little D."
Still, the case went cold. Until the mayor's spectacular problems began and the Detroit Police
Department stepped up efforts to solve the case .
"He slipped through the cracks of a broken system," an investigator said of King. "A broken
system in a broken city."
A preliminary examination on the new assault charges was postponed Thursday. Judge Katherine Hansen ordered King returned to court on Aug. 26. He is being kept, temporarily, in the Wayne County Jail.
Timeline of Detroit mayor's text scandal
Flint Journal
Aug 09, 2008
A chronology of the text-messaging sex scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:
* 2002: A rumored, but never proven, wild party takes place at Manoogian Mansion, the Detroit mayor's home.
* April 30, 2003: Exotic dancer Tamara Greene, 27, is shot to death inside her car. She is rumored to have danced at the Manoogian Mansion party.
* May 9, 2003: Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown is fired by Kilpatrick for conducting unauthorized investigations.
* June 2003: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox clears Kilpatrick after a five-week investigation into the rumored Manoogian party, saying he has found no evidence of such a party. Michigan State Police investigators also say they have found no evidence of wrongdoing following claims of a cover-up.
* Oct. 13, 2005: Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announces plans to conduct an independent review of Greene's death.
* Oct. 21, 2005: A jury orders the city to pay $200,000 to former police Lt. Alvin Bowman. The jury rules that Bowman's transfer was in retaliation for his probe into the alleged Manoogian party and Greene's death.
* Aug. 28, 2007: Kilpatrick Chief of Staff Christine Beatty testifies in a whistle-blowers' trial that she did not have a romantic or intimate relationship with the mayor in 2002 and 2003.
* Aug. 29, 2007: Kilpatrick denies under oath that he had an extramarital affair with Beatty in 2002 and 2003.
* Sept. 11, 2007: A jury awards $6.5 million to two former police officers in the lawsuit, capping the three-week trial. Kilpatrick vows to appeal.
* Sept. 28, 2007: Michael Stefani, attorney for the officers, subpoenas SkyTel, the city's communications provider, for text messages transmitted on Beatty's city-issued paging device.
* Oct. 5, 2007: Stefani gets the text messages.
* Oct. 17, 2007: The city and the whistle-blowers reach a settlement worth $8.4 million. It includes a clause referring to the text messages.
* Oct. 19, 2007: The Detroit Free Press files a Freedom of Information request to see the settlement.
* Oct. 27, 2007: Kilpatrick rejects the terms proposed for the settlement from Oct. 17.
* Nov. 1, 2007: Kilpatrick approves the terms and conditions of an agreement approved Oct. 23 by the City Council. One part is for the public to see - not mentioning the text messages - but the other remains confidential.
* Nov. 13, 2007: The Free Press files a second FOIA. It and The Detroit News later file a lawsuit seeking documents.
* Jan. 23: The Free Press posts stories on its Web site, citing text messages that allude to Kilpatrick and Beatty having a physical relationship in 2002 and 2003 and that they misled jurors about Brown's firing. It is unclear how the newspaper obtained the text messages.
* Jan. 25: Worthy says she has opened an investigation into whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury during the whistle-blowers' trial. She says the independent investigation "will be fair, impartial and thorough."
* Jan. 30: Kilpatrick delivers a televised public apology about the text-messaging sex scandal from his church with his wife, Carlita, at his side.
* Feb. 5: Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. orders that documents detailing the confidential settlement agreement from the whistle-blowers' lawsuit be made public. The mayor's office later appeals that ruling.
* Feb. 8: Kilpatrick gives a radio interview saying he believes he's "on an assignment from God" and vows not to resign as mayor. Beatty's resignation as chief of staff becomes official.
* Feb. 13: The Michigan Court of Appeals agrees with Colombo's ruling.
* Feb. 15: Kilpatrick's attorneys appeal the Court of Appeals ruling to the state Supreme Court.
* Feb. 19: The Detroit City Council asks the state Supreme Court to refuse Kilpatrick's request to stop the release of the documents.
* Feb. 27: The Michigan Supreme Court declines to hear an appeal. The documents are released.
* March 11: Kilpatrick gives his annual State of City address in which he singles out City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. for not sitting on the stage with him. Cockrel would become mayor if Kilpatrick leaves office. Kilpatrick also uses the N-word to describe threats he and his family have received and describes opposition and media coverage as a "lynch mob mentality."
* March 12: Cox calls on Kilpatrick to resign, accusing him of race-baiting during the State of the City address.
* March 13: Cox says his office will look into new claims concerning the rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
* March 18: The City Council votes 7-1 on a nonbinding resolution asking Kilpatrick to resign.
* March 21: Colombo rules some text messages that indicate a romantic relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty may be made public.
* March 24: Worthy authorizes a 12-count criminal information against Kilpatrick and Beatty on charges including perjury and obstruction of justice.
* April 19: Kilpatrick tells an audience at Fellowship Chapel Church in Detroit: "I'm not being whupped by the devil, I am being punished by my God. I know that my disobedience put me in the situation I am in."
* May 13: The Detroit City Council votes 5-4 to begin forfeiture of office proceedings against Kilpatrick. On a separate 5-4 vote, the council approves asking Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office. A third vote - a nonbinding measure to censure the mayor - passes 7-2.
* July 14: 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles declines to release a number of previously unreleased text messages, saying they could be subject to a privilege challenge by defense lawyers or would be inadmissible in a preliminary examination.
* July 17: A judge rules that two Free Press reporters do not have to reveal to defense lawyers how they obtained sexually explicit text messages published by the newspaper in January.
* July 22: Worthy modifies two charges against the mayor to add that Kilpatrick sent and received text messages with "intimate or romantic content" with women other than his wife or Beatty.
* July 24: Two investigators say Kilpatrick berated and attacked them as they tried to serve a subpoena to a Kilpatrick friend. State police investigate to see if assault charges should be filed.
* July 25: Giles chastises Kilpatrick for the incident with the investigators and orders the mayor to pay $7,500 and undergo random drug testing.
* August 06: Granholm says she personally will preside over the state's removal hearing, scheduled for Sept. 3.
* August 07: Giles orders Kilpatrick to jail for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Windsor, Ontario, without notifying prosecutors or the court.
* August 08: Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Jackson orders Kilpatrick released from jail but sets a $50,000 cash bond and orders a ban on all travel and for the mayor to wear an electronic tether. The same day, state Attorney General Mike Cox charges the mayor with two felony assault counts relating to the July 24 incident.
Firefighter: Greene claimed assault
EMS worker says he was present when stripper allegedly told cops Mayor Kilpatrick's wife beat her
Detroit News
August 12, 2008
DETROIT — A city Fire Department lieutenant has come forward after waiting more than five years to say he was present as two police officers interviewed an injured Tamara Greene, who told them she had been assaulted by the mayor's wife, according to an affidavit filed Monday as part of the lawsuit Greene's family has filed against the city.
"The female spoke rapidly at first, saying her and her friend were dancing at a party at the Manoogian Mansion, and that the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, threw a fit, hit her and the other dancer, then kicked them out of the house," read the affidavit, signed Sunday by Michael J. Kearns.
Kearns is a supervisor for the city's EMS Division and a 16-year department veteran. The affidavit does not name the plain-clothes officers, but indicates they took notes.
On that night — either a Friday or Saturday in the fall of 2002 — Kearns said he was working as field supervisor when he took a radio call seeking help at a gas station at Jefferson and Connor, roughly a mile east of the mansion.
The woman said she was "Tammy Greene" and that she also danced at The Grind, a former downtown Detroit strip club on Griswold.
In an interview Monday, Kearns said he remembers well meeting Greene that night, which he believes was before her alleged hospital visit. "She was very upset," he said, telling him she had been working as a stripper at the party when she was "beat up" by the mayor's wife.
Kearns, as a supervisor, drove to the scene of a "person assaulted" in a car and was met there by a police officer, he said.
But at the time, he didn't believe Greene's story, he said. Then, weeks later, he was on a run at Belle Isle when he heard sirens in the direction of the Manoogian and someone joked about another wild party.
For Kearns, a light bulb went off. "Whoa, maybe this girl was telling the truth," he said.
He kept quiet for years, he said, because he thought it was hearsay that no one could confirm. And, he was worried about losing out on promotions or job assignments if he crossed the mayor's appointees to the department.
"It had you scared," he said.
But a detective assigned to the "cold case" squad said Kearns gave him no verifiable information.
"He said 'well everybody knows in EMT that there was a party,'[UTF8]E28082[/UTF8]" Detective Michael Carlisle said. "I said give me some names and solid dates. He promised to call back. He never did; that's the extent of the interview."
The lawsuit names as defendants Kwame Kilpatrick, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the mayor's former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, and several police executives.
Earlier this month, the City Council was asked to approve $100,000 for the chief's legal fees.
Calls by The Detroit News to the mayor's staff and lawyers, who have been hired to defend the city, were not returned Monday.
"This is a bombshell," said Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer who is representing Greene's family. "For the first time we have a witness that puts everything together."
Kilpatrick has consistently denied that the party ever happened. Attorney General Mike Cox investigated it and dismissed it as an urban legend. However, former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and another officer successfully sued the city for $8.4 million because they alleged, among other things, that they were retaliated against because they either had knowledge of or were ready to investigate the existence of the party.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Greene's son, Jonathan Boyd, and alleges that the Police Department deliberately dragged its feet in solving the death of the exotic dancer because of political reasons. The case seeks more than $150 million in damages.
In recent months, Yatooma has filed an affidavit from Joyce Rogers, a retired Detroit Police Department clerk, who claims she saw a report from Greene asking that charges be filed because the mayor's wife beat her when she saw the dancer touch the mayor at the alleged party.
Yatooma also filed an affidavit from Greene's pastor, Ken Hampton of Detroit's Grace Bible Chapel, who said shortly before Greene was murdered, she confided in him someone was "out to get" her.
In addition, Yatooma has also been able to obtain a list of everyone who was given city-issued SkyTel pagers. SkyTel would only give the list to a federal magistrate. However, the company has concerns about turning over the actual text messages.
Yatooma then plans to obtain the text messages.
In a second affidavit filed Monday, a now-retired Fire Department lieutenant, Walter J. Godzwon, said he saw Kilpatrick along with bodyguards at Detroit Receiving Hospital around the same time Kearns claims to have seen Greene.
"In my conversations with EMS personnel at the scene, I came to understand that the (mayor's bodyguards) brought a woman to DRH for treatment at the emergency room," he stated in the affidavit, which was signed Monday.
Godzwon, contacted by phone Monday, said he's been telling the same story to others for six years, but that he was "reluctant" to get involved with the Greene case.
He decided to contact the lawyer about his hospital encounter with Kilpatrick "because I can't lie."
"The affidavit speaks for itself," he said.
But Godzwon, who is retired, said he doesn't believe Greene was the "woman" that Kilpatrick's bodyguards brought to the hospital. "To this day, I don't know if it's Tamara Greene," he said. "I don't believe it was Tamara Greene. But that's pure speculation on my part."
Godzwon said he also saw former Detroit EMT Douglas Bayer at the scene.
Bayer recently filed a whistle-blower's lawsuit against the city, alleging he was retaliated against for providing the Michigan State Police with information about the rumored party.
"I made these statements because they're the truth," Godzwon said. "Someone put me at the scene and asked me specific questions."
Kearns only contacted Yatooma after talking about the incident with a lieutenant in the city's homicide division.
He, too, was concerned to come forward. According to the affidavit, he didn't want to go to police "out of fear for my career and my safety."
Hearing for fired EMT in Greene lawsuit ends abruptly
Detroit News
August 13, 2008
DETROIT -- An appeal hearing for a fired Detroit Fire Department emergency medical technician was abruptly terminated Wednesday morning after city officials objected to attempts by the former EMT worker's lawyer to tape record the hearing.
Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Douglas Bayer, denounced the hearing as a sham.
"That was absolutely, positively a circus," Yatooma said after he emerged from the hearing at about 11:30 a.m.
Bayer recently filed a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging he was retaliated against and eventually fired for providing the Michigan State Police with information related to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion. Fire department administrators say Bayer was fired for stealing department equipment, a charge Bayer denies.
Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott, who barred the news media from attending the hearing at fire department headquarters on Larned, was not immediately available for comment after the hearing.
Yatooma said he told city officials they would have to remove him from the hearing if they did not want him to record it, at which point the hearing was terminated.
Before the hearing ended, a union representative for Bayer said he stepped down from the three-member appeals panel "under duress" at the request of city officials.
The panel that hears the appeal has two members chosen by the city and one chosen by Bayer.
Bayer chose Wisam Zeineh, the president of his union. But Wednesday morning, city officials said Zeineh should be removed from the panel because he could be a potential witness.
Zeineh said he stepped down under pressure after officials reminded him he is still a city employee.
"The whole process is unfair," Zeineh, who was replaced by another union official, said during a break in the hearing. "This is not due process."
Bayer said the city's actions against him are "making it quite obvious that I saw something significant" at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall of 2002.
Bayer told Michigan State Police investigators he saw a large crowd outside the hospital when he arrived there for a call and a man he later concluded was a member of the mayor's executive protection unit attempted to prevent him from taking his patient to the emergency room.
He said the crowd of about 20-25 people included blacks and whites, males and females, some well-dressed, and "two individuals had Secret Service-type earpieces."
On the way out of the hospital, Bayer asked a group of EMT workers outside the hospital what the commotion was about and was told it related to an assault on a woman by the mayor's wife, a Michigan State Police report obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act stated. A now retired fire department lieutenant, Walter J. Godzwon, recently said in an affidavit he also saw a commotion at the hospital and saw Bayer at the scene.Exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, whose name was connected with a long rumored but never proven party at the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing the mayor, the city and top police and city officials in federal court in Detroit, alleging the police investigation of Greene's unsolved murder was obstructed for political reasons. The mayor and city officials deny the allegations.
Also Wednesday, Scott rejected a plea from a lawyer for the Detroit Free Press to open the hearing to the media. An appeal to Wayne County Circuit Court is being considered, lawyer Brian Wassom said.
Fire Department administrators allege the reason Bayer was fired is because he stole cables for heart monitoring equipment, a charge Bayer denies and that Zeineh and Yatooma describe as ridiculous.
Media barred from hearing for EMT in Greene whistle-blower suit
Detroit News
August 14, 2008
DETROIT — The news media was barred this morning from a Detroit Fire Department administrative hearing for a former emergency medical technician who claims he was retaliated against and eventually fired for providing the Michigan State Police with information related to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion.
The hearing for Douglas Bayer of Monroe began shortly after 9 a.m. at fire department headquarters in downtown Detroit.
Commissioner Tyrone Scott told reporters they could not attend the hearing.
Bayer recently filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city, claiming retaliation. He told Michigan State Police investigators he saw a large crowd at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall of 2002 when he was there on a call.
He said the crowd of about 20-25 people included blacks and whites, males and females, some well-dressed, and "two individuals had Secret Service-type earpieces."
On the way out of the hospital, Bayer asked a group of EMT workers outside the hospital what the commotion was about and was told it related to an assault on a woman by the mayor's wife, a Michigan State Police report obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act stated.
Fire administrators maintain Bayer's dismissal was not related to the information he gave the state police.
The hearing was still under way this morning.
Exotic dancer Tamara Greene, whose name was connected with a long rumored but never proven party at the Manoogian Mansion, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing the mayor, the city and top police and city officials in federal court in Detroit, alleging the police investigation of Greene's unsolved murder was obstructed for political reasons. The mayor and city officials deny the allegations.
Freedom from tether lasted for few hours
2nd judge orders Kilpatrick's GPS device reattached
Detroit News
August 15, 2008
DETROIT — One moment, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was smiling. A few minutes later, he was on the verge of tears.
In the morning, a judge ordered his GPS-based tether removed. By afternoon, another judge ordered it reattached.
For a few hours, Kilpatrick thought he could go to the Democratic National Convention as a superdelegate but, soon enough, he was banned again from traveling outside Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
So it goes in the catnap-for-a-few-hours-and-you'll-miss-it whirlwind that has become the Kilpatrick scandal. It will pick back up again this morning when the mayor is back in court for a preliminary examination on claims he assaulted two court officers.
"There is just so much going on it can get confusing," said Rusty Hills, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, which objected to the tether's removal and got it reinstated by 36th District Judge Ronald Giles. The same judge tossed Kilpatrick in jail overnight last week for violating bond in his perjury case.
"You need a playbook to keep up with the players."
The mayor also returned full-time to City Hall, one day after his spokeswoman repeatedly said he was on an indefinite vacation. Thursday, she said she misspoke.
Among Thursday's highlights:
•Retired Judge Leonard Townsend, sitting in for an ill Wayne County circuit judge, ordered Kilpatrick's tether removed and said Kilpatrick, as a superdelegate, was free to go to the convention in Denver that starts Aug. 25. He made the decision on his own, without even a request from the mayor's attorneys, saying, "I don't think the person representing Michigan should be wearing prison clothes or on a tether."
About three hours later, Townsend was overturned when lawyers for the attorney general persuaded Giles to write an opinion reinstating bond in their separate case, alleging Kilpatrick assaulted two court officers.
"We have an innocent person here," Townsend said. "He hasn't been found guilty of anything. We have to stop trashing the Constitution."
The surprise order infuriated Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey, who argued: "Can you trust the mayor and his representatives? We had an agreement; none of this would happen today."
•Mayer Morganroth, an attorney for Christine Beatty, the mayor's former chief of staff and current co-defendant, repeated that Beatty is ready to testify against Kilpatrick if she is granted immunity by the Wayne County prosecutor. The Prosecutor's Office has steadfastly refused to comment on any plea bargains that are in the works. On Thursday, they both entered pleas of not guilty.
•Gov. Jennifer Granholm, while acknowledging but not detailing political maneuvering involving Kilpatrick's status, said she will not consider a pardon for the mayor. "There are lots of stuff going on behind the scenes," she said, declining to say whether she asked the mayor to resign. "Without getting into the rationale, I will not be pardoning or issuing immunity for anybody testifying at the hearing."
"The governor has no authority to issue a pardon in this matter," the governor's general counsel, Kelly G. Kennan, wrote in a letter released Thursday. "The governor also indicated that she does not believe the charges or circumstances here merit the use of the pardon power."
One of Kilpatrick's attorneys, Sharon McPhail, wrote Keenan asking for the pardon if the mayor agreed to testify at a scheduled Sept. 3 hearing on whether Granholm will remove Kilpatrick.
•The City Council's forfeiture hearing aimed at ousting the mayor from office slated to begin Monday is rescheduled to start Tuesday, if they are allowed to proceed. The judge in that case, Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Ziolkowski, heard arguments for and against the hearings, and said he will announce a decision 2 p.m. Monday.
•The leaders of the mayor's church, the Church of God in Christ, joined a chorus of community and political leaders calling for Kilpatrick to resign — although the mayor's own minister, the Rev. Drew Sheard, has not yet weighed in.
"No one person should be allowed to virtually hold a city hostage," said Bishop P.A. Brooks. "The hardworking, good people of the city of Detroit are deserving of a leader who does not cause them embarrassment because of his actions."
Greene update
Cox conducts interview
Attorney General Mike Cox has interviewed a Detroit emergency medical technician who claims he heard slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene say she was assaulted by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife during a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Lt. Michael Kearns said in an affidavit filed in federal court Monday that he heard Greene tell undercover officers she was assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick while dancing at a party for the mayor.
"We interviewed Kearns Wednesday," Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said. "We'll forward the report of the interview to the Prosecutor's Office."
Stripper persists as rumor in a rumor
EMT's claim that Greene told cops she was not only dancer at mayor's mansion stokes legend
Detroit News
August 19, 2008
DETROIT — "Nikki" doesn't have a face. Her name is just a rumor.
She is the elusive second stripper who supposedly danced at the Manoogian Mansion party that never officially happened. And though she is more legend than flesh, her specter will not go away.
Was there more than one stripper at the rumored party thrown by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? Did "Nikki" suffer the same fate as exotic dancer Tamara Greene, who was murdered after the phantom bash? Did they have a friend named "Paradise," who also supposedly danced at the party?
Those questions, long pondered by police and Web surfers alike, were brought to the forefront again when an emergency medical technician last week filed an affidavit in federal court claiming a bruised Greene told police she wasn't the only dancer who was assaulted by the mayor's wife during a raunchy party at the mayoral mansion.
"I have every reason to believe there was more than one dancer at the party," said Norman Yatooma, an attorney who included the affidavit in his $150 million federal suit on behalf of Greene's survivors.
Lt. Michael Kerns, a supervisor with the Detroit Fire Department's EMT Division, claims he heard Greene tell undercover officers in fall 2002 that she "and her friend were dancing at the Manoogian Mansion and that the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, threw a fit, hit her and the other dancer, then kicked them out of the house."
The lawsuit brought last year by Greene's son, Jonathan Bond, and his father, Ernest Flagg, accuses the mayor, his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other police officials of quashing an investigation into Greene's murder.
It's a claim that's repeatedly been denied and decried by police, city officials and Attorney General Mike Cox, who called the rumors an "urban legend."
Even so, his office is still looking into the claims. Kerns was interviewed by Cox's office on Wednesday, spokesman Rusty Hills said. Notes from that interview will be turned over to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Hills said.
Detroit and State Police detectives have investigated whether Greene was the only dancer at the rumored party. Each probe turned up unconfirmed reports of a second stripper, possibly named Nikki, who was murdered near Atlanta around the same time Greene was killed.
Nothing concrete was uncovered — but in both cases, the detectives looking into the rumors said their investigations were stymied by higher-ranking law enforcement officials.
Greene, 27, was killed in April 2003 while she sat in her car with her boyfriend, Eric Mitchell, in front of his Detroit home. Mitchell told police a man in a white SUV fired at them with a handgun.
Homicide Lt. Alvin Bowman, who investigated the drive-by murder, said he suspected Greene had links to "high-ranking city employees" and was killed by a Detroit police officer. A Wayne County jury awarded Bowman $200,000 last year after he filed a lawsuit claiming police officials transferred him out of the homicide section because he was investigating Greene's murder.
The legend of Greene's murder was given fresh credence Friday when Kimberly McConnell, a witness in Kilpatrick's assault case involving two court officers, was excused from testifying in court because she was afraid of the mayor, and she "didn't want to end up like Tamara Greene," said the mayor's attorney, James C. Thomas.
Kilpatrick has denied a party ever happened, and Bully-Cummings has repeatedly denied her department had anything to do with the murder. Cox asked the State Police to investigate the claims and concluded there was no party.
City officials did not respond to calls for further comment.
Investigators told The Detroit News recently they believe they know who really killed Greene: Darrett King, a convicted drug dealer who is serving time in prison for possession of a firearm. Sources told The News that King was feuding with Mitchell and that he assaulted Greene shortly before her death, and later bragged that he killed her.
But the conspiracy theory that Greene was killed by a Detroit cop because she knew too much persists, along with whispers about a second stripper named Nikki who supposedly was also shot after dancing at the mayor's party.
"The story about the second stripper is what got Bowman demoted," said his attorney, Mike Stefani. "The State Police told him they were investigating the Manoogian party, and that they had information about a second dancer who danced there who had been murdered in the Atlanta area.
"This woman supposedly was killed with a .40-caliber Glock, the same as Tamara Greene. (Bowman) asked permission to go to Atlanta to check out what the State Police told him, and that's when he was taken off the case."
According to police reports, State Police Detective Sgts. John Figurski and Mark Krebs talked in 2004 to a woman named Andrea Gary, a friend of Greene's who danced at the DéjÀ Vu club in Highland Park. Figurski asked whether she knew a stripper named Nikki. Gary said she didn't.
Gary told the detectives she'd heard there was more than one dancer at the Manoogian party.
She said she knew a waitress at the former All-Stars Club where Greene worked who knew details about the party.
During the interview, Gary phoned the waitress, a woman named Charlotte, who told her there were three strippers at the party: Greene, a dancer who used the stage name "Paradise," and a third woman who was killed in Atlanta.
"If some girls were with her at this party, (Greene) wasn't the only dancer there, right?" Figurski asked after Gary relayed what Charlotte told her. "Why wouldn't they come forward and talk to us?"
"Scared," Gary replied. "They're scared."
Investigators pursue lead in Greene case
County prosecutors and state Attorney General's Office want to interview latest witness
Detroit News
August 22, 2008
A Detroit Fire Department lieutenant who came forward after five years to say he encountered an injured Tamara Greene said he has been contacted by Wayne County prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office to set up official interviews for his statement.
Lt. Michael J. Kearns spoke to the media Thursday about his encounter with Greene, who told him she had been beaten by the Detroit mayor's wife after dancing at Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. Greene was 27 in 2003 when shot to death in a car on the city's west side.
Kearns, who has 22 years with the city, said he has nothing to gain by coming forward with his story.
"I feel bad. I feel really bad. I feel I owe the family an apology," Kearns said.
Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer who is representing Greene's family, said he has requested and is waiting for medical records on Greene from Detroit hospitals for 2002.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has consistently denied that the party ever happened. Attorney General Mike Cox investigated it and dismissed it as an urban legend. However, former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and another officer successfully sued the city for $8.4 million because they alleged, among other things, that they were retaliated against because they either had knowledge of or were ready to investigate the existence of the party.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Greene's son, Jonathan Bond, and alleges that the Police Department deliberately dragged its feet in solving the death of the exotic dancer because of political reasons. The case seeks more than $150 million in damages.
Judge rules attorney can have access to text messages in Greene case
Detroit News
August 25, 2008
DETROIT — In a victory for the attorney representing the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene and a blow to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a federal judge has ruled that text messages exchanged by Kilpatrick and other city officials must be released as part of a lawsuit against the city involving the dancer's death.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen held that Norman Yatooma, the attorney for Greene's family, could resubmit a request for the text messages under court evidentiary rules of discovery that would force the city of Detroit to produce the text messages.
"It is a necessary and routine incident of the rules of discovery that a court may order disclosures that a party would prefer not to make," Rosen said in a ruling Friday. "This power of compulsion encompasses such measures as are necessary to secure a party's compliance with its discovery obligations."
Greene's family is suing the mayor and other city and police officials for allegedly obstructing a police investigation into her unsolved 2003 killing.
Rosen held that provisions of the federal Stored Communications Act do not prohibit the release of the text messages if Yatooma requests them under court evidentiary rules — which require parties to disclose items in their control, including electronically stored information — instead of through a third-party subpoena.
Yatooma had subpoenaed text messages sent and received on the SkyTel pagers of Kilpatrick and other current or former city officials between 2002 and 2007. In March, the court ordered that magistrate judges would review messages obtained and determine which would be provided to Yatooma.
Kilpatrick has resisted the release of any text messages, saying they should remain private under provisions of the Stored Communications Act.
But Rosen said that interpretation would "establish ... a sweeping prohibition against civil discovery of electronic communications."
Yatooma called the ruling "enormously important."
"The city has gone through such pains to hide these text messages," he said Sunday. "It puts the greatest emphasis on how important these text messages must be."
Mayoral spokesman James Canning said in a statement: "The legal team is still in the process of reviewing the judge's ruling and once a thorough review has been completed, an appropriate course of action will be taken."
Greene's name was linked to a rumored, but unproven, party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's residence.
Curt Benson, a professor at Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids, said the ruling could leave "little room to argue that relevant information should not be produced."
"The federal rules of discovery are very broad and very much for full disclosure," he said. "This information is relevant, it's not privileged, therefore it must be produced."
Benson also called the ruling "an unappealable order. The rules do not provide for an appeal in this situation. The judge's decision in this area is final."
Rosen's ruling comes after a federal appeals court decision in California that many legal observers believed would preclude courts from ordering text messages produced in civil lawsuits.
The June 18 ruling, in Quon v. Arch Wireless, said a wireless company violated the Stored Communications Act when it turned over to the city of Ontario texts sent and received by city employees who were users of the service.
On March 24, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct in a case related to a whistle-blower trial last year.
Worthy's investigation began after pager text messages published in January pointed to a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty, and possible perjury about the nature of their relationship and circumstances surrounding the removal of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown when they both testified in the civil case.
Other records released as a result of a lawsuit by The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press show Kilpatrick and Beatty signed a secret deal to keep the text messages under wraps as part of the city's $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement.
Tale of two Kwames
Metro Times
Sept 10, 2008
The facts behind this tragic comic
When Metro Times profiled mayoral candidate Kwame Kilpatrick way back in October of 2001, he told us the same thing he'd recounted for others while out on the campaign trail: A sign from God had convinced him to seek the job.
Kilpatrick, just 31 years old at the time, described going to the basement of his two-story home in Detroit's Russell Woods neighborhood and opening his Bible. His eyes immediately fell upon the book of Samuel and the story of how a 30-year-old David became king and united the 12 tribes of Israel.
"That day, I decided to do what God wants me to do, instead of making excuses," Kilpatrick said.
At that point, the mayor-to-be was already a political wunderkind, born with politics in his blood. His mother would go on to become a U.S. congresswoman. And his father, after serving on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, became a top aide to the late Ed McNamara, the county executive who controlled the levers of a storied Democratic political machine. After a stint in the state Legislature — winning a seat previously held by his mother and eventually becoming the first African-American chosen as the House Democratic leader — the former college football star, schoolteacher and lawyer rolled over veteran politico Gil Hill to win the job of mayor.
In a town where pastors can play a powerful political role, it never hurts to be seen as "God's guy." But we saw a cautionary note in Kilpatrick's self-serving Bible story, pointing out that one of the possible lessons to be gleaned from the story of David involves the troubles arrogance can cause for youthful leaders, and the pitfalls that may await for the chosen who stray from the Lord's path. Note was made of the problems caused by David's extramarital pursuit of Bathsheba.
It proved to be prophetic.
The party
The young mayor took office in January of 2002, and before long was being described as a rising star to watch in the universe of Democratic politics. Almost as quickly, the black hole of a rumor surfaced.
The party that officially never occurred is rumored to have taken place during the autumn of 2002 at the Manoogian Mansion. At that time, the mayoral residence was still being renovated to accommodate the young first family and remained unoccupied.
The persistent story is that a bachelor party was held, with strippers as entertainment. One of the performers, Tamara Greene — who performed under the name Strawberry — would later be gunned down in an unsolved murder. According to what state Attorney General Mike Cox would eventually label an "urban legend," the mayor's wife Carlita supposedly showed up at the party and attacked Greene, sending her to the hospital.
There have always been questions about the way Cox handled the investigation, especially his refusal to require either of the Kilpatricks to provide a sworn statement. Those questions have only become more pronounced as a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's teenage son has progressed. In an affidavit filed as part of that suit earlier this year, former homicide investigator Alvin Bowman alleged that higher-ups in the department deliberately sabotaged the investigation into Greene's death. In a separate lawsuit filed by Bowman, the cop claimed he was demoted for investigating the Greene murder. A jury awarded him $200,000 in that case.
In August, Michael J. Kearns — a lieutenant in the Detroit Fire Department's EMS Division — alleged in a sworn affidavit that he witnessed two Detroit police officers interview an injured Tamara Greene, and that she claimed then to have been assaulted by the mayor's wife. Kearns said he waited five years to come forward "out of fear for my career and my safety."
Double-faced king
Looking back on his career and the scandal that brought him down, there seem to have been two Kwame Kilpatricks.
There is the skilled politician whose brilliance, charisma and ability inspire intense devotion. And there is the scoundrel who plays by his own rules, living the high life on the public's dime, using his position to help feather the nests of family members and friends.
The public face is that of a devout Christian and family man. In private though, according to allegations that eventually surfaced in civil suits, he was a player, the hip-hop mayor who rolled with an entourage and enjoyed illicit trysts in places like the back room of a neighborhood barbershop.
A self-promoter to the end, Kilpatrick again trumpeted his many accomplishments on the day he pleaded guilty to two felonies and no contest to a third. The day he submitted his letter of resignation, he admitted to making mistakes, but offered no apology as he prepared to leave the mayor's office and head to jail.
"Under this administration, Detroit has become an example of progress," he said. "I am proud of the fact that we as a community have been able to accomplish so much."
He talked about the city's successful hosting of the Super Bowl in 2006, construction of the promenade that has helped transform the city's riverfront, and renovation of the historic Book-Cadillac Hotel and 75 other buildings. He spoke, too, about the massive paring of the municipal workforce to lop $100 million from the city's budget to keep Detroit solvent as revenues continued to slide.
Kilpatrick said all of this and more occurred "in spite of the worst economy the city has seen since the Great Depression."
The speech, however, ignored the numerous scandals that have plagued his administrations throughout both of his terms in office. Some of the transgressions seem minor in retrospect, such as the story of Kilpatrick's motorcycle joyriding, which involved diverting three Police Department cycles from regular use for his security team. Other stories, like the 2005 scoop from WXYZ-TV reporter Steve Wilson about the red Lincoln Navigator the city secretly provided to Carlita Kilpatrick, are particularly telling. Caught red-handed, so to speak, Kilpatrick's initial response was to lie, denying that the pricey vehicle was being used to chauffeur around his wife and children. When the evidence proved otherwise, he blamed the problem on miscommunication.
Also surfacing in 2005 was a Free Press report that revealed the mayor had racked up $210,000 on a city-issued credit card during his first 33 months in office, with taxpayers picking up the tab for "spa massages, Moet & Chandon Champagne and lavish meals."
The local media continued digging up dirt on the mayor, revealing a side to him that was in direct contrast to the God-fearing, family man image he fostered. There was the refusal of Washington, D.C., police to provide security for the Detroit mayor as he partied at clubs in the nation's capital. Particularly damning were sworn allegations made by former mayoral bodyguard Walt Harris, who accused the mayor of meeting women for secret trysts. While on the job protecting the mayor, Harris recounted during testimony, there was one incident where a woman came down from her apartment wearing a fur coat with nothing underneath as she met with the mayor late one night. The police officer also described the mayor having a clandestine meeting with then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty in a hotel room while the two were out of town on city business.
Harris, who resigned from the department and moved out of state, would eventually obtain a $400,000 settlement from the city in a whistle-blower lawsuit.
Kilpatrick's typical response to such allegations was to deny, deny, deny as long as he could, casting aspersions on his accusers. He also blamed the media for his problems, at one point accusing news outlets of being "demonic" as they reported titillating charges just to boost ratings and circulation.
And when trapped, he resorted to contrition and turned to the clergy for support. As he ran for re-election in 2005, he admitted to making some mistakes during his first term but claimed to have learned his lesson, having matured during his first term. Local clergy lined up behind him, urging voters to give the young mayor the benefit of the doubt. To the surprise of many — and with an influx of cash from some of Detroit's leading businessmen — Kilpatrick was able to stage an upset victory over challenger Freman Hendrix to win a second term.
Whistle blown
The seeds of Kilpatrick's downfall were sown in 2003 when he fired Gary Brown, the deputy chief who led the Police Department's Internal Affairs unit. In a 2004 whistle-blower lawsuit, Brown asserted that he was fired for looking into allegations of overtime abuse on the part of the mayor's security detail. Brown claimed also that he was fired because his unit was looking into the rumored Manoogian party and the alleged assault. Joining that suit was Harold Nelthrope, a former member of the executive protection unit who claimed he was harassed for bringing the allegations to the attention of Internal Affairs.
Kilpatrick certainly had reason to fear an investigation would lead to claims he used police bodyguards to help facilitate his philandering.
True to form, Kilpatrick strenuously denied the allegations, claiming his accusers were simply looking to get a big payout from the city.
The case finally went to trial in 2007, with a Wayne County jury unanimously finding in favor of the officers, awarding them more than $6.5 million. Kilpatrick — intimating that the city lost because the jury was mostly white — initially vowed to appeal the decision, then suddenly reversed course and signed off on an $8.4 million settlement — including $400,000 to end a second suit filed by Harris.
"Since the verdict, I've listened to pastors, [business] leaders and so many Detroiters who genuinely love and care about me and this city," Kilpatrick said at the time. "I've humbly concluded that a settlement in the civil cases involving the three former officers is the correct decision for my family and the entire Detroit community."
But, as it turned out, he was lying again. The real reason for the settlement was that Mike Stefani, the attorney for the cops, had obtained text messages reportedly indicating that Kilpatrick and Beatty had lied under oath — both about their affair, and the claim that they had not actually been involved in the firing of Brown.
Everything began to unravel for the mayor in February, when the Free Press — having obtained those text messages through a source that has yet to be revealed — published excerpts of the messages exchanged between the mayor and his chief of staff, who quickly resigned once the embarrassing information was made public.
After months of legal wrangling — and following new charges that Kilpatrick assaulted two officers from the Prosecutor's Office as they attempted to serve a subpoena — Kilpatrick finally pleaded guilty last week as Gov. Jennifer Granholm began hearings that could have led to her removing the mayor from office.
To the end, though, Kilpatrick remained defiant, vowing that he'd rise once again, saying that novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald — at least as it applies in the case of this particular mayor — got it wrong when he wrote that there are no second acts in American lives. As Kilpatrick explained, Fitzgerald wasn't from Detroit, a city where rebirth is part of its fabric.
Even with jail looming, and then five years of probation to follow, Kilpatrick — with his wife looking on adoringly — vowed that he would not be gone from the city's political scene forever.
"I want to tell you, Detroit, that you done set me up for a comeback. God bless you."
SkyTel Gives Messages To Detroit Judges
Messages Come From City Officials' Pagers On Day Greene Died
Click On Detroit
September 19, 2008
DETROIT – SkyTel Paging delivered thousands of text messages in the form of CDs to federal judges in Detroit on Friday, Local 4 has learned.
The messages come from city-issued pagers on the day exotic dancer Tamara Greene died -- April 30, 2003. It was also on the day that a memo came out from then Police Internal Affairs Chief Gary Brown about the rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
Greene's son, Johnathan Bond, filed a lawsuit alleging former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and members of the city's police department tried to block the investigation into Greene's death.
Bond's attorney, Norman Yatooma, asked Judge Gerald Rosen to preserve the text messages and e-mails of 34 city employees.
Rosen ordered the city to give up its records so SkyTel could send the text messages from every city-issued pager in the hours before, during and after Greene was attacked and slain.
"In the four months of text messages from only Christine Beatty, we've seen evidence of the affair, we've seen evidence of the wrongful termination of Gary Brown, we've seen evidence of the cover-up of that termination," said Yatooma.
Yatooma said if city officials were sending messages about Greene?s death, his case will be far from over.
"If we find anything at all, I imagine it will be quite telling," he said.
Judges will go through the messages, and their findings will be given to attorneys. Any evidence of a crime committed will go to the FBI.
Lawyer alleges Carlita Kilpatrick may have assaulted exotic dancer
Detroit News
October 24, 2008
DETROIT -- A lawyer representing the family of a slain exotic dancer says he wants more than a year's worth of pager text messages sent and received by former First Lady Carlita Kilpatrick because he claims there is evidence suggesting she may have assaulted the dancer, Tamara Greene, at a Manoogian Mansion party months before the stripper was killed.
Yatooma sought to justify his request for Carlita Kilpatrick's text messages in a court filing late Thursday as he produced a new affidavit in which city paramedic Cenobio Chapa says he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall 2002 who claimed to have been assaulted by the former first lady.
Carlita Kilpatrick could not be reached for comment Friday, but the former mayor, the city and other defendants in the case have denied the party even occurred, let alone an alleged assault on a dancer by Carlita Kilpatrick.
Greene's family is suing the city, the former mayor, and top city and police officials in federal court, alleging the investigation into Greene's unsolved drive-by shooting on April 30, 2003, was obstructed for political reasons.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen, whose job it is to sift through pager text messages turned over to the court in the case and determine if any of them are relevant to Yatooma's lawsuit, has set a Monday hearing to help determine whether the volume of text messages Yatooma has requested can be reduced.
Whalen instructed Yatooma to describe what relevant evidence he expects to get for each set of text messages from 39 different city of Detroit pagers he has requested.
In his response to Whalen's order, Yatooma said he wanted text messages from the pager marked "First Lady" because he believes those will be messages sent and received by Carlita Kilpatrick.
"There is information to believe she assaulted Tamara Greene at the Manoogian Mansion party," and the desire to obstruct investigation into what happened at the party "was at least one of the motives in retaliating against Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope," Yatooma said in the court filing.
Brown and Nelthrope were former Detroit Police officers who filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city and the former mayor. A secret deal to conceal text messages as part of the settlement of their lawsuit led to Kwame Kilpatrick pleading guilty to obstruction of justice charges in September. He is to be sentenced Tuesday and is expected to be ordered to spend 120 days in jail.
Yatooma said he also wanted text messages from a pager marked "Bernard K" because he believes those were sent and received by Bernard Kilpatrick, the father of the former mayor who is under federal investigation in connection with a city corruption investigation.
"There is information to believe he was at the party where Ms. Greene was assaulted, and that he communicated regularly about all matters with his son," Yatooma said about Bernard Kilpatrick in the court filing.
Abraham Singer, Bernard Kilpatrick's attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Yatooma said in the court filing he also wanted text messages sent and received by Ajene Evans, whom he described as a city official and Kilpatrick relative.
The Birmingham lawyer said he believes Evans "had all of the parties at the Manoogian Mansion, and even had keys to it."
Text messages sought are for the period between Aug. 1, 2002, and April 17, 2004.
SkyTel has said it can provide the text messages but needs more time to compile them, because of the large volume.
Whalen has already sifted through all city text messages sent and received on the day Greene was shot to death. There is no word yet on whether he found any text messages deemed relevant to Yatooma's case.
Kilpatrick spent $286K on city-issued credit card
Crain's Detroit Business
October 27, 2008
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spent at least $286,000 on his city-issued credit card since 2002, The Detroit News reported. It’s not clear if the charges were related to city business or if the city was reimbursed. Also:
* Kilpatrick, his wife, Carlita, and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox are among potential witnesses named in a civil suit involving the slaying of Tamara Greene, the Associated Press reported.
Greene is said to have performed as a stripper at a rumored, but never proven, 2002 party at the mayor’s official residence. She was shot to death several months later.
A city paramedic, Cenobio Chapa, said in an affidavit released Thursday he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in fall 2002 who claimed she had been beaten by Carlita Kilpatrick, The News reported.
* Bernard Friedman, chief federal judge in eastern Michigan, signed an order barring Kilpatrick from practicing law in federal court while his state law license is suspended.
Kilpatrick goes to jail Tuesday after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and no contest to assaulting a sheriff’s deputy.
Judge gives SkyTel more time in Strawberry case
Detroit News
October 28, 2008
DETROIT — A federal judge on Monday extended until Nov. 19 the time SkyTel has to turn over text messages in a lawsuit brought by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen, though expressing reservations about the volume of text messages requested, said he would not require the lawyer for Greene's family to pare down his text messages request.
Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Greene's family, has requested text messages from 39 pager holders for nearly close to two years. SkyTel had been due to turn over the text messages this month, but its lawyer, David Plunkett, told Whalen the company needs more time.
Greene was linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated stripper party at the mayor's official residence, the Manoogian Mansion, in the fall of 2002. Her family is suing the city, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging the investigation into Greene's unsolved drive-by shooting on April 30, 2003, was obstructed for political reasons.
The defendants have denied the allegations in court filings.
Jason Hirsch, a lawyer for defendant Christine Beatty, Kilpatrick's former chief of staff, said many of the pager holders whose text messages Yatooma requested, such as a former city budget director, have nothing to do with the case.
"At some point, we cross the line and we say they are just fishing," Hirsch said.
Another Dead Stripper Mystery Uncovered
Nov 9, 2008
Two pictures found in a car used by a Kwame Kilpatrick appointee lead the Problem Solvers to another unsolved murder of an exotic dancer. These pictures came to light in a Problem Solver investigation last June. Scott Lewis asked for help identifying the women and learned one of them had been murdered along with her boyfriend. He also discovered each had connections to Kwame Kilpatrick or his inner circle
Judges review text messages
Attorney for family of dancer Tamara Greene hopes texts reveal what happened on night of death
Detroit News
November 20, 2008
DETROIT -- Federal magistrate judges on Wednesday began poring through hundreds of thousands of city of Detroit text messages to see if they shed light on the 2003 shooting death of a Detroit exotic dancer.
The family of dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene is suing the city, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, former Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, and other top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of Greene's killing for political reasons.
The defendants deny the charges leveled by survivors of a dancer alleged to have danced at a long-rumored party at the mayor's official residence in the fall of 2002. Witnesses who have filed affidavits in the case say an injured stripper was taken to the hospital around the time of the rumored party complaining of an assault by the former mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick.
SkyTel, the city's former pager company, on Tuesday turned over to U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen compact discs containing text messages sent and received by 39 pager holders over a nearly two-year period. Only text messages deemed relevant by judges who will read them in private might one day become public.
"Some of what could be in there could be earth-shattering," said Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer representing Greene's family. "I can only imagine there's going to be significant information in there if they spent a year fighting us on getting those text messages."
But Mayer Morganroth, a Southfield attorney representing Beatty, said he doubts the text messages "are going to show anything that's going to be helpful" to Yatooma's case.
SkyTel earlier sent Rosen all city text messages sent and received on April 30, 20003, the day Greene was shot to death outside her home.
The civil lawsuit, filed in 2005, is expected to go to trial next year.
More Kilpatrick text messages surface
They involve stripper's shooting death five years ago
Grand Rapids Press
November 20, 2008
DETROIT -- Text messages of Detroit's former mayor and other city officials have been turned over to a federal court in the case of a $150 million lawsuit that alleges City Hall stifled a police probe into a stripper's shooting death five years ago.
Norman Yatooma, who is representing the children of slain stripper Tamara Greene, had asked the court to force the city to release the hundreds of thousands of text messages, saying they may reveal communications about Greene on the night of her death.
The lawsuit alleges former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, ex-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, recently retired Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and others hampered the police investigation into Greene's slaying.
Yatooma has said Greene danced at a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's official residence, several months before she was killed.
Attorney General Mike Cox investigated and said he found no evidence of such a party, and Kilpatrick has repeatedly denied that such a party took place.
Greene, 27, performed under the stage name Strawberry and was gunned down in front of her Detroit home on April 30, 2003.
Kilpatrick stepped down as mayor in September and is serving a four-month jail sentence as part of a plea deal to two criminal cases.
He and Beatty were charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice in March after text messages on her city-issued pager contradicted testimony they gave in a 2007 whistle-blowers' trial.
Beatty's trial is expected to start in January.
The text messages requested by Yatooma were copied onto three CDs and delivered Tuesday by the city's former communications provider to U.S. District Court in Detroit, according to federal documents.
The messages, spanning about a 21-month period, will be reviewed by federal magistrates to determine whether any are relevant to the case, Yatooma said.
"Then, I'm sure we'll close the case," he said. "No doubt the proverbial smoking gun is in those text messages."
Attorney Mayer Morganroth, who represents Beatty, dismissed Yatooma's speculation about the messages.
"It's very interesting how he says that when he hasn't seen them," Morganroth said of Yatooma's "smoking gun" statement.
New witness in dancer's death
Imprisoned drug kingpin linked to Greene through Detroit strip club owner, family says
Detroit News
January 20, 2009
DETROIT -- Imprisoned drug kingpin Milton "Butch" Jones might be able to shed light on the killing of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene because they're linked through former state legislator and strip club owner Keith Stallworth, a lawyer for Greene's family said Monday.
That's why Jones, 53, now serving a federal prison sentence at Milan, was added Friday as a possible witness in a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's family against the city of Detroit, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and several top city and police officials, said Robert Zawideh, one of the attorneys representing Greene's family.
Greene, linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in fall 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family's lawsuit alleges top police and city officials obstructed the investigation of her still unsolved killing for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations. The case could go to trial this year.
Stallworth, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to a felony financial transaction, was indicted along with Jones in 2001 and accused of using his Detroit strip joint, Tiger's Lounge, to launder money for the Young Boys Inc. heroin-dealing gang that Jones founded. Stallworth, a friend and former Democratic state House colleague of Kilpatrick, also is on the Greene witness list.
He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Lawyer Dennis Mitchenor counted Stallworth, Tiger's Lounge and Greene among his clients.
"Tammy did not work (at Tiger's Lounge) as one of our regular dancers, but I know that she did parties for mostly high-ender guys," Mitchenor said. "She knew Mr. Stallworth very well." Mitchenor said he believes Greene also would have known Kilpatrick, though he can't recall seeing them together or Greene ever discussing Kilpatrick.
Greene, 27, was part of a scene of high rollers and private parties that included Stallworth and other well-known Detroit-area figures, Mitchenor said.
Mitchenor of Grosse Pointe Farms said calling Jones as a witness in the Greene lawsuit seems like a stretch. Jones already was behind bars when Greene was killed, Mitchenor said.
Harold Gurewitz, the Detroit attorney representing Jones, agreed. He said Jones has been behind bars since 2001 -- two years before Greene was killed. "I don't know what the purpose is" of naming Jones as a potential witness, Gurewitz said. "It just doesn't seem obvious to me."
Another defendant in the Jones case now serving a federal prison sentence, Raymond Canty, 37, spent a lot of time at Tiger's Lounge and might be in a better position to offer relevant evidence than Jones, Mitchenor said. Even then, any connection would be "tenuous," he said.
Mitchenor said when he first learned of Greene's killing, he believed the friend who was with her in the vehicle, Eric Mitchell, had been targeted by drug dealers and Greene was killed because she was with him.
Now, he believes Greene herself may have been the target.
"It wasn't completely implausible to me that she might have danced at the mansion," he said. "That's the kind of thing that certainly would be in her league and those are the kind of folks she was familiar with."
If, as alleged, Greene was assaulted at the party, it's possible she could have asked for money to keep quiet because she was trying to get out of exotic dancing and open a lingerie store, Mitchenor said.
U.S. magistrate judges have been poring through hundreds of thousands of text messages sent by Kilpatrick and others on city-issued SkyTel pagers to determine if any of the text messages could be relevant to the Greene lawsuit.
"I would be absolutely astounded if the mayor was dumb enough to have something done to that girl," Mitchenor said. "But I wouldn't put it past people who were in their circle. There are people who want to do things for you to show their loyalty that you don't authorize."
"I hope they find out who did it," Mitchenor said.
Greene was beautiful and "a real hustler," he said. "She was first-class and did not deserve that at all."
Area man involved in Detroit suit
Monroe Evening News
February 2, 2009
The mayoral mess and scandal in Detroit has seeped south to Monroe where a local resident is part of a long string of lawsuits filed against the beleaguered city and its administrators.
Dozens of motions and depositions have been filed in recent months during a civil lawsuit that is being heard in a Monroe County courtroom. It involves some of the same legal players that are embroiled in a multitude of legal issues surrounding the years-long controversy in Detroit and its former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
At issue here is Monroe resident Douglas Bayer who was a paramedic with the City of Detroit and was fired from his job in 2008 for allegedly stealing heart monitor cables from an ambulance. A surveillance video apparently captured Mr. Bayer removing the cables from the back of the ambulance.
But, according to the lawsuit, Mr. Bayer and his attorney claims he was fired for telling police investigators and a Detroit television station anonymously that he witnessed an alleged stripper being brought into a Detroit emergency room with injuries after she reportedly was beaten by the former mayor's wife during a raucous party at the Manoogian Mansion, home of the city's mayor.
According to the wrongful termination lawsuit, another EMS employee told Mr. Bayer at the time that "the mayor's wife just beat down some bitch." After Mr. Bayer reported what he witnessed, he alleges that he was harassed and subjected to retaliation of unwarranted disciplinary actions that included suspensions and eventually his termination.
"That should teach you to keep your mouth shut," is what the deputy fire commissioner reportedly was quoted as telling Mr. Bayer in the lawsuit.
Several defendants are named in the suit, which claims a violation of the Whistleblowers Act. They include the City of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, the Detroit fire commissioner, the deputy commissioner and several other high-ranking officials. The suit is seeking damages exceeding $25,000.
The defendants claim that Mr. Bayer was fired because he stole heart monitor cables from inside an ambulance belonging to Detroit Medical Center. But he claims that he noticed the set of cables inside the ambulance in May, 2008, and that they belonged to DMC. His claim is he simply returned them to the hospital. He did not steal them, his attorney said, because Mr. Bayer would have little personal use for them and that the cables are not exactly a high-ticket item in the black market.
"Those allegations are completely ridiculous," said Robert S. Zawideh, a Birmingham lawyer representing Mr. Bayer. "We're talking about heart monitor cables. My God, call the police."
Even though the defendants are all from Detroit, the lawsuit was filed in Monroe County Circuit Court because the Whistleblowers Protection Act allows the plaintiff to file in his hometown no matter where the events in question occurred. Mr. Bayer chose to keep the case in Monroe, much to the objection of the defense, and it was assigned to Judge Joseph A. Costello Jr.
Several hearings have been held here but there appears to be no imminent solution. In fact, the case could drag on for months, even years, before it is resolved. The file itself is so full of motions and evidence statements that it is more than a foot thick. Also Mr. Zawideh admitted that he has a contentious relationship with Detroit attorney Andrew Jarvis, who is representing the defendants.
Mr. Zawideh claimed Mr. Jarvis approached a client of his - another fired EMS worker suing Detroit - and allegedly attempted to bribe her by offering to get her job back if she would make a damaging statement against Mr. Bayer.
Mr. Zawideh claims Mr. Jarvis violated of the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct. That part of the lawsuit currently is being argued before Judge Costello and testimony is expected to continue next week.
Mr. Jarvis did not return Evening News phone calls.
The lawsuit is one of many filed against the City of Detroit that has been an embarrassing subject of nationwide scourge after it was revealed the mayor and his aide were having an affair and exchanging numerous text messages. Both were convicted of lying under oath and Mr. Kilpatrick is expected to be released from jail Tuesday.
Mr. Bayer became part of the controversy when he claimed that he was in the Detroit Receiving Hospital emergency room on the night that an exotic dancer was brought in for injuries she suffered allegedly when Carlita Kilpatrick, the former mayor's wife, beat her with a "wooden object," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states Mr. Bayer was on duty and inside the ER when an entourage of the mayor's security team came in and cleared the room. It was not clear if the woman from the mansion party who was escorted to the ER that night was Tamara Greene, the dancer who ended up murdered and is the target of an investigation.
Mr. Bayer's employment troubles began after he told a TV station what he saw that night. Even though he was interviewed with his identity withheld, Mr. Bayer claims he was given suspensions, including one for 30 days without pay.
In May, 2008, Mr. Bayer was involved in an accident while on duty and, the lawsuit states, the police and witnesses said he was not at fault. A month later he was fired after nine years on the job.
Mr. Zawideh said his client has not been able to find work since, despite the need for paramedics. He said his client has been blackballed, despite his military credentials and emergency skills.
"He can't find a job as an EMT anywhere," Mr. Zawideh said. "I don't think the demand for good EMTs has diminished at all. But he's not getting the calls."
Suspect in Tamara Greene death convicted in separate case
Detroit News
February 5, 2009
DETROIT — A suspect in the killing of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was convicted Wednesday of unrelated felony charges in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Darrett King, 35, of Detroit, was convicted of two counts of assault with intent to murder, a felony firearm charge, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faces 5 years to life when he is sentenced on Feb. 26.
During King's trial, Mike Carlisle, the lead investigator on the Greene case until September 2008, when he retired, testified that not only was King a suspect in the Strawberry murder, he was the only suspect, Carlisle said today.
But the jury rejected defense claims that King was only charged last year in the Dec. 24, 2004, shooting incident at a gas station at Seven Mile and Patton because police believed he had killed Greene. One man was shot in the leg and one in the side. Both survived.
Greene was shot to death outside her Detroit home on April 30, 2003. Her name was linked to a long-rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. Greene's family has sued top police and city officials in federal court, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her killing for political reasons.
"Did Darrett King kill Strawberry? In my mind yes he did," said Carlisle, who was police of the year for violent crime and homicide in 2007. "Based on the information I gathered, Darrett King is the killer."
Carlisle ran across King's name while investigating the Greene killing and started checking on King's previous contacts with Detroit police, Carlisle said. That's when he ran across the 2004 shooting and found that King should have been charged with it, he said.
The weapon used in the gas station shooting was a 10-millimeter handgun. A 40-caliber weapon was used to kill Greene. King is a left-handed shooter, just as Greene's killer was, Carlisle said. He declined to say more about the Greene case, saying the investigation continues.
When he was arrested last year, King was serving time in state prison on drugs and gun charges and was soon to be paroled.
King testified that he knew Greene and Eric Mitchell, the man who was sitting in a vehicle with her when she was killed. He also admitted having an argument with Greene but denied beating her up.
Carl Jordan, King's defense attorney, said today in a brief interview he was surprised King was convicted of the charges. King denies involvement in Greene's killing, Jordan has said.
Darrett King - Suspect In Tamara Greene's Murder
Lawyers meet in Greene lawsuit
Detroit News
February 11, 2009
DETROIT -- Lawyers involved in a civil lawsuit related to the 2003 killing of Detroit exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene met behind closed doors with a federal judge for about 90 minutes Wednesday.
Lawyers for Greene's family, the city and other parties to the case all declined comment when they left the chambers of U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen. They would only say that Rosen would be issuing orders related to the case shortly.
Greene, who was linked to a long-rumored but never substantiated party involving strippers at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was killed in a drive-by shooting outside her Detroit home April 30, 2003. The killing remains unsolved.
Greene's family is suing the city, Kilpatrick, his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, former Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, and other top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of Greene's killing for political reasons.
The defendants deny the charges. The case could go to trial this year.
Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Greene's family, has been waiting to see Greene's Detroit police homicide file. The city had until Monday to file objections to him seeing the file but filed nothing.
Yatooma is also waiting to see text messages sent by city officials on the day Greene was killed that federal magistrate judges have identified as potentially relevant in the case.
Stripper's death
Judge denies lawyer access to messages
Jackson Citizen Patriot (MI)
February 14, 2009
DETROIT - A lawyer who claims Detroit police and city officials obstructed an investigation of a stripper's killing will not get access to some text messages, U.S. Chief District Judge Gerald Rosen ruled Friday.
Rosen said messages from April 30, 2003, do not meet federal rules of civil procedure.
A lawsuit was filed by Norman Yatooma, who represents the family of Tamara Greene, a stripper who was gunned down in 2003. The lawsuit claims then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and high-ranking police obstructed the investigation into Greene's unsolved slaying.
Yatooma believes Greene danced at a party at the mayoral mansion several months before she was killed. Kilpatrick has denied that such a party took place, and a state investigation failed to confirm it.
Suspect in stripper case jailed
Tied to exotic dancer's killing, he gets 19-30 years for unrelated '04 shootings
Detroit News
February 27, 2009
DETROIT -- A suspect in the unsolved slaying of an exotic dancer linked to the long-rumored party at the Manoogian mansion was sentenced Thursday to 19 to 30 years for unrelated crimes.
Darrett King, 35, shot two men at a gas station on Christmas Eve 2004. King's lawyer wondered Thursday, with his client locked up for decades, how hard police will work to find Tamara "Strawberry' Greene's real killer.
"I think they wanted to close a high-profile murder case and my client was connected enough to do the job for them," Carl Jordan said.
A retired Detroit Police homicide detective testified at the assault trial that he believes King shot Greene on April 30, 2003. The cover-up of an alleged 2002 performance by the stripper at a never-proven private party in the city's mayoral mansion is at the heart of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's downfall.
It also is the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's survivors, claiming top city and police officials obstructed the homicide investigation.
Former homicide investigator Mike Carlisle testified that evidence against King is strong, but circumstantial. Carlisle was unable to persuade Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to charge King with Greene's death.
King has admitted knowing and arguing with Greene and Eric Mitchell, Greene's companion when she was shot. King's wife owned a car that matched the one Greene's killer used. King is left handed, just like Greene's killer. And another felon was prepared to testify that King had bragged about killing Greene, Carlisle said.
Kwame Kilpatrick ordered to return to Detroit
Detroit Examiner
March 25, 2009
So we thought when the former Mayor left for Texas that would be the last we saw of him for while, well think again.
A federal magistrate has ordered ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former lover Christine Beatty to show why thousands of text messages should not be given to an attorney representing the family of a slain exotic dancer, Tamara Greene.
Tamara ‘Strawberry’ Greene is believed to have performed at a rumored, but never-proven 2002 party at the mayoral mansion.
Several witnesses has testified that the party did occur, including EMS personnel that did the actual transport and other EMS workers who said they saw Ms. Greene arrive at the hospital.
Tamara Greene's family is suing the city, accusing the city of not fully investigating her 2003 shooting death.
Judge Steven Whalen's order Tuesday calls for Kilpatrick and Beatty to attend an April 7 hearing to determine if texts from the city's former communications provider will be turned over to Norman Yatooma.
Yatooma requested the messages from SkyTel as part of a civil suit against Kilpatrick, ex-top aide Beatty and other officials.
Yatooma says the texts could prove interference with the investigation into Greene's shooting.
Federal judge may release text messages
April 7 hearing will determine if information from city pagers will be released in civil lawsuit
Detroit News
March 25, 2009
DETROIT -- A federal magistrate judge is considering the release of thousands more text messages exchanged between former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his former chief of staff Christine Beatty and other city officials.
The messages are those filed under seal in U.S. District Court in Detroit in connection with a lawsuit brought against the city, the former mayor, Beatty, and other defendants by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
Greene, linked to a long rumored but never proven party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit in 2003. Her family alleges top city and police officials obstructed the investigation of her killing for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen on Tuesday ordered lawyers to appear April 7 and show why Whalen should not give Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Greene's family, all of the tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of text messages Yatooma requested in connection with the lawsuit.
SkyTel Corp., the city's former text messaging pager provider, submitted the text messages to the court under seal and Whalen has been combing through them to identify whether any are potentially relevant to the lawsuit.
But in his order, Whalen said there is "substantial overlap" between the texts he is reading and those recently made public by Wayne Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny after county prosecutors filed them in connection with criminal cases against Kilpatrick and Beatty.
"The public availability of the texts SkyTel has submitted to this court would appear to obviate the need for in camera review," Whalen said in his order.
Mayer Morganroth, a lawyer for Beatty, said Kenny released only a fraction of the text messages filed under seal in the Greene case and there is no reason for Whalen to order more messages released. "I don't know where this comes from -- it's out of the blue," Morganroth said. "It's strange."
Yatooma, who could not be reached, requested text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick, Beatty, and about 60 other city and police officials for nearly a two-year period between Aug. 1, 2002 and April 17, 2004. Whalen's order appears to propose the release of all of those messages.
It's not clear whether the text messages provided to Yatooma would remain subject to a protective order or whether Yatooma would be free to file them in open court. An order from Whalen to release the text messages would also be subject to approval by Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who is handling the case.
Whalen earlier scrutinized a smaller set of text messages sent or received by any city official holding a SkyTel pager on April 30, 2003 -- the day Greene was shot to death. He identified a handful of those messages as potentially relevant, but Rosen ruled that none of them met the threshold for admissibility in the lawsuit and said Yatooma would not be permitted to see them.
Morganroth said the U.S. Stored Communications Act is more protective of the privacy of text messages in civil cases, such as the Greene case, than in criminal cases such as those that sent both Kilpatrick and Beatty to jail on obstruction of justice and perjury related charges. On April 7, "we'll show him why they shouldn't be released," he said.
Witnesses have come forward in the Greene case to say they saw a commotion at a Detroit hospital and an injured dancer but none has put a specific date on the legendary party.
Caption: An attorney for relatives of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene is seeking release of city text messages.
Ex-Detroit mayor must attend hearing
Grand Rapids Press
March 25, 2009
DETROIT -- A federal magistrate has ordered ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former lover Christine Beatty to show why thousands of text messages should not be given to an attorney representing the family of a slain stripper. Judge Steven Whalen's order Tuesday calls for Kilpatrick and Beatty to attend an April 7 hearing. Attorney Norman Yatooma says the SkyTel texts could show interference with an investigation into Tamara Greene's 2003 death.
Beatty lawyer fights release of text messages in Tamara Greene case
Detroit News
April 4, 2009
Detroit — A federal magistrate judge should not order the release of previously undisclosed city of Detroit text messages without first conducting a thorough in-chambers review and allowing defense lawyers to challenge their release, a lawyer for former mayoral chief of staff Christine Beatty said in a court filing today.
Mayer Morganroth, Beatty's attorney, said in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit he has no objection to the magistrate judge releasing text messages that have already been released in other court cases and published in the news media.
A hearing is set for Tuesday related to hundreds of thousands of text messages that have been provided under seal to the court by SkyTel Corp. in connection with a lawsuit brought against the city, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Beatty, former Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other top city officials by relatives of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
Greene, linked to a long rumored but never proven party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family alleges top city and police officials obstructed the investigation of her still unsolved killing for political reasons.
The defendants deny the allegations.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen has been conducting a lengthy in-camera review of city text message sent by more than 60 city officials over nearly a two-year period to determine if any of the messages might be relevant to the lawsuit.
Last month, Whalen noted in a court order that there is significant overlap between the text messages he is reviewing and those that became public as a result of recent criminal proceedings against Kilpatrick and Beatty. He asked lawyers for the defendants to show, at Tuesday's hearing, why he should not provide Greene lawyer Norman Yatooma with all the text messages he has requested.
"This court should not just release all of the federal text messages on the grounds that there may be some overlap with the ... text messages that have been posted on Web sites because the volume of the federal text messages far exceeds the volume of the ... text messages which have been posted," Morganroth said in a court filing. "Beatty acknowledges that there is certainly no need for this court to sift through and review the text messages which have already been posted on Web sites."
Although Whalen's order proposed releasing to Yatooma all of the text messages filed under seal, such a move would conflict with a detailed protocol for reviewing the text messages established by Chief District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who is in charge of the case. It's possible Whalen is only proposing the release of text messages already published in the media.
Lawyers for Kilpatrick and the city have yet to file responses in advance of Tuesday's hearing.
Ex-cop: 'Little doubt' Manoogian party occurred
Report of 'officer down' at alleged 2002 event not in police records, says investigator
Detroit News
April 6, 2009
Detroit -- The former lead detective in the Tamara "Strawberry" Greene murder case says he not only believes a stripper was beaten at an alleged raunchy party at the mayoral mansion in late 2002 but also wonders why a lead he provided to the State Police about an "officer down" at the mansion never appeared in investigators' reports.
Greene is said to have danced for former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at a never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion; she was killed in a drive-by shooting a few months later.
Mike Carlisle, who retired from the Detroit Police Department with commendation in September, said that while he does not believe Greene danced at the party or that her slaying was connected to Kilpatrick, he does believe there was a party where a stripper was beaten.
Carlisle said that in late September or early October 2002, he received a call while he was off duty about an "officer down" at the mansion, the official residence of the Detroit mayor. Then a member of the special assignment squad of the homicide division, Carlisle was required to respond to all such calls. Two others from the squad were also notified that evening, Carlisle said.
"I got dressed and headed out around 11 p.m.," Carlisle said. "I got halfway down Jefferson when I got a call that I was not needed, and so I turned around. I even filled out an overtime notice and got paid for it."
Carlisle said he linked the "officer down" dispatch with a party at the Manoogian because witnesses told him and state investigators that a Detroit Police officer moonlighting as a stripper had worked the party.
"I have grave doubts she danced at the Manoogian," Carlisle said of Greene. "But I have little doubt that the night I received a call to go to the mansion, a party occurred."
He said he told this to a State Police investigator who called him at home in late 2003. Both the State Police and the attorney general were investigating whether a party had actually taken place. Attorney General Mike Cox concluded it was urban legend.
"I gave them the same information I'm giving you," Carlisle said.
The officer who headed the State Police investigation denied Carlisle's account.
"He certainly did not disclose that to us," said Detective Lt. Curt Schram, adding "that would be pretty significant," and would have been included in the police reports.
Carlisle "was contacted and interviewed" during the State Police investigation but did not mention receiving a call about an officer down, Schram said.
Records of the State Police probe obtained by The Detroit News show Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs of the State Police contacted Carlisle on June 10, 2003, after getting a tip that Carlisle had information about a dancer.
Carlisle "advised that he did not have that information," but referred the State Police to another Detroit officer he thought might know something, the report shows.
Deputy Chief Gary Brown, head of the Detroit Police Department's internal affairs, began an investigation into the party and was subsequently fired. In late 2007, Brown won a multimillion-dollar settlement in a whistle-blower lawsuit that led to the downfall and incarceration of Kilpatrick.
Greene was killed around the time of Brown's firing, so the party and Greene's slaying became fused in the public imagination. The State Police continued its own investigation and eventually closed it in January 2004 due, in part, to lack of cooperation from the Attorney General's Office, which refused subpoenas of hospital records and other items. Police tapes showing calls for police responses had already been destroyed when the State Police investigation began, records show.
Carlisle was transferred to the cold case squad in 2004 and assigned the Greene case. He worked it for eight weeks. Witnesses told Carlisle then that the Manoogian dancer was not Strawberry Greene, but a Detroit police officer who had worked as a stripper. She may have been the "cop down," Carlisle said.
That officer was interviewed by State Police investigators, denied any connection to the party, and was eventually assigned to the Executive Protection Unit that guarded Kilpatrick before moving to the vice squad.
According to a federal lawsuit brought by Greene's family, Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, walked in on the Manoogian party, saw her husband receiving sexual favors and beat the stripper. The stripper was then rushed to the hospital. Cox's spokesman said he refused to sign subpoenas to search hospital records because it was a fishing expedition and an invasion of privacy rights.
With things quieting down, the case was abruptly taken from Carlisle in August 2004 and the cold case squad disbanded, he said.
Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Greene's family, said he plans to depose Carlisle in his federal lawsuit against the city and its former mayor.
"We're not suing ex-convict Kilpatrick for having a raucous party or even for murder," Yatooma said. "We're suing him for covering up a murder investigation."
When salacious text messages between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, surfaced in January 2008, the stripper and the party were back in the news.
Carlisle was assigned the case again, this time with access to the State Police notes.
There is no mention of Carlisle telling state investigators that he was called to the mansion in the fall of 2002.
"I was surprised, to say the least," Carlisle said.
Carlisle said the evidence does not point to a hit ordered on Greene by City Hall but that Greene simply got caught between two feuding drug dealers, and Carlisle testified as much in court.
"This is a working girl who got caught between two thugs," Carlisle said he believes.
The man he suspects killed Greene sits behind bars on an attempted murder conviction.
Background
At issue: A long-rumored, but never proven, party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's residence, in fall 2002
What: Mike Carlisle, a former lead detective from the Detroit Police Department in the murder case of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, says witnesses told him the alleged Manoogian dancer was not Greene, but a Detroit police officer who had worked as a stripper. Carlisle also says he told Michigan State Police that he received a call about an "officer down" at the mansion, but the tip wasn't noted in investigators' reports.
Caption: Former cop Mike Carlisle said he got a call in 2002 about an "officer down" at the Manoogian, the official residence of the Detroit mayor.
EMS worker's whistle-blower judgment upheld in stripper case
Detroit News
June 17, 2009
A former paramedic who came forward with information related to the Tamara Greene stripper death case will seek $4.5 million in damages after a judge today upheld his whistle-blower lawsuit default judgment against the city of Detroit, his attorney said.
City of Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal A. Crittendon said the city plans to appeal and expects to have the default judgment set aside.
Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma said the city fired emergency medical technician Cenobio Chapa on Oct. 24 -- one day after he gave media interviews in which he said he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall of 2002 who claimed to have been assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick, the wife of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Chapa swore an affidavit about the encounter which Yatooma is using in a federal lawsuit brought against the city on behalf of the survivors of Tamara Greene, an exotic dancer who was linked to a rumored 2002 party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion. Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Greene's killing remains unsolved and the federal lawsuit alleges the former mayor and top city and police officials obstructed the homicide investigation for political reasons.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Wendy Potts granted a default judgment in May after the city did not file an answer to Chapa's complaint within the required time.
The city filed a motion to set aside the default judgment, but it was upheld Wednesday after city attorney Valerie Colbert-Osamuede failed to show up on time for the hearing she had requested.
Now the amount of damages Chapa will receive is to be determined after a hearing July 28.
Crittendon said Colbert-Osamuede was held up because of poor weather, causing her to be 15 minutes late for the hearing. It's not uncommon for default judgments to be reversed, she said.
"There was no adjudication on the merits," Crittendon said.
Yatooma said the veracity of Chapa's claims was not tested in the lawsuit because the city never responded to it.
"All you can interpret from this judgment is the fact that this whole administration ... is misguided and their cases are being obscenely mishandled," Yatooma said of the city of Detroit.
City officials said they fired Chapa for mishandling a call but the timing of his dismissal and other factors meant the city's claim lacked credibility, Yatooma said.
A civil lawsuit filed by Douglas Bayer, another former city paramedic who lost his job after he said he witnessed a disturbance outside the hospital related to the rumored Manoogian party, is pending in Macomb Circuit Court, Yatooma said.
The federal lawsuit could go to trial later this year.
New lawsuit filed in Tamara Greene case
Ex-sergeant is second to claim demotion over investigation
Detroit News
September 25, 2009
Detroit -- A second Detroit homicide investigator is alleging he was demoted for investigating the killing of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, linked to a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Odell Godbold, a former sergeant in charge of the Police Department's "cold case" unit, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city and three of his former supervisors, alleging they "protect(ed) an elected official by covering up information regarding the official's connection to Greene."
The latest lawsuit, filed in Wayne Circuit Court, further fans the flames of a controversy that has raged for more than four years over Greene's April 30, 2003, drive-by shooting death in Detroit.
Greene's family sued top city and police officials in 2005, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her unsolved killing for political reasons. That case, in which tens of thousands of text messages sent and received by Kilpatrick and other city officials were subpoenaed for private review by federal magistrate judges, could go to trial next year.
Another former homicide detective, retired Lt. Alvin Bowman, alleged in an earlier lawsuit that he was transferred out of homicide for attempting to investigate Greene's killing. Bowman said in a sworn affidavit filed in the Greene case that he believed Greene was killed by a Detroit police officer. Aside from the caliber of handgun used, Bowman has not revealed what evidence he has to back up that claim.
Kilpatrick and other top city and police officials have denied the allegations, and police brass insist the Greene killing remains under active investigation.
Godbold, represented by Bingham Farms attorney Charles Gottlieb, alleges he learned that Greene and an off-duty Detroit police officer who moonlighted as a stripper performed at a 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion. It was the off-duty female officer, not Greene, who was assaulted at the party and received a three-week leave of absence to recover from her injuries, the lawsuit alleges.
That account is consistent with one given by another retired Detroit homicide detective, Mike Carlisle, who told The Detroit News in April that he learned an off-duty Detroit police officer moonlighting as a stripper performed at the alleged party.
Godbold alleges that at a May 2005 meeting in the office of former Assistant Chief Walter Martin, also attended by former Deputy Chief Tony Saunders and then-Lt. (now Deputy Chief) James Tolbert, Martin told him not to talk about the Greene case or allow anyone to see the Greene file.
A short time later, Martin cursed at Godbold after learning Godbold had turned the file over to then-Inspector Bill Rice, who headed the major crimes unit, the suit alleges.
Martin then removed Rice from the major crimes unit and ordered Godbold to turn the Greene file over to Martin, the suit alleges.
Deputy Chief John Roach, a spokesman for Detroit Police, said officials had not yet seen the Godbold suit and had no comment.
The cold case unit, where the Greene case was assigned at the time, was shut down without explanation in August 2005 and Godbold was demoted to a drug unit where he reported to another sergeant, the suit alleges. Godbold claims he retired as a result of the demotion in January 2006, at which time the cold case unit was reopened.
Godbold also alleges an unnamed Detroit councilwoman told him she anonymously received a package of Greene's telephone records and "those records may connect Greene to the mayor's party."
Urban Legend -- Or Is It More?
City Workers Claim They Were Punished For Investigating Manoogian Manison Party
Click On Detroit
September 25, 2009
DETROIT – Former Detroit Police Officer Harold Nelthrope and former Deputy Chief Gary Brown are arguably the most famous whistle-blowers in the city's history.
They said they were demoted and fired, respectively, for investigating a rumored party with exotic dancers, which is said to have taken place at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor?s official residence.
The rumor, which has been called urban legend, is that dancers who performed at the party were assaulted by the former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita.
Months after that party is said to have taken place, Tamara Greene, who is said to have danced at the party was killed in a drive-by shooting. Her case has never been solved.
In the aftermath of Nelthrope and Brown's lawsuit and nearly $9 million settlement, damning text messages between former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and chief of staff Christine Beatty were uncovered and showed they lied during the trial; ultimately, those messages led to their downfalls.
But Nelthrope and Brown are not the only ones who believe they were punished for investigating the long-rumored party.
In fact, there's a long list of people who believe they were penalized, even threatened, for what they know.
Thursday, another former DPD employee came forward and filed suit against the city.
In court documents, former homicide Detective Odell Godbold claims he too was demoted for investigating Greene?s murder.
Godbold said, he was told "not to let anyone see the Greene file" and "not to talk about it."
And in addition to Godbold, Nelthrope and Brown former homicide Detective Lieutenant Alvin Bowman also sued the city and former Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
Bowman's won his suit in 2005.
Also on Thursday, Local 4 Defenders revealed that several police officers from an elite federal task force testified Detroit Police upper-brass shut down the investigation into admitted hit man, Vincent Smothers, when they wanted to pursue a lead that could link Smothers and Kilpatrick to the Greene case.
The investigators had information from Kentucky police that one of Smothers? close friends, James Davis, bragged about being a close friend of Kilpatrick's.
The task force wanted to go down to Kentucky to talk to Davis but the investigation was stalled.
When an officer pressed police supervisors, he was told "this (the case) is bigger than me, bigger than you, bigger than both of us."
Smothers admitted to killing 11 people and is in prison for the murder of a Detroit Police Officer?s wife.
The task force officers said Smothers was going to confess to other murders but a police boss barged into the interview room and ended the interrogation.
From then on, officers said they were told not to investigate the Greene or Smothers cases.
Aside from police officers, other city workers have said they were punished for speaking out on the rumored party.
Cenobio Chapa, a city EMT, came forward with his recollection of seeing a woman that matched the description of Greene at a local hospital the night of the alleged party.
Michael Kearns, city EMT, said he saw Greene at a Detroit Shell gas station with a swollen left eye.
Doug Bayer, city EMT, said he saw Greene at Detroit Receiving Hospital and was told by a fellow EMT Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, had assaulted her.
Joyce Rogers was a clerk at DPD Headquarters when she says she saw a report about how the mayor's wife, Carlita, assaulted Greene.
Local 4 Defenders spoke to members of Greene's family Friday. The Greene family is also suing the city, charging it did not fully investigate her killing.
In light of all the people who've come forward the family has high hopes for her case.
"With new leads coming in everyday, this should be active. I feel this case should be actively worked on everyday," said Ernest Flagg, Greene's former partner and the father of her son.
Urban Legend continues as more evidence surfaces
Detroit Examine
September 28, 2009
Arguably the most famous whistle-blowers in the history of Detroit would be former Detroit Police Officer Harold Nelthrope, and former Deputy Chief Gary Brown.
The two sued the city after they said they were demoted and fired for investigating a rumored party with exotic dancers, which is said to have taken place at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.
Rumors which has been called urban legend, is that dancers who performed at the party were assaulted by the former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita. After that party was said to have taken place, Tamara Greene, one of the exotic dancers at the party was killed in a drive-by shooting. Her case has never been solved.
Murder and cover-ups
Metro Times
Sept 30, 2009
For years now, News Hits would have bet big that Kwame Kilpatrick had no hand in the 2003 murder of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, who was rumored to have performed at the infamous Manoogian Mansion party that, officially, anyway, never actually happened.
The same non-party that then-Detroit First Lady Carlita Kilpatrick didn't show up at unannounced, and didn't send one of the dancers to the hospital, the victim of a clubbing that also didn't happen.
We would, by the way, also bet big money that all those things did happen.
Partying with strippers is one thing. So is juggling multiple mistresses, retaliating against cops whose investigations could expose all that, and then lying under oath in an ill-fated attempt to protect himself. For all that and more, Kilpatrick well deserves our scorn.
But as venal as we believe the Kwamster to be, the thought that he would actually have someone killed in order to cover up his debauchery and hold onto power seemed far-fetched, even to the supreme cynics here at the Hits.
It could be, though, that we aren't cynical enough.
What has us thinking that is last week's report by Channel 4 ace investigator Kevin Dietz, who got his hands on some sworn depositions given in a civil suit brought last year by Detroit police officer Ira Todd. The officer claims he was transferred from an elite investigative unit after uncovering a connection between a hit man suspected of possibly being involved in the Greene murder and a Kentucky man who claimed to be tight with Kilpatrick.
The allegations aren't exactly new. Many of the claims are made in the whistleblower lawsuit Todd filed against Kilpatrick and the city last year. That same sort of suit is what eventually led to the downfall of Kilpatrick, who fired Deputy Chief Gary Brown and retaliated against Officer Harold Nelthrope after they attempted to look into the rumored party. Those cops were represented by attorney Mike Stefani, who also represents Todd.
What Dietz revealed is that four other officers have come forward, giving depositions that support Todd's accusations.
"I think these guys are awfully credible witnesses," Dietz tells News Hits. "These are investigators who excelled at what they did. That's why they were on this task force."
Created to combat violent crimes, the task force includes law enforcement officers from the FBI, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, Michigan State Police and others.
At one point, it is claimed, Todd was interviewing Vincent Smothers — who had already confessed to a number of murders, including the alleged contract killing of the wife of a Detroit police officer — when a supervisor stepped in and halted the questioning.
"This is bigger than you. Bigger than me. Bigger than the both of us," the supervisor, according to court documents, is alleged to have said.
Todd was investigating Smothers, who may have been involved in 10 or more murders, when the trail led him to Kentucky, where Smothers and a suspected accomplice sometimes went to lay low after committing a murder, Todd's lawsuit alleges.
The alleged accomplice has a brother named James Davis who lives near Lexington, Ky. Todd contacted cops there, and was told that Davis "claimed to have connections, both personal and professional," with Kilpatrick. Davis was also believed to have "been involved in a major development project in the Detroit area," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleged that the task force obtained information that Smothers and his accomplice "were observed leaving the scene of a Detroit area homicide in a late model Cadillac with Kentucky license plates." According to a confidential source, the alleged accomplice's brother, James Davis, owned the vehicle.
That vehicle matched the description of the one driven by Greene's assailant. The same vehicle "was later located in Detroit in a burned-out condition with a murder victim in it," according to the lawsuit.
Todd reportedly wanted to go to Kentucky to follow up on the leads. Instead, he was transferred out of the elite unit and given a desk job.
It was part of a pattern, wrote Stefani in the lawsuit, saying Kilpatrick had "created an unwritten but very real policy within the Detroit Police Department to the effect that officers who report possible wrongdoing on the part of the mayor, his family or any member of his staff or Executive Protection Unit are to be dealt with swiftly and harshly."
Included in Dietz's report were comments from attorney Norman Yatooma, who represents Greene's son in a lawsuit that claims the investigation of his mother was wrongfully quashed.
"Certainly," says Yatooma, "if Kwame Kilpatrick had no culpability here, he would bend over backwards to make this investigation possible, open the file, let everybody see what there is to see. Right? If you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. But he hides everything, everything that can touch him or those close to him."
Asked by an anchor why these officers were just coming forward now, Dietz replied that, with Kilpatrick now out of office, the cops finally felt it was safe for them to step up and tell the truth.
Where that truth may lead, News Hits can't say. All we can hope is that, with a new administration in place and Kilpatrick's appointees no longer running the Police Department, the investigation into the killing of Tamara Greene will finally be conducted with the diligence that should have been applied from the start.
As for any future bets, we'll be hedging them.
Tamara Greene's killing to get a real investigation
Detroit Examiner
October 2, 2009
For years, rumors circulated about a wild party at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002, hosted by disgraced ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and featuring strippers. It was further said the Mayor's wife Carlita came home earlier than expected and battered one of the strippers, a woman named Tamara Greene, whom security men drove to Detroit Receiving Hospital.
His Honor swore up and down that there was no such party, and Attorney General Mike Cox backed him up, calling the party "an urban legend."
Tamara Greene, whose stripper name was "Strawberry," was shot to death on April 30, 2003 on Detroit's west side whie sitting in her car with boyfriend Eric Mitchell. The hail of bullets came from an SUV, and though the vehicle made a second pass around Greene's car, and its two occupants could see that Mitchell was only wounded, did not shoot him again. That meant that Greene had been the target.
I think there is no longer any doubt that there was indeed a party at the Manoogian Mansion, and I make that claim based upon events that transpired after Greene was killed. For Detroit police, it began as an ordinary homicide investigation.
But when a homicide detective tried to run down a lead involving the party or the Mayor, his effort was quashed by the police brass. Some cops were transferred or demoted.
Former homicide detective Alvin Bowman claimed in a sworn affidavit that Greene was killed by a member of the Detroit police department based on the shooting pattern and the type of weapon used.
A second investigator said he was demoted for investigating the Greene shooting. He has filed a civil action against the city and three top cops, claiming the latter protected an elected official by covering up that official's relationship with Greene.
The investigation was put into the cold case file a year early by department standards.
Greene's family filed a lawsuit in 2005 against top city and police officials alleging that they obstructed the investigation for political purposes. Recently a team of relatively new officers filed sworn affidavits that they were shut down when they tried to follow leads in the case.
By the way, one lead that was quashed was that Kwame Kilpatrick's name came up as an associate of self-proclaimed hit man Vincent Smothers. If that name sounds familiar, then you may have read my article "The Runyon Street murders," 9/19/09, in which Smothers confessed to being one of the shooters in a dope house raid.
Policeman Ira Todd said he established a possible connection between Smothers and a reputed drug dealer in Lexington, Kentucky who claimed to have personal and professional connections to Kilpatrick. That lead was also shut down in the last few months of Kilpatrick's mayorship.
Recently a team of relatively new officers filed sworn affidavits that their attempts to investigate the Greene case were thwarted. When Police Chief Evans read this stack of affidavits he could not have been happy.
In a news item on the front page of this morning's Detroit Free Press, Evans announced that the Greene case was being re-opened, big time. The file was disinterred from the cold case stack to the top priority of the Violent Crimes Task Force, a multi-agency effort that includes the FBI, the Michigan State Police, and the Wayne County Sheriffs' Department.
"I'm not really comfortable with why (the prior) investigation didn't continue, why certain things stopped at the time they did," he said. "There might be valid reasons, but I don't see them." He also said: "The community doesn't buy--whether reality or perception--certain things didn't happen. I've got a responsibility to put that to rest. Because at the end of the day, without the citizen's support we don't go anywhere in this city."
The language may seem a bit tepid, probably because plaintiff's lawyers were hanging on every word, but the action was strong. And, after all, it is the action that really counts.
Task force to investigate Tamara Greene murder
Detroit News
October 2, 2009
Detroit -- City police are moving the investigation of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene to a multi-jurisdictional violent crimes task force, giving it greater priority in a bid to solve the 6-year-old case.
"Most people don't feel that it was closed because there were no other leads, but for political reasons," Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans said Thursday. "The job of the department is to make sure the public knows we're going to do what we do, when we need to do it. That's the right thing to do."
Evans couldn't immediately say how many officers would be assigned to the case, or what methods the task force, which includes representatives from the FBI, Michigan State Police and other agencies, might pursue to expand an investigation.
But he said moving the case to the task force would "give fresh eyes" to the case.
Controversy has raged over the investigation into Greene's death in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Greene was linked to a rumored, but never proven, party at the Manoogian Mansion when Kwame Kilpatrick was mayor.
Greene's family sued top city officials, including Kilpatrick, and police officials in 2005, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her unsolved killing for political reasons. That case, in which tens of thousands of text messages sent and received by Kilpatrick and other city officials were subpoenaed for private review by federal magistrate judges, could go to trial next year.
Norman Yatooma, an attorney representing Greene's family in the lawsuit, welcomed the move. He said if the task force "begets justice for Tammy Greene's killers and answers for Tammy Greene's family, then all of the toil and all of the text messages -- all of the effort and all of the affidavits -- will be well worth it."
Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said her office's investigation of Greene's murder is "ongoing," but declined to say whether the task force would affect it.
Lawyers for the city couldn't be reached for comment.
Mayer Morganroth, an attorney representing former Kilpatrick Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, who is named in the Greene family suit, said he was "in favor of anything that could be done to find the guilty party."
Kilpatrick and other top city and police officials have denied the allegations.
There have been other actions involving the investigation:
Last week, Odell Godbold, a former sergeant in charge of the Detroit Police Department's "cold case" unit, filed a lawsuit in Wayne Circuit Court against the city and three of his former supervisors, alleging they "protect(ed) an elected official by covering up information regarding the official's connection to Greene."
Godbold alleges he learned that Greene and an off-duty Detroit police officer who moonlighted as a stripper performed at a 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion. It was the officer, not Greene, who was assaulted at the party and received a three-week leave of absence to recover from her injuries, the lawsuit alleges.
In June, an Oakland County judge set aside a default judgment she had granted to Cenobio Chapa, a former Detroit emergency medical technician who claimed he lost his job after coming forward with information related to Greene's case. In an affidavit, Chapa said he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in fall 2002 who said she had been assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick, Kwame Kilpatrick's wife.
A civil lawsuit filed by Douglas Bayer, another former city paramedic who lost his job after he said he witnessed a disturbance outside the hospital related to the rumored Manoogian party, is pending in Macomb Circuit Court. The federal lawsuit was expected to go to trial later this year.
Bayer told investigators he saw a large crowd outside the hospital when he arrived for a call, and a man he later concluded was a member of the mayor's executive protection unit attempted to prevent him from taking his patient to the emergency room.
A former homicide detective, retired Lt. Alvin Bowman, alleged in a lawsuit that he was transferred out of the homicide department for attempting to investigate Greene's killing. Bowman said in an affidavit filed in the Greene case that he believed Greene was killed by a Detroit police officer. Besides the caliber of handgun used, Bowman has not revealed what evidence he has to back up that claim.
Officers fight subpoenas
Detroit News
October 16, 2009
Detroit — Three Michigan State Police detectives filed court papers Thursday asking a federal judge to quash subpoenas ordering them to testify in a lawsuit brought by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
The officers, Detective Lt. Curt Schram, Detective Sgt. John Figurski and Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs, were involved in a 2003 state police investigation into a rumored but never proven stripper party at the Manoogian Mansion mayoral residence in Detroit.
The state police investigation was shut down a few months after Attorney General Mike Cox ended his own probe and declared the party at the home of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick an "urban legend."
Greene, who was linked to the rumored party, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her still unsolved killing for political reasons.
Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
In a court filing, the Michigan State Police detectives who investigated the Manoogian party said they have been subpoenaed to provide testimony and records in the Greene lawsuit and they want the subpoenas quashed.
The three officers "were involved in an investigation of then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2003 unrelated to the Tamara Greene homicide," they said in court papers filed by a lawyer from the state attorney general's office.
Deponents "object to the production of any documents and to any questions to elicit testimony about ... information obtained during that investigation pursuant to the use of investigative subpoenas," the detectives said.
"Such information is confidential and may be disclosed only under those circumstance authorized by law."
Also, the officers now work in Grand Rapids, Adrian and Bad Axe, and requiring them to travel to the Detroit area to be deposed in the case "would require undue burden and expense," the court filing said.
Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham attorney representing Greene's family, could not be reached for comment.
The Greene case could go to trial next year before Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen.
Tamara Greene's family lawyer accuses Cox of cover-up
Detroit News
October 17, 2009
Detroit -- The lawyer for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene says Attorney General Mike Cox was "trying to cover his gubernatorial-hopeful tail" when attorneys from Cox's office filed objections this week to subpoenas filed in the family's lawsuit against the city of Detroit.
Attorney Norman Yatooma wants to question under oath three Michigan State Police detectives who investigated rumors of a wild stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in 2003.
In a court filing Thursday, lawyers from the attorney general's office, representing the Michigan State Police, objected to documents and testimony requested in the subpoenas, saying the detectives don't have records that relate to the civil lawsuit and that information they gathered during their investigation must be kept confidential.
Jon Sellek, a spokesman for Cox, said lawyers from the attorney general's office are putting forward the Michigan State Police's objections because the attorney general is required to represent state agencies by law, not because Cox has directed them to do so, Sellek said.
"The attorney general wants to see the Greene murder case solved," Sellek said Friday. "He's glad that (Detroit Police) Chief (Warren) Evans is looking at the case again."
But Yatooma isn't buying it.
"This is just the work of Cox trying to cover his gubernatorial-hopeful tail," Yatooma said in response to the court filing. "Anyone who says otherwise is just spinning an 'urban legend.' , "
Yatooma's comments were a reference to Cox dismissing as "urban legend" rumors of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick holding a wild party at the mayor's mansion in the fall of 2002. Cox's office investigated the rumors, and a parallel state police investigation ended a few months later with no proof the party ever happened.
The state police issued a statement Friday, clarifying that "the detectives have every intention of providing deposition testimony subject to certain procedural and legal guidelines outlined in the motion."
The motion was intended to "lay out legal groundwork," said the statement from Inspector Greg Zarotney, the state police litigation coordinator.
Greene, who was linked to the rumored party, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing Kilpatrick and top city and police officials in federal court in Detroit, alleging they obstructed her murder investigation for political reasons.
Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Cox and the stripper
Metro Times
Nov 18, 2009
It has long been rumored that Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox a) covered up the legendary-though-unproven "party" at the Manoogian Mansion and/or b) then somehow impeded the investigation into the death of Tamara Greene.
Greene, aka "Strawberry," was, of course, the woman once primly described by the Detroit News as a "thick-bodied stripper." She was shot to death in a drive-by in April 2003. Though the papers don't often mention this, it needs to be noted that nobody has ever turned up a shred of evidence that any of the charges against Cox were true. Nor has anybody, in our leak-happy nation, ever claimed to have been at the infamous party.
Nevertheless, there are many who think this case has the potential to torpedo Cox's run for governor next year. This includes both Republicans backing other candidates, and Democrats who would like to see him get the nomination, and then be destroyed by some such revelations.
However, a little reality check is in order. First of all, just in case you are new to the scene, here's a quick summary. According to legend, Kwame and cronies staged a stag party with strippers at the Manoog. There are various versions of what happened, but, according to the most usual one, Carlita Kilpatrick turned up to discover Strawberry servicing Hizzoner, and then supposedly beat up the stripper. Later, Strawberry did, in fact, get whacked.
The whispers are that Cox covered this up, possibly because — even though he is a Republican — he has ties to the Wayne County political machine and used to work for Mike Duggan.
How likely is it that any of this is true? Logically, it makes little sense. There would be no reason for a politically ambitious Republican attorney general to protect a corrupt black mayor of Detroit. Granted, Cox was concealing his own extramarital affair from the public at the time. But there is no text message or other evidence of a quid pro quo.
Conceivably, Cox may not have pursued the investigation into the "party" aggressively enough. The political climate was much different in the early days of the Kwamester's rule. To be seen as aggressively going after the young black mayor might not have been politically smart. Kilpatrick, remember, was strongly backed by the same business interests whose support Cox also needs. Way back in 2004, Cox told me that he had looked but found no proof that there was any such party, though he had turned up lots of evidence of Kwame behaving badly.
His report at the time did say (all too correctly) the mayor had put the city at risk of a big-time lawsuit. As for Strawberry's murder: The lady, by all accounts, was a stripper with a drug problem. Folks like that are usually not seen as good risks by life insurance firms.
Absent any evidence, there is no good reason to assume Kwame Kilpatrick had her bumped off. Now, don't get me wrong. I think the former mayor is a thug who should be doing hard time.
Mike Cox is ruthlessly ambitious, and all about getting himself elected governor. But it makes little sense to assume Kwame had the stripper killed. It makes even less sense to think he and Cox were in cahoots to cover this up somehow. And the idea that this will affect the race for governor is wacko, unless a smoking gun is suddenly produced. The voters are going to care about essentially one thing next year: the economy.
Nobody is going to give a damn whether Cox did enough eight years earlier to investigate a corrupt, long-gone mayor whom, in the end, he helped send to jail. Anybody who thinks otherwise needs to get out and talk to real humans, especially those without jobs.
Report: Detroit police removed 30 tapes from probe into Manoogian Mansion party
MLive
Nov 08, 2009
A Michigan State Police detective testified that Detroit police prevented him from reviewing tapes of 911 calls and computer files that might have contained evidence of a rumored party at the official mayoral residence in 2003, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Detroit Free Press quoted Sgt. Mark Krebs as saying in a sworn deposition that senior city police officials barred him from taking a box of 36 tapes from Detroit police headquarters shortly after the April 30, 2003, drive-by shooting of exotic dancer Tamara Greene, who was said to have performed at the never-proven party.
Krebs testified that when he and other state detectives returned to police headquarters the next day to collect the box of tapes, they found 30 tapes missing.
"We were appalled," Krebs said in a six-hour deposition obtained by the newspaper. He testified in a lawsuit brought by Greene's family alleging city officials and police undermined the investigation of her death.
Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, police officials and lawyers for the city have denied the allegation.
Krebs said he was unsure whether the tapes that investigators had subpoenaed contained 911 dispatch calls or backup files from police executive computers. In either case, Detroit police officials would not let the tapes leave headquarters, Krebs said.
In a compromise, the tapes were sealed in a box and locked in a walk-in vault. The next day, Krebs said, investigators discovered the seal was broken and 30 tapes were missing.
Detroit Police Cmdr. Russell Decrease, who Krebs said refused to hand over the tapes on orders from senior officials, declined to comment on Krebs' testimony.
State Police Lt. Curtis Schram, who also worked the investigation of Greene's death, has testified in a separate case that Detroit police told state investigators they removed the 30 tapes because they had turned over too much information.
Krebs also testified that Attorney General Mike Cox impeded the state's investigation, but Cox said that was not the case.
"To this day, no one in the State Police, our office or the media has identified someone who was there or could provide any evidence in a courtroom that there was a party," Cox said.
Krebs testified he never found anybody who attended the party.
Attorney Jeffrey Morganroth, who represents former Kilpatrick chief of staff Christine Beatty in the lawsuit, said it was curious that "most of the focus seems to be on the rumored party when the case is supposed to be about Greene's death."
Cox has agreed to sit for a deposition in the Greene case, but a date hasn't been set.
Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans recently assigned the investigation of Greene's murder to a local, state and federal violent crimes task force. Detroit police and the FBI declined to comment on the investigation.
Cox will face questions in slain stripper lawsuit
Detroit News
November 10, 2009
Detroit -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox will sit for a deposition next month in the lawsuit involving slain dancer Tamara Greene, a federal judge said today.
Cox is expected to be deposed on Dec. 11 in the lawsuit by the family of the slain dancer.
Greene, linked to a long-rumored but never proven 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion, was killed in a Detroit drive-by shooting in 2003. Her family claims city and police officials obstructed the investigation of her murder for political reasons. The city denies the allegations.
Cox investigated the rumored party and concluded it was an "urban legend." State police investigators, who were later deposed by Norman Yatooma, the attorney for Greene's family, claim Cox quashed their investigation into whether the party happened.
Cox's deposition will be sealed under Cox's objection, Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said.
"I understand why the attorney general wants them unsealed but that isn't the court's concern," he said.
Three other Michigan State Police officers also will be deposed, although no date was announced.
Also today, attorneys for the city conferred in the judge's chambers laying out their objection to the release of 36 text messages sent on city-owned pagers to defense attorneys. City attorneys do not want the messages released, claiming they have no bearing on the case.
Rosen said the trial will begin some time in May.
Retired cops, civil lawsuits fuel investigation into Tamara Greene's death
Detroit Examiner
November 25, 2009
The unsolved murder of Tamara Greene, aka Strawberry, is now in the hands of the multi-jurisdictional Violent Crimes Task Force. Yet there are other parties whose thoughts and actions may shed light on events preceding and following the woman's murder.
Recently, a retired cop who worked the Greene case has named the man he believes killed Greene, and two civil lawsuits could provide a wealth of information relevant to both the crime and its initial investigation.
Retired investigator Mike Carlisle had worked the Greene case, and recently named one Darrell King as the most likely suspect. King is currently doing 25 years for charges arising from a botched armed robbery in 2004. This is problematic because if King was the shooter he is likely to beat a murder charge. He has no incentive to confess, and the only witness to the attack was Greene's boyfriend Eric Mitchell, who was in Greene's car and wounded in the April 30, 2003 shooting, but who has said that King was not the shooter. He should know because he, as well as Greene, knew Darrell King.
Carlisle also spoke about the rumored 2002 Manoogian Mansion party during which many believe Greene was assaulted by then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife. While Carlisle believes there was such a party, he is convinced that Greene was not there, in her 'Strawberry' persona or otherwise. The motive for Greene's killing was a dispute over drugs, he believes, and nothing more.
The plaintiff's lawyers in the civil cases do not buy into the retired cop's opinion because it does not support their theories that high ranking city officials, including Kilpatrick, actively interfered with the Greene investigation during Kilpatrick's tenure. That's the meat of the case filed on behalf of the Greene family by Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma.
The other case, filed by attorney Mike Stefani on behalf of Ira Todd touches on that same issue. Todd, who also investigated the Greene killing, claims he was transferred from the prestigious task force to a desk job in May, 2008 because he was looking into the claim of a Kentucky drug dealer and aquaintance of self-proclaimed hit man Vincent Smothers that he, the dealer, had a relationship with Kilpatrick.
For a city and police force that has made the Greene case a priority, these cases are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, civil attorneys have more flexibility in conducting investigations because a civil defendant's freedom isn't at stake, so they might turn up information that could provide leads in the criminal investigation. On the other hand, the goal of these cases is to win money damages from a city that is already strapped for cash.
While these matters proceed with measured deliberation, they are certainly worth following.
Cox deposition in stripper lawsuit gets heated
Detroit New
December 12, 2009
Detroit -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox spent Friday answering questions under oath in connection with a federal lawsuit brought against Detroit officials by the family of a slain exotic dancer.
But he still isn't finished testifying in the case.
Friday's daylong questioning of Michigan's top law enforcement official and gubernatorial hopeful -- which has no recent precedent -- apparently grew heated, and Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen had to be called on to resolve disputes.
Both Cox and Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for the dancer's family, said as they left the federal courthouse shortly after 5 p.m. that they need to schedule a date to complete the deposition. That's expected to happen next week.
Neither would say much about the deposition -- citing orders from Rosen -- but Yatooma described the session as "not cordial," and said: "It's not nearly finished."
Cox said: "I tried to answer all the questions."
The family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, a dancer linked to a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion in fall 2002, is suing former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of Greene's April 30, 2003, shooting death for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored party in 2003, personally interviewed Kilpatrick and dismissed the party story as an "urban legend."
He's been criticized by officials in the Michigan State Police and others, who said he shut down his investigation too soon and didn't question Kilpatrick under oath.
But Cox said on his way into the deposition Friday that he does not expect the Manoogian issue to dog or hamper his campaign for governor.
"We did a righteous investigation," he told reporters. "All the intervening history from that time shows that."
Federal court rules limit depositions to seven hours without a special court order. But due to a number of breaks in Friday's session, a good chunk of that time has not been used, Yatooma said. Rosen did not sit in on the deposition but had to get involved Friday, holding a meeting with the parties in his chambers to resolve objections, court records show.
Cox, who is not a defendant in the case, could have successfully fought the subpoena but wanted to tell all he knows that might relate to the case and wants Greene's killing solved, spokesman John Sellek said.
Yatooma said as he arrived at court Friday that Cox was in a good position to expose a cover-up related to Greene's killing but failed to do so.
He accused Cox of exhibiting "false bravado" about the deposition because he said Cox knows the transcript will be sealed by Rosen and the public won't learn what was said.
"He'll be beating his chest, much like a man at the zoo outside the gorilla cage where he's protected by the shatter-proof glass," Yatooma said of Cox.
But Cox has said he would have preferred to answer Yatooma's questions in public.
Sellek said Friday that Cox's office plans to make a motion to unseal the deposition once a transcript is made, though he did not know when that might happen.
Rosen ordered the sealing of the Cox deposition, like many others being taken in the case, because he said he is concerned that publicity surrounding the Greene case could hamper the Detroit Police investigation into her death.
Caption: Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox answers questions from the media as he arrives at the federal courthouse in Detroit for his deposition. Afterward, Cox said: "I tried to answer all the questions."
Norman Yatooma, a lawyer representing Tamara Greene's family, described the deposition as "not cordial."
Slain dancer's medical records sought
Lawyer wants to see if treatment linked to rumored party
Detroit News
December 16, 2009
Detroit --An attorney for the family of a slain exotic dancer is vowing to fight for medical records about possible treatment stemming from a never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion after a hospital lawyer challenged his subpoena of them.
Court filings on Tuesday show Detroit Receiving Hospital is challenging a subpoena filed last week by the attorney for the family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene in a federal suit against the city.
The attorney, Patricia Leonard, wrote that Norman Yatooma's request was "overly broad" and included "confidential patient information."
Yatooma said he plans to file a motion soon to compel officials to produce the documents.
"We're only looking for documents related to the medical care provided to her," he said. "There's no reasonable basis for them to suggest we're not entitled to them."
The filing is the latest in a suit alleging city officials obstructed the investigation of Greene's April 30, 2003, shooting death for political reasons. Greene was rumored to have danced at a party in fall 2002 attended by then Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
In an affidavit related to the case, Cenobio Chapa, a former city emergency medical technician, said he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital around the time of the rumored party who said she was assaulted by Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita.
Attorney General Mike Cox investigated the rumors in 2003, interviewed Kilpatrick and dismissed the party story as an "urban legend."
He was deposed Friday by Yatooma about the investigation.
Detroit Receiving objected to the subpoena, saying information would be protected by state and federal law and hospital officials couldn't locate any files "without critical identifiers including date of birth, Social Security number or dates of service."
The hospital would be "willing to locate and identify any responsive information should plaintiff be ordered to narrow its request" based on those reasons, Leonard said in the response.
Caption: Norman Yatooma, left, a lawyer representing Tamara Greene's family, says he plans to file a motion soon to compel Detroit Receiving Hospital officials to produce Greene's medical records.
Exotic dancer Greene wasn't treated at DMC, hospital group says
Detroit News
December 18, 2009
Detroit -- No woman named Tamara Greene or Tamara Bond was treated at any Detroit Medical Center emergency room in 2002, a lawyer for the hospital group said in a court filing today.
Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was an exotic dancer linked to a rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. She was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003, and Greene's family is suing former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed a police investigation into her still unsolved killing.
Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
A central facet of the party rumor, as detailed in court filings in the case, is that Greene required hospital treatment after she was assaulted at the Manoogian party by Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita. That's why hospital records have become an issue in the case.
Charles Raimi, an attorney for the Detroit Medical Center, said recent subpoenas for medical records filed by Greene family attorney Norman Yatooma contain too little information for the hospital to respond to them while still complying with privacy laws.
"Plaintiffs' Dec. 9, 2009, subpoenas to Detroit Receiving and Sinai-Grace provide nothing more than the names 'Tamara Greene/aka Tamara Bond,' " Raimi said in a court filing. "Health care providers require, for a proper medical records search, such identifying information as a social security number, home address, date of service, etc."
Greene's son's name is Jonathan Bond, and she sometimes used the last names Bond or Bond-Greene.
Raimi said an earlier records request filed by the Greene family attorneys in August 2008 provided a social security number and a birth date for Greene.
"A search using just the social security number ... revealed no record of anyone using that social security number ever being treated at a DMC hospital," Raimi said.
"A search of the names Tamara Greene and Tamara Bond ... revealed no patient with such a name and a birth date matching the one supplied by plaintiffs' counsel," he said.
"A search for all records of all patients ... revealed that no person named Tamara Greene or Tamara Bond was treated at any DMC emergency room anytime during the year 2002," Raimi wrote. "The search did reveal other patients named Tamara Greene or Tamara Bond treated during the full period of the database across the DMC system, but the birth dates and treatment dates of those individuals make it clear they could not possibly have been the record of the Tamara Greene sought by plaintiffs' counsel."
Raimi said the DMC could do further checking if the social security number or date of birth provided in 2008 was not correct.
Judge gives city, Kilpatrick 7 days to turn over slain dancer's records
Detroit News
January 19, 2010
Detroit -- Foot-dragging will not be tolerated in connection with a lawsuit brought against the city of Detroit by the family of a slain exotic dancer, a federal judge has warned.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen has given the city and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick seven days to turn over records sought in connection with the lawsuit brought by the family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
"In light of the disturbing trend ... that at least certain of the defendants appear to be consistently failing to provide timely responses to discovery requests ... the court cautions the parties and their counsel that any further failures to provide timely and appropriate responses to discovery requests will be met with escalating rounds of sanctions, up to and including dismissal of claims or the entry of judgment," Rosen said in an order issued late Friday.
The judge granted three "motions to compel" production of certain records filed by Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer representing Greene's family.
Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
She had been linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
Her family is suing the city, Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her still unsolved murder for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
The federal lawsuit was filed in 2005 and has yet to come to trial.
Records sought include e-mail, correspondence, 911 tapes, police personnel files, city communication records, Detroit Fire Department response records and other documents.
James C. Thomas, a lawyer for the former mayor, said in December Kilpatrick has agreed to provide the records he has and Yatooma did not need to file the motion.
Cox questioned in dancer lawsuit
Detroit News
January 26, 2010
Detroit -- Attorney General Mike Cox has completed seven hours of questioning in a federal lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer, but a lawyer said Monday he still has more questions.
Witnesses in civil lawsuits can only be questioned under oath for seven hours without a court order to extend the deposition.
Norman Yatooma, a lawyer for the family of dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, questioned Cox for about 3 1/2 hours Dec. 11 and for another 3 1/2 hours Monday.
"I've done my seven hours," Cox said as he left the courthouse. "If the court wants anything more out of me, I'll be here to provide it."
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen last week denied a request from Yatooma to extend the deposition. But he said Yatooma could make a new request if he still had specific questions he wanted to ask after the seven hours were used up.
Yatooma said he plans to make the request, though "we're very happy with what we got today."
Rosen has ordered Cox and Yatooma not to talk about the deposition.
Greene, who was linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in fall of 2002, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing the city, Kilpatrick and other defendants, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her still-unsolved slaying for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is not a defendant and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored Manoogian Mansion party in 2003 and declared it an urban legend. He did not investigate Greene's killing.
Judge orders Detroit to turn over records in stripper case
Detroit News
January 28, 2010
Detroit -- A federal judge today ordered the city of Detroit to turn over additional records to an attorney representing the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
Greene, who was linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing the city, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her still unsolved murder for political reasons.
The defendants deny the allegations.
Today, U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen gave the city until Feb. 4 to turn over records including:
"Run sheets," activity logs or other records related to Greene's shooting.
Certain other activity logs of the Detroit police and the emergency medical services division of the fire department, with the caveat that any medical information and patient names are for attorneys' eyes only.
Certain inter-office communications between Christine Beatty, who was chief of staff to Kilpatrick, and three current or former top police officials, including former Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
The personnel file of James Tolbert, who was then a Detroit police commander and is now a deputy chief.
Detroit EMS records for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday between Sept. 1, 2002 and Nov. 30, 2002.
City contracts with wireless cellular or text messaging service providers.
Written material related to Gary Brown, Harold Nelthrope and Walt Harris, three former officers who sued the city and Kilpatrick for whistle-blower violations.
Police overtime requests from Sept. 1, 2002 to Oct. 31, 2002.
Whalen also told the city to turn over to Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma, who represents Greene's family, certain computer data tapes "as soon as technically possible."
He denied a request for police and fire dispatch logs from Sept. 1, 2002 to Nov. 30, 2002, based on the city's assertions that such records do not exist. But he told the city to certify that "it has made a diligent and good faith search for the records."
Whalen denied Yatooma's request for e-mails for all city employees for specified time periods as "overly broad and excessively burdensome."
Last year, judges pored through hundreds of thousands of city text messages that were filed with the court under seal before determining that 36 of them might be relevant to the lawsuit. The contents of those 36 messages have not been revealed.
The city and Kilpatrick were earlier ordered to turn over records in the case. Yatooma recently filed a motion for default judgment, saying the records Kilpatrick provided were incomplete and the city provided no response by the court-ordered deadline.
Cox tells court he can't find his home phone records for stripper lawsuit
Detroit News
March 8, 2010
Detroit -- Attorney General Mike Cox can't turn over his home phone records in connection with a lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer because he doesn't remember and can't find out what phone company he used in 2003, a federal judge was told today.
Norman Yatooma, the attorney for the family of dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, has requested records of phone calls between Cox and four others from around the time in 2003 when Cox investigated a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion that allegedly occurred in the fall of 2002.
Frank Monticello, an attorney for Cox, told U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen that Cox has provided records from his office phone and his personal cell phone.
But officials in Cox's office haven't been able to determine what company provided Cox's home phone service in Livonia in 2003, despite seeking assistance from both the criminal division and the public service commission division, Monticello said.
Greene, who was linked to the rumored party, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing the city, Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation into Greene's still unsolved killing for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations. The suit was filed in 2005.
Yatooma has subpoenaed records of calls between Cox and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, former Detroit Corporation Counsel Ruth Carter, former Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan, and former Kilpatrick top aide Conrad Mallett, Whalen was told today.
Cox thought it was AT&T, but it turns out it wasn't, Monticello said. There were about 60 companies providing home phone service in Livonia at that time and the three biggest ones say they don't have any Cox phone records, he said.
Whalen questioned whether Cox's office would not be able to find such home phone service information if it was conducting a drug investigation.
"We used all the powers of our agency," Monticello said.
After the hearing, Yatooma described Cox's claims as "pretty incredible."
"It's going to make the criminals in our state feel quite comfortable," Yatooma said.
Whalen reserved judgment on whether to order Cox to sign a waiver so Yatooma can go directly to the phone carriers to seek the records. Both the motion related to the phone records and Cox's response were filed under seal, but parts of their contents were revealed at a motion hearing today.
After investigating the rumored Manoogian party, Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, declared it an "urban legend."
Whalen also heard arguments today that the Greene family should be awarded judgment in their lawsuit because of repeated foot-dragging in producing records by the city of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
He refused to award a default but gave the city 14 days to hire a contractor to recover 911 tapes from around the time of the rumored party.
"There is clearly a pattern of disregard concerning the city's duties to gather, preserve and produce relevant evidence to the court and to plaintiffs," Yatooma said in a January court filing asking that the city and Kilpatrick be found in default.
911 transcripts ordered in stripper case
Detroit News
March 9, 2010
Detroit -- A federal judge on Monday ordered the city of Detroit to hire a contractor to recover and transcribe 911 tapes from around the time of a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen gave the city 14 days to produce the transcripts, sought in connection with a lawsuit brought by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
"It needs to get done," Whalen said of producing the long-sought transcripts.
Greene was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. According to court records, Greene may have been assaulted at the rumored 2002 party by Carlita Kilpatrick, the wife of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Greene's family is suing the city, Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation into Greene's still unsolved killing for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Robert Zawideh, an attorney for Greene's family, told Whalen the city should be found in default and lose the lawsuit because of foot-dragging in producing records. Whalen rejected the call, but stepped up pressure on the city.
John Schapka, an attorney for the city, said he located a contractor who can recover and transcribe 911 tapes from the fall of 2002. The work could be costly and take a couple of days, he told the judge.
Zawideh said outside court the tapes were initially sought during investigations into the rumored party by Attorney General Mike Cox and the Michigan State Police in 2003. State Police Detective Mark Krebs testified in a deposition that he and other investigators were about to leave Detroit police headquarters with a cache of 911 tapes when they were stopped by top police officials. Krebs testified the tapes were left in a sealed box, later found with the seal broken and tapes missing.
Also Monday, Whalen was told Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, can't turn over his home phone records in connection with the lawsuit because he doesn't remember and can't find out what phone company he used in 2003.
Norman Yatooma, the lead attorney for Greene's family, subpoenaed records of phone calls between Cox and four others from around the time Cox investigated the party and declared it an "urban legend."
Yatooma wants records of calls between Cox and Kilpatrick, former Detroit Corporation Counsel Ruth Carter, former Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan, and former Kilpatrick aide Conrad Mallett.
Frank Monticello, an attorney for Cox, told Whalen that Cox has provided records from his office phone and his personal cell phone and those records include calls to Carter and "maybe one to Mike Duggan."
But officials in Cox's office haven't been able to determine what company provided Cox's home phone service in Livonia in 2003, despite seeking assistance from both the criminal division and the Public Service Commission division, Monticello said.
Cox thought it was AT&T but it turns out it wasn't, Monticello said. There were about 60 companies providing home phone service in Livonia at that time and the three biggest ones say they don't have any Cox phone records, he said.
Whalen questioned whether Cox's office would not be able to find such home phone service information if it was conducting a drug investigation.
"We used all the powers of our agency," Monticello said.
After the hearing, Yatooma described Cox's claims as "pretty incredible."
"It's going to make the criminals in our state feel quite comfortable," Yatooma said.
Whalen reserved judgment on whether to order Cox to sign a waiver so Yatooma can go directly to the phone carriers to seek the records. Both the motion related to the phone records and Cox's response were filed under seal, but parts of their contents were revealed at the motion hearing.
Cox aide may testify in stripper case
Lawyer says ex-assistant AG may have information on probe of rumored party
Detroit News
March 12, 2010
Detroit -- A new potential witness has emerged in the Tamara Greene case -- one a lawyer for the slain stripper's family says has important information about Attorney General Mike Cox's investigation of a rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
She is Brooke Jordan, formerly known as Brooke Liszak, who worked as an assistant attorney general in the special litigation division of Cox's office before moving to Arizona several years ago.
"We believe she worked closely with Attorney General Cox and will have important information as to whether and why his investigation was compromised," Greene family attorney Norman Yatooma said Thursday.
Yatooma made his comments after attorney Mayer Morganroth filed a motion in federal court seeking to quash the deposition of Jordan and three other potential witnesses subpoenaed by Yatooma: ex-Detroit first lady Carlita Kilpatrick; father of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Bernard N. Kilpatrick; and former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver.
Greene, linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing the city, Kilpatrick, and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed a probe of her unsolved killing for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored party in 2003, personally interviewed Kilpatrick, and declared the party an "urban legend." Some Michigan State Police investigators complained Cox shut down his investigation too soon.
Morganroth represents Christine Beatty, Kwame Kilpatrick's former chief of staff and a defendant in the Greene lawsuit.
"I can't say," Morganroth said when asked Thursday about Jordan's connection to the case. "There's a gag order."
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen has instructed attorneys to limit their public comments and required depositions and most new filings in the case be sealed. Rosen has justified the unusual level of secrecy by saying he does not want to compromise an ongoing Detroit police investigation of Greene's murder.
Jordan did not respond to an e-mail message sent to her Facebook page. John Sellek, a Cox spokesman, said that "seven years later, not one first-hand witness can substantiate the rumors."
In attempting to quash subpoenas seeking the depositions of Jordan, Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick, and Oliver, Morganroth said Yatooma is violating commitments to limit the number of depositions he would take. Yatooma said at a Jan. 29 status conference he no longer planned to depose Bernard Kilpatrick or Oliver, Morganroth said in the court filing.
Jordan hasn't appeared on any of Yatooma's witness lists and was "never even identified as a person having knowledge in response to any discovery request issued by defendants," Morganroth said.
Morganroth did not cite any specific arguments against the Carlita Kilpatrick deposition, which Yatooma is trying to schedule in Texas, where the Kilpatricks now live.
Cox fails to file motion to unseal Greene deposition
AG doesn't file motion as spokesman said he would
Detroit News
March 16, 2010
Detroit -- Seven weeks after giving testimony in the Tamara Greene case, Attorney General Mike Cox has not moved to unseal the transcript of his deposition, as a spokesman said he would.
Cox was deposed over two days in the lawsuit brought by the family of Greene, an exotic dancer who used the stage name "Strawberry" and was linked to a rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in Detroit in the fall of 2002.
Greene was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city officials, alleging they obstructed her homicide investigation for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is not a defendant and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored party in 2003 and declared it an "urban legend." He didn't investigate Greene's killing.
Cox said he would prefer to give his testimony in public.
"Over the attorney general's objections, it's my understanding that the court is going to seal his deposition," Cox attorney Frank Monticello said at a hearing in November.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said, "I will seal his deposition initially," but "if the attorney general wants it unsealed, I'll entertain a motion to unseal."
During the first day of Cox's deposition in December, his spokesman John Sellek said Cox would make a motion to unseal the deposition.
But when Cox left the federal courthouse at the end of the deposition on Jan. 25 and was asked about unsealing his deposition, he said: "We argued that," but "the judge said no." No motion to unseal the deposition has been filed.
Sellek didn't return calls Monday asking whether Cox intends to ask for the documents to be unsealed.
Sellek has said that Cox, through his attorney, made it "very clear" to the judge he wanted the deposition transcript open before the judge ordered it sealed.
Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics newsletter, said Cox had managed the public doubts about his investigation of Kilpatrick's fabled party at the Manoogian by strong public statements and visits to newspaper editorial boards, where he convinced public image-makers that all was fine.
"Seemingly, he did all the right things to indicate total transparency, nothing to hide. This seems to run counter to all of that. ...
Kilpatrick's wife, father to give deposition in stripper case
Detroit News
March 23, 2010
Detroit -- A federal judge today refused to quash subpoenas sent to the wife and father of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in a federal lawsuit related to the killing of a slain exotic dancer.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen ruled that Carlita Kilpatrick and Bernard N. Kilpatrick can be questioned under oath by a lawyer for the family of slain dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, as can Jerry Oliver, a former Detroit police chief.
But Rosen quashed a deposition subpoena issued to Brooke Jordan, a former assistant attorney general who now lives in Arizona.
Rosen made his rulings after asking the media to leave his courtroom and hearing arguments from lawyers behind closed doors.
Exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, who was linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing the former mayor and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation of Greene's still unsolved murder for political reasons.
An element of the party rumor, repeated in court records filed in the case, is that Carlita Kilpatrick assaulted Greene at the party.
Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Rosen asked lawyers in the case to submit written replies by April 9 to a letter he received today from the Detroit Free Press asking that hearings in the case and documents filed in the case be kept open.
In closing today's hearing and requiring that documents be filed, at least initially, under seal, Rosen cited "the very real concern the court has of this case spiraling out of control to adversely impact the ongoing homicide investigation."
Rosen said he is also concerned about impinging on the privacy rights of people who are not parties to the case, but whose names are mentioned in court filings. In some cases, even the privacy rights of people who are parties to the case need to be considered, he said.
He said he later may make a full or partial transcript of today's hearing public.
Mayer Morganroth, an attorney for former Kilpatrick chief of staff Christine Beatty, another defendant in the case, filed a motion to quash the Carlita Kilpatrick and other depositions, arguing Yatooma, the attorney for Greene's family, is trying to take more depositions than he promised he would.
Yatooma said March 11 that Jordan, who lives in Arizona, is believed to have important information about Attorney General Mike Cox's investigation of the rumored Manoogian party and whether or how that investigation was compromised.
An attorney for Jordan made arguments behind closed doors today, and an attorney for Cox was also present. Rosen gave no reason for quashing the subpoena seeking Jordan's deposition in the case.
Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the party in 2003 and declared it an "urban legend." He did not investigate Greene's killing and is not a defendant in the Greene lawsuit.
Rosen also denied a request from James C. Thomas, an attorney for Kwame Kilpatrick, to withdraw from the case. Thomas said outside court he sought to withdraw not because of unpaid legal bills by the city of Detroit but because he has a trial starting April 1 in the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club case that is expected to last two months.
Why is Vincent Smothers being treated differently from other confessed killers?
Detroit Examiner
April 5, 2010
This commentary was prompted by an article in today's Detroit Free Press, available at www.freep.com, entitled 'Family slams courts, Worthy as murder case drags on with delays.' The article dealt with the frustration of victim Rose Cobb's relatives with the criminal justice system. It is not difficult to sympathize with them.
Smothers confessed in 2008 that he shot Cobb in a CVS parking lot after being promised $10,000 by her husband, then a DPD police sergeant. His trial for Cobb's murder is to be the first of several trials involving a total of eight murders. Yet after all this time, a date for the trial hasn't been set.
A judge has already declined to throw out Smothers' confession, so why the delay in a case that would seem to be a slam dunk? The Free Press article offers an explanation for some of the delay, including the need for a psychiatric exam following a botched suicide attempt. Yet Smothers has been pronounced fit for trial, so why has no date been set?
What really piqued my interest about the Freep article was the assertion by the prosecutor that part of the delay was due to plea bargaining sessions with Smothers. This did not really come as a surprise; I have long suspected that Smothers knows more than he told investigator Ira Todd back in '08. Some of this information is very sensitive. According to Ira Todd's civil case against the city and certain key officials, he was demoted by the brass while pursuing leads generated during his interrogation of Smothers.
Now we have a new mayor and police chief, and a prosecutor who would like to get inside Smothers' head no matter where the information leads them. Among other things the prosecutor would like to know are who hired him to kill the drug dealers, what relationship, if any did he have with Kwame Kilpatrick, and does he know who shot Tamara Greene.
But the plea negotiations predictably went nowhere because the prosecution has nothing meaningful to offer Smothers. They could offer a sentence deal giving Smothers the chance of parole, but Charlie Manson will get parole before Smothers ever would. And all the other cases will involve charges of first degree murder, so a plea in the Cobb case wouldn't do Smothers much good.
Consider this also: if Smothers were given a deal covering all his murder cases, the citizens of this city would not be happy about it. Also, Smothers may keep his mouth shut out of concern he could face reprisals in prison.
In short, Smothers may have some valuable information locked in his head, but there would seem no workable way to get at it. So let's stop coddling the man and set a trial date.
Explosive Testimony Released In Greene Case
2 New Witnesses Come Forward
Click On Detroit
April 12, 2010
DETROIT – Documents just released in the Tamara Greene homicide investigation could further fuel a multimillion-dollar lawsuit that claims former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials tried to cover up the exotic dancer's death.
A 911 dispatcher who worked the fall 2002 night when Greene was allegedly assaulted by Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, while dancing at a rumored but never proven party at the Manoogian Mansion, and a former high-ranking retired Detroit police officer who said he was threatened for investigating the cold case have come forward.
Sandy Cardenas said she received several "high-priority" calls to dispatch police officers to a disturbance at the Manoogian Mansion the night of the alleged party. The responding officers told Cardenas that they were prevented from going into the mansion and that they went to Kilpatrick's other home at the time to pick up Carlita to help them gain entry.
"Once Carlita got inside the mansion, the disturbance heated up immediately and an assault took place," said Cardenas in a sworn affidavit.
Cardenas said a number of police dispatchers were at the mansion for several hours, and it caused backups in other parts of the city because many of the cruisers were tied up.
Cardenas said the next night she came to work and all the 911 tapes of the run had been removed.
The midnight dispatcher told Cardenas that an Internal Affairs Officer took the tapes.
Officer Demoted, Forced Into Early Retirement For Investigating Greene
Sgt. Odell Godbold Sr., who worked with the Detroit Police Department for almost 30 years, was in charge of the DPD's Cold Case Squad when he was assigned the Tamara Greene cold case in 2004.
He said that he was removed from the case a short time later, demoted and forced into early retirement in 2006 after he discovered that an active-duty female Detroit police officer named Peytra Williams danced alongside Greene at the party and that she too was assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick.
Williams told Godbold, "She was scared and didn't know what to do," he said in the affidavit.
Godbold said that current Deputy Chief James Tolbert, and then-Assistant Police Chief Walter Martin and Inspector Tony Saunders told him to not "let anyone see the Greene file and (not to) talk about it."
Godbold said after Tolbert and the others talked to him, he was ordered by William Rice, inspector of the Major Crimes Bureau, to hand over the Greene files, which he did.
A few days later, Martin said to Godbold, "You dumb mother-(expletive), I told you no one sees that file," he said in the affidavit.
A few days later, Rice was removed and replaced by Saunders. Tolbert was put in charge of the homicide section.
Kilpatrick eventually promoted Saunders to deputy chief and Tolbert to commander.
Godbold said in 2005, the cold case was abruptly shut down and his computer was confiscated.
Shortly thereafter, Godbold said he was forced to either take early retirement or "be a part of a perceived conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the Tamara Greene's homicide investigation."
After his retirement, Godbold took a position with CrimeStoppers, a nonprofit organization that forwards anonymous tips to police departments.
He said during that time he saw many tips regarding the Greene murder investigation come in and they were forwarded to the Detroit Police Department.
"I never saw a vast majority of that information during the time I investigated her murder," said Godbold.
Greene, 27, was shot to death a few months after the party in a drive-by shooting.
Birmingham Attorney representing Greene's family, Norman Yatooma, has asked a judge to unseal documents in the civil lawsuit.
Yatooma said publicity about the case helps produce tips about Greene's still-unsolved slaying.
He says confidence in the court system would be enhanced if U.S. Chief District Judge Gerald Rosen lifts a gag order on attorneys in the case and opens future court hearings to the public.
The judge says publicity could harm a new investigation.
Police officer who moonlighted as a stripper testifies in Greene case
Detroit News
April 20, 2010
Detroit -- The mystery woman said to have danced at Kilpatrick's fabled Manoogian stripper party quietly gave her story today.
Paytra Williams, a Detroit police officer who moonlighted as an exotic dancer under the name Almond Joy, is expected to testify at a deposition held at her lawyer's downtown office that she did not dance at the never-proven party, despite long running innuendo.
"She has been told that her name was used at an emergency room for someone who was allegedly beaten at a so-called party back in 2002," said her lawyer, Marvin Barnett. "But she maintains she never danced anywhere near the place and never received any bill from any hospital."
But former homicide Sgt. Odell Godbold Sr. said that during his investigation of the murder in 2004, he learned that Williams had performed at the party.
"She informed me that she was scared and didn't know what to," Godbold said in a court affidavit, filed earlier this month.
William's deposition is the latest development in a lawsuit against Kilpatrick and the city by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, who also was said to have danced at the party with a number of other women and may have been beaten by Kilpatrick's wife after she burst into the mansion and caught her husband in a compromising position.
Norman Yatooma, the lawyer representing Greene's family in a $150 million lawsuit, contends her murder investigation was quashed because it got too close to city hall.
Williams' name has been linked the party since 2003. Back then, Williams promised state police investigators she would submit to a polygraph test, but eventually backed out and hired a lawyer, according to investigators' notes obtained by The Detroit News.
While moonlighting as a stripper, Williams also was assigned to the office of Jerry Oliver, then the chief of police.
Sometime after Kilpatrick fired Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, head of police internal affairs, who was investigating the Manoogian party and wrongdoing by the mayor's inner circle, Williams was transferred to the Kilpatrick's executive protection unit.
By the time Kilpatrick was released from jail in February 2008, Williams was working in the vice squad, where she and a half-dozen others were placed on desk duty in March 2009 pending an investigation that they falsified prostitution arrest reports and shook down club owners. Williams has returned to full duty although disciplinary action is pending in the vice squad investigation.
Barnett said he believes that Williams knew Greene, but he doesn't know to what extent.
According to retired homicide detective Mike Carlisle, who investigated the re-opened Greene case in 2008, the women's paths never were far apart.
Both danced at the All-Star gentleman's club on Eight Mile Road, a hang out for all-stars of the Detroit underworld.
What is more, Carlisle said, the night Greene was killed she had stopped by the house of Joe Billingsley to pick up her boyfriend, Eric Mitchell.
Mitchell was in the car with Greene that evening when she was slain in a drive-by shooting. Mitchell survived.
Billingsley is the father of one of Williams' children.
Carlisle is scheduled to give his deposition Wednesday.
Review- Why haven't more accomplices been charged in Smother's killing spree?
Detroit Examiner
May 1, 2010
Why haven't other accomplices named by self-proclaimed hitman Vincent Smothers, most notably Ernest (Nemo) Davis, been charged with being accomplices in forthcoming trials?
For background, I began with the execution style killing of Rose Cobb . As you might recall, Cobb was shot in the head December 26, 2007 while husband DPD Sgt David Cobb was inside the store shopping.
Next spring Vincent Smothers confessed to the Cobb murder to officer Ira Todd, filling in information about the murder conspiracy. Sgt. Cobb contacted Sheila Black, who was having an affair with Cobb, to see who was willing to do his wife. She referred Cobb to her son Darzell, 20, to see who was available and he came up with 'V,' one of two street names for Smothers. Cobb then met with Darzell Black and Smothers to formulate a plan. Smothers was to receive $10,000 from Rose Cobb's life insurance policy for carrying out the hit.
Even Sgt Cobb was arrested briefly, until the prosecutor refused sign the warrant, claiming the only witnesses would probably take the fifth. But Cobb's troubles were just beginning. The DPD Chief Ella Bully-Cummings would successfully argue with the police commissioners that Cobb be suspended without pay during the investigation.
Cobb could not take the pressure and hanged himself in September, 2008.
Fast forward to the present. Smothers has been in jail for two years awaiting a trial date that never seems to be set, much the consternation and chagrin of Rose Cobb's relatives.
Think also on this: though future prosecutions await Smothers, other accomplices he claims to have used in the drug murders are, to my knowledge, walking around free, This includes Ernest Davis He is the brother of James Davis, a Detroiter who moved to Lexington, Ky. When James Davis wasn't dealing cocaine or screwing mortgage companies, he was boasting about having personal and professional relationships with then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
When Todd's investigation took him too close to the Davis clan, it was summarily quashed by the DPD brass, and Todd was demoted.
But the city has a new mayor and a new chief of police. Last fall Chief Warren Evans claimed the would put two matters at the top of his priorities list: Tamara Greene and Vincent Smothers. Yet to my knowledge Smother's named accomplice in some of the drug hits hasn't been formally indicted. Sure, as in the Cobb case, Kym Worthy will resist issuing an indictment if Smother's confession alone implicates Ernest Davis.
However some independent evidence exists. It is known the Smothers and Davis went to Lexington to hide out after a hit. Smothers and Davis were witnessed leaving the scene of a murder in a late model Cadillac with Kentucky plates. An informant claimed the vehicle may have been owned by James Davis.
The Cadillac was later found burned with the homicide victim still in it.
Though James Davis is looking at 30 years for wire fraud, I have found no reference to any investigation into his brother Ernest's collaboration with Smothers in the drug hits. If the DPD isn't looking into this, it should be.
Worthy rips probe of Greene slaying
Investigation of dancer's case 'woefully inadequate,' Wayne County prosecutor says
Detroit News
May 12, 2010
Detroit -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says the Detroit police investigation into the murder of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was "woefully inadequate."
Worthy made the comment in a letter to Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who has scheduled a hearing today on whether certain sealed records in the case should be made public.
"It is fair to say that the initial investigation into her murder was woefully inadequate," Worthy said in a letter filed Monday. "This is not the time, nor the proper forum to discuss the shortcomings of the work of any police agency or the possible reasons for the inadequate investigation."
A Detroit police spokesman declined comment.
Greene, a stripper linked to a rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed her murder probe for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
In the letter, Worthy urged Rosen not to hamper the investigation by unsealing sensitive records. Rosen has cited the need to protect the homicide investigation, as well as privacy concerns.
The Detroit News and other media organizations are arguing for more openness in keeping with longstanding principles that court records and proceedings are presumed to be public absent a compelling reason.
"My concern is that at a time when this investigation is finally proceeding as it should have years ago, that this progress could be hampered by the improper disclosure of information crucial to the case," said Worthy, whose office is investigating as part of a multi-jurisdictional task force that includes Detroit police and the FBI.
Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham attorney representing Greene's family, said the murder investigation was inadequate because it was "deliberately and unlawfully terminated." It's alleged the Greene murder file was moved to the police "cold case" unit much sooner than normal.
Cox deposition remains sealed
Judge rules testimony from attorney general in stripper's case will not be made public
Detroit News
May 13, 2010
Detroit -- Potentially "salacious" comments given in depositions filed in a civil case involving a slain exotic dancer will remain sealed in U.S. District Court, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, answering calls by the media to unseal records in the case, said assertions by some that he was handling the case in secret were false.
Rosen said he has kept certain court filings sealed because he is trying to protect the investigation into Tamara Greene's death -- and protect the privacy rights of others, who are mentioned in the filings but are unrelated to the case.
Greene, a stripper linked to a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city and police officials, alleging they obstructed her murder investigation for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican who is running for governor, may have been the big winner in the ruling. His deposition in the case was the most high-profile of the sealed items and Rosen said there were questions raised in the deposition that were based on "unsubstantiated rumors" that could affect people unrelated to the Greene case.
In a statement released Wednesday, Cox said: "My office never investigated the (Greene) murder ... that has always been with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and the Detroit Police Department," Cox said.
"Despite that fact, last November, I volunteered to be deposed in an open court room before a judge, the press and the public. The judge knows my position has never changed, but this is his court room and he is in charge."
City has more woes than shooting cases against DPD
Other suits loom due to Greene investigation
Detroit Examiner
May 27, 2010
Part of the reason for the 2003 consent judgements that established a federal monitorship over the DPD was the high rate of civilian shootings by the police Yet according to the Detroit News, the city has paid out in excess of $39 million to shooting victims during the period betwen 7/06 and 6/09.
Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown has said that when added to the $3 million deficit, lawsuits have become a "vicious cycle."
Presumably this would include the most recent filing, Estate of Aiyana Jones v Detroit, which some legal observors value in the seven-figure range, though discovery is just beginning. Parenthetically, Mayor Bing's rant that Jones lawyer Geoffrey Fieger is only interested in the money is way off base. Fieger lives modestly for a successful trial lawyer and is motivated far more by his quest for justice.
Yet other civil actions are left over from the Kilpatrick era and several of them are worth keeping an eye on. They are primarily employee/whistleblower's cases, and given the value the Wayne County jury pool places on employment, they can bring in big verdicts. Just ask Gary Brown- he of the "vicious cycle" comment above- who shared in the $8.4 million dollar settlement that brought Kilpatrick down.
Here are three such cases that have this writer's attention:
1. Estate of Tamara Greene v Detroit- The legal basis of this complaint is that Kilpatrick and high-ranking police officials quashed the investigation of the April 30, 2003 gangland killing of Greene, pariicularly when Kilpatrick's name came up. Greene attorney Norman Yatooma has tried with mixed results to prove the existence of a fall, 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion during which Greene performed as a stripper, only to be assaulted by late-comer Carlita Kilpatrick.
It is also alleged that Attorney General Mike Cox prevented state police from fully investigating the party. Many of the discovery documents, including Cox's deposition, are under seal. Despite problems with his case, Yatooma claims he only needs to prove a cover up, even if he can't prove there was a party or an assault, and even if he never shows who killed Tamara Greene. That may be accurate in a purely legal sense, yet juries are very big on motive and context.
Yatooma got a boost recently from Kym Worthy, who wrote in another forum that the original Greene investigation was "woefully inadequate."
2. Doug Bayor v Detroit- Yatooma is also representing Bayor, a paramedic who filed a whistleblower's lawsuit against the city just this Wednesday. Bayor told WDIV-4 that despite excellent performance reviews, he was fired for seeing, hearing and saying too much about a beat-up woman taken to the ER, allegedly on the night of the party.
After he talked with an investigator that night he was targeted by city officials, ultimately told by a deputy chief fire commissioner that he was suspended. "That will teach you to keep your mouth shut," the commissioner told him.
Officially, Bayor was fired for the "immoral act" of removing a cable from his ambulance that in fact belonged to the hospital.
3. Todd v Detroit- Ira Todd is a retired DPD homicide investigator who worked with the prestigeous Major Crimes Bureau in 2008. He had a reputation as a skilled interrogator, and had gotten self-proclaimed hit man Vincent Smothers to implicate himself in several murders.
Smothers claimed to have sometimes used an accomplice named Ernest 'Nemo' Davis. Todd learned that Nemo was a brother to James W. Davis, a former Detroiter who had moved to Lexington, Ky. James Davis was a cocaine dealer who claimed involvement in a big real estate project in Detroit. He also bragged of having a personal and professional relationship with Kwame Kilpatrick.
When his superiors found out what Todd was looking into, he was busted down to a desk job answering telephones.
So Detroit is in the cross-hairs of several potentially big number-generating lawsuits, not all the result of civilian death meted out by the DPD.
Judge in Greene civil action demands parties depose Kwame Kilpatrick, others by July 30
Detroit Examiner
July 8, 2010
Judge Gerald Rosen yesterday ordered the attorneys in Greene v City of Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick to meet next Monday at the federal courthouse to hash out a schedule for taking the remaining depositions, including that of Kilpatrick.
The deadline for discovery in the case is July 30. It is highly unusual to have the deposition of a defendant in a civil case untaken and unscheduled so near the end of discovery. As a former author and lecturer on the subject, I can tell you that pretrial discovery is the most important phase of a civil proceeding, including trial. Without depositions of key witnesses, the attorneys would not have any clue how to prepare for their trial testimony.
Depositions are not yet scheduled for Kilpatrick, Carlita Kilpatrick, Kwame's father Bernard Kilpatrick, his former Chief Staff and paramour Christine Beatty and two others. The Greene family's lawyer, Norman Yatooma, insisted in a court filing that defense lawyers have stonewalled him on scheduling these deps, hoping to run out the discovery time.
US District Judge Rosen does not want to give the attorneys more time. In an order issued yesterday he said: "Although counsel may find it difficult to conclude their discovery efforts before the looming deadline, it is their obligation to do so, and the court has no intention of relieving them of this obligation."
The judge also declined to issue a schedule, but will put any schedule that comes out of the Monday conference into the form of a court order.
It promises to be a contentious session, but a federal magistrate will be around to deal with any snags.
Tamara Greene's shooting death on April 30, 2003, has become the most notorious cold case of the new century. The theory of Yatooma's civil case is that the initial police investigation into the murder was quashed by the defendants, preventing Greene's family from filing wrongful death actions against the killers. That theory got an unexpected boost when Prosecutor Kym Worthy, in an effort to keep certain discovery documents under seal, told Judge Rosen in a letter that the original investigation had been "woefully inadequate."
What the Greene family will accomplish in the is suit is speculative. Their evidence of a rumored autumn, 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion, at which Greene allegedly performed as a stripper, is not very good. Plus, the value of a wrongful death lawsuit against the killer is difficult to quantify.
What emerges from Kwame Kilipatrick and the other deponents will likely be self-serving; even so, Judge Rosen may order some or all of the deps put under seal.
The civil trial is expected to occur early next year.
Manoogian mansion scandal involving a stripper and Mike Cox
WOOD TV8 News
Jul 26, 2010
Should the Kilpatricks be excused from giving deposition?
Detroit Examiner
July 26, 2010
Detroit, MI - Carlita Kilpatrick and father of the former mayor of Detroit, Bernard Kilpatrick filed a request in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Sunday in response to deposition requests by a lawyer for the family of the stripper, Tamara Greene, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in April 2003.
In their request, they’re asking the judge to quash the subpoena. Both Kilpatricks has given reason for not wanting to be deposed. Carlita stated that her testimony could be incriminating information against her husband, who is in a federal prison in Milan on state probation violation charges.
Meanwhile Kwame’s father, Bernard wants to invoke his 5th Amendment privileges for self incrimination reasons.
The attorney for Carlita Kilpatrick stated, “Due to the ongoing criminal case in the state of Michigan and the pending federal indictment of her spouse ... in a separate federal tax matter, any information given could adversely affect that matter.”
The Kilpatricks were to be deposed in Texas on Aug. 5-6. If U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen decides that the Kilpatricks must be deposed, they asked that the proceeding not be recorded.
Should the Kilpatricks be deposed? Everyone in their right mind want to defend their loved one, but consider the family of the victim…Tamara Greene, they want justice as well. Where is the justice to her family? Not siding with one person or the other, right is right and wrong is wrong.
Too many times the Kilpatricks, has slid through the hoop. This time everyone should hear exactly what happened. Since the city of Detroit has footed his bill this long, then they should be entitled to know.
It took Kwame’s violation of probation to finally put an end to the everlasting brick wall build around him to come tumbling down, before his other misdeeds were brought into the light. How much creditability do the other Kilpatricks have? I was taught birds of a feather, flocks together.
When being deposed if the truth is told, then the Kilpatricks shouldn’t have anything to hide.
He said, he said: Mike Cox denies Manoogian Mansion party affidavit from witness with criminal past
MLive
Jul 27, 2010
With one week to go before Michigan's gubernatorial primary, Attorney General Mike Cox finds himself again denying accusations he attended a long-rumored party thrown by then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002. WDIV, the Detroit Free Press and Fox 2 report attorney Norman Yatooma has obtained a sworn affidavit from a motorcycle club member who says he worked security at the party and saw Cox receive a lap dance and Carlita Kilpatrick assault stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
Yatooma is representing Greene's family in a civil suit against Kilpatrick and the City of Detroit, alleging local leaders conspired to block an investigation into her murder, which occurred several months after the rumored party.
The witness -- identified by the Free Press as Wilson Kay Jr. -- is the first person to sign an affidavit confirming his attendance at the party despite extensive investigations by the city, Cox and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. Furthermore, the newspaper reports he failed to show up for a recent deposition scheduled by Yatooma at which he would have faced cross-examination.
Update:
WDIV also reports that the witness, who filed for police protection on Monday after receiving death threats, has a lengthy criminal record. His background includes convictions for breaking and entering, attempted arson, and weapons charges.
Cox repeatedly has denied attending the party or blocking the investigation, and he continued that defense Monday while suggesting the timing of the release smacks of political theatrics.
"I've never been inside the Manoogian Mansion," he told Fox 2. "The closest I've ever came to the place is a bunch of us at 16 in high school drove by it when Coleman Young lived there. Where was this guy eight years ago when Gary Brown was looking at this? Where was he seven years ago when we were looking at it?"
Brown, a City Councilman and former deputy police chief who won a lawsuit against the city after claiming he was fired for asking questions about the rumored party, told the Free Press he doesn't believe Kay's claims are credible.
"Why does the mayor have to go out and hire a motorcycle gang for security when he has his own personal security detail?" he asked.
Recent polling suggests Cox is locked in a three-way race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination with U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and state Sen. Tom George are also in the running.
Beatty gives deposition in Greene case
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Jul 28, 2010
Mansion Party Depositions Under Way
Cox Fires Back After Allegations He Was At Manoogian Mansion Party
Click On Detroit
July 28, 2010
DETROIT – Depositions are under way for several high-ranking Detroit leaders in the investigation into the rumored-but-never-proven Manoogian Mansion party.
Former Detroit Police Chief Ella-Bully Cummings testified under oath Tuesday.
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, is set to be deposed Wednesday. Kilpatrick's deposition is planned for Thursday.
Carlita Kilpatrick and Bernard Kilpatrick are expected to give depositions in the Greene lawsuit in August.
They have asked a federal judge to quash a request to depose them. Their attorneys said they will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights during the deposition and Carlita Kilpatrick will use her spousal privileges against providing information against her husband.
Bully-Cummings' sworn testimony comes just one day after the Local 4 Defenders obtained a signed affidavit from a man who says he was hired to work security at the party.
Tamara Greene, a dancer known as Strawberry, was rumored to have been at the alleged party thrown by then mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002.
On April 30, 2003, Greene was in a car with her boyfriend on Detroit's west side when a gunman opened fire on their vehicle, killing Greene and wounding the boyfriend.
Kilpatrick has publicly denounced the party, saying, ?It never happened.?
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox also investigated the rumors and concluded that the party had ?all the earmarks for an urban legend.?
But sworn testimony by a Dearborn man, Wilson Kay, claims he was at the party and saw Cox there.
"I attended a party at the Manoogian Mansion in Detroit, Michigan, in 2002, at which I witnessed Kwame Kilpatrick, Bernard Kilpatrick, and Mike Cox in attendance ? Myself and others at my motorcycle club were hired to work security at the party,? the affidavit reads.
There are also statements that read Kay saw exotic dancers performing lap dances.
"I witnessed female exotic dancers present at the party who were performing for various persons in attendance, including Kwame Kilpatrick ? I saw Mike Cox getting a lap dance from one of the female exotic dancers while he was present at the party,? a line reads.
Kay's testimony also states he saw Kilpatrick?s wife, Carlita, arrive to the party unannounced and assault Greene.
During the party, Kwame Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, arrived unexpectedly and observed Tamara Greene performing a lap dance on Kwame Kilpatrick ? I then saw Carlita Kilpatrick punch Tamara Greene, causing Tamara Greene to fall onto a coffee table and to break the coffee table. Carlita Kilpatrick then grabbed a table leg from the broken coffee table and struck Tamara Greene once with the wooden table leg.?
"Finally someone coming forward and saying, 'Yes, I was at the party.' Kwame was there, Bernard was there and Tammy Greene was there and she took a severe beating at the hands of Carlita Kilpatrick," said Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene's family in a $150 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Detroit.
Yatooma's lawsuit claims Kilpatrick and high-ranking police obstructed the investigation into Greene's unsolved slaying because it would reveal the truth about the never-proven party.
"I have no reason at all to believe that he is not giving us absolute honest to God's truth, and he swore to it. He swore under oath," said Yatooma.
Attorney General Responds
Cox, who is running for governor of Michigan, called the timing of the testimony a move to negatively influence his campaign.
"It is absolutely ridiculous. Here we have 800,000 people without jobs and we have a last minute shot to try and influence an election and try to get more money out of the city. After eight years?" Cox said. "If there was a witness wouldn?t we think that Kym Worthy would find a witness? That the state police would have found a witness? Gary Brown and researching his lawsuit would have found a witness."
Yatooma said the timing is not political and has nothing to do with the elections. He said it's the federal courts that schedule the dates of the depositions, and that's why this affidavit is coming out now.
Cox said he won't be put back by the accusations.
"It's not a surprise, absolutely not a surprise. I'm a big boy, I'm a Marine, I can't take some shots. And at the end of the day, I'll let the people decide," Cox said. "I think people know that I can stand up. I?m a 21-year prosecutor and I've had cops that have stood up for me, and I'm pretty confident that at the end of the day, people will make the right choice."
T. Berry, a former Detroit Police lieutenant who investigated the Greene homicide case, said he agrees with Cox.
"I think it's ludicrous. I think it's phony baloney," he said.
Witness Has Criminal Background
Kay, 35, has a checkered criminal history.
1996: He pleaded guilty in Oakland County for breaking and entering and weapons charges.
1997: He was found guilty in Wayne County for attempted arson.
2001: He was found guilty of a weapons charge and possessing marijuana.
Local 4 has learned the Detroit Police Department arrested the witness multiple times between 1997 and 2004.
In June 2004, Kay was arrested on a felony warrant during a traffic stop and was taken back to the 12th precinct, where he, according to police "acted like he fainted" and was transported to the hospital.
Four months later, he filed a report saying police kicked him, broke his fingers, dragged him to a scout car and brought him to the hospital and when he woke up, he was back in his prison cell.
If it's found that Kay gave false testimony while under oath, he could face up to two years in prison.
Several attempts to contact Kay at his Dearborn house were unanswered. Dearborn police confirm that Kay had filed a request for police protection.
Cox's office also issued a statement Tuesday questioning prior testimony given by retired police dispatcher Sandra Cardenas, who claimed she dispatched police cars to a disturbance at the mayor's mansion in 2002.
"Eight years later, in the last hours before an election, again here comes (sic) more unsubstantiated claims," the statement reads. "In fact, a judge tossed out her testimony because she couldn't remember if she remembered. Ms. Cardenas repeatedly failed to name a single person who supposedly told her this information and could not name a single date. Even Gary Brown says all this last minute information is not true."
Mike Cox answers allegations on Kwame Kilpartick's party Manoogian Mansion charge
Detroit Examiner
July 28, 2010
Attorney General Mike Cox, candidate in the 2010 Gubernatorial primary, is answering the allegations by Wilson Kay, Jr., that he attended Kwame Kilpatrick's legendary 2002 stripper party at the Manoogian Mansion in Detroit.
Some call it legendary because it is has been the focus of so many reports and a police cover-up. Others call it legendary in the form of an urban legend.
It is alleged that a wild party at the mansion, the official residence of Detroit’s mayor, was a prelude to the murder of Tamara Greene. As Attorney General, Cox lead an investigation that determined there was no evidence the party ever took place.
Kay, a five-time convicted felon, claims that not only does Cox know there was a party - Cox was AT the party.
The allegations, one week prior to a hotly contested primary, were quickly heralded by those believing there was a party and denied as a political ploy by those that do not.
"These claims are absolutely false, and frankly, absurd,” says Cox in an official written statement. "It's no surprise that these ridiculous, false allegations come just days before the election; I fully expected this kind of thing.”
At the time of the party Cox was not the Attorney General but he had taken over the position by the time of the investigation.
“I have never stepped foot inside the Manoogian Mansion,” says Cox, “and I had never even met the mayor in 2002.”
Tom Berry, the retired Detroit Police Lieutenant that worked on the FBI investigation of the alleged incident, says, "For eight years, no one has come forward and all of a sudden a career criminal puts out a bunch of lies. This story being perpetrated by political thugs is complete nonsense. As a former Detroit police lieutenant on the violent crime task force, I worked case after case with Mike Cox and know he is a leader of integrity."
Kay’s convictions includes weapons, drug, and arson charges.
After a court-ordered scheduling session, the deps of Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick were scheduled for August 5 and 6 in Texas.
On Sunday, an attorney for the pair filed an 11th hour motion to quash the depositions. The motion is attributed to Ft Worth attorney Bobbie Gray Edmunds but after reading the motion I can tell that Edmunds didn't write it. It is less polished than Edmund's failed complaint to protect 'Carlita's' assets from being seized by Kym Worthy, and Edmund's name is mis-spelled.
I won't go into the details of the motion, which is rife with procedural objections, and constitutional concerns that could have been raised a long time ago. The most newsworthy argument is that, if the depositions are allowed, both Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick will plead the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination. The brief also mentions, in the case of Carlita Kilpatrick, the spousal privilege, but that doesn't mean she can't render testimony as a fact witness just because her husband is being sued; the privilege only protects communication between husband and wife, and Yatooma does not need to get into that.
But the Fifth Amendment? Remember that this civil action claims that Kwame Kilpatrick and the city obstructed the investigation of Tamara Greene's murder on April 30, 2003. Technically, Yatooma does not have to show a motive for that, but if he found one it would make the case an easier sell for a jury.
Yatooma would like to show that Tamara Greene danced at a party in the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002. So far the evidence for such a party is weak, but if there was one, Bernard Kilpatrick would have been there. So why shouldn't he be deposed? And if he is asked about the party, and he will be, how can he invoke the Fifth? He won't be asked about his consulting business, which is the only thing the feds find interesting about him. Bernard Kilpatrick's dep would give him a chance to deny, under oath, that the rumored party occurred. That would help his son, so why doesn't he want to do it?
Carlita's position is somewhat different. Yatooma will not only ask her if there was a party, but whether she came home unexpectedly and struck Tamara Greene with a baseball bat. WXYZ-7 has revealed that in the 7 1/2 years since the alleged party, Carlita has never consented to an interview about it. Since Carlita is not under investigation for anything, she could only legitimately invoke the Fifth in this case if she had indeed assaulted Tamara Greene. But if the party never happened, Carlita should not be reticent to put that on the record.
Prognosis: Discovery is to be liberally granted in a civil case, so the motion will accomplish little more than suggesting that Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick have something to hide. The deps will go forward, even if the dates may be moved and the depositions placed under seal. I doubt either dep will go more than an hour, or that anything useful to the plaintiff will come out. But the deposition statements will lock in the trial testimony of these witnesses, and invoking the Fifth may work in Yatooma's favor.
Cox memo criticizes 'smear attack'
Morning Sun, The (Mount Pleasant - Alma, MI)
July 28, 2010
LANSING (AP) - Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox's campaign on Tuesday attacked new allegations that he attended a rumored 2002 party at former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's official residence, calling the man who made the accusations a "liar" and pointing to his criminal record.
Cox campaign manager Stu Sandler sent a memo Tuesday to the attorney general's supporters questioning the timing of the allegations, which were made public one week before the primary election.
Cox is locked in a tight fight for the lead in the five-way contest and has had to deal repeatedly with questions about the rumored party, which never has been proven despite extensive police and media investigations, including one by Cox's office.
After that investigation was wrapped up in 2003, Cox said that the alleged party had "the earmarks of an urban legend." He now says he doesn't think the party occurred, but adds it wasn't his job to find out, only to determine if criminal activity took place.
He said after the new allegations surfaced Monday that he has never stepped foot in the Manoogian Mansion, the Detroit mayor's official residence. Cox was a Wayne County assistant prosecutor in 2002 and was elected state attorney general in November of that year.
Despite the lack of evidence that a party occurred, 35-year-old Dearborn resident Wilson Kay Jr. said in a July 13 written statement that he attended a party at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002 as part of a motorcycle club "hired to work security at the party." Although he doesn't give the exact date of the alleged party, he says Cox was there, along with Kilpatrick and others, and that exotic dancers were present.
Kay gave his rendition of events to Norman Yatooma, the attorney representing the family of Tamara Greene, a dancer who allegedly performed at the party. She was killed the following year in a drive-by shooting, and her family has filed a civil suit to prove Kilpatrick, high-ranking police and other city officials stifled an investigation into the slaying.
Kay said he saw female exotic dancers performing for Kilpatrick and others. He also says Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, arrived unexpectedly and punched Greene after seeing her perform a lap dance on the mayor.
Kay missed an appointment to give a deposition to Yatooma about his comments and to undergo questioning from the other side. He apparently doesn't want to give another statement.
"I have been able to reach him. However, he has not expressed his willingness to come in," Yatooma said Tuesday in a phone interview. "I interviewed him personally. I believe he's telling the truth."
Sandler blasted Kay's comments in the affidavit, details of which were first reported by WDIV-TV in Detroit on Monday.
"Yesterday, a five-time felon put out a string of lies based on supposed incidents from eight years ago," he said in the memo. The campaign released state police records showing Kay had convictions for weapons, drug and arson charges.
During the investigation by the attorney general's office, Cox issued 90 subpoenas, questioned nearly 120 witnesses and pored over 10,000 pages of documents; his investigation ended after five weeks.
At the time, Cox said his office only was looking into the alleged party and whether Kilpatrick's police bodyguards had crashed city vehicles while driving drunk and received overtime for hours not worked.
Mike Cox questions timing, attorney, witness linking him to Manoogian Mansion lap dance
MLive
Jul 28, 2010
With Michigan's gubernatorial primary quickly approaching, a leaked affidavit linking Attorney General Mike Cox to a long-rumored 2002 party hosted by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the Manoogian Mansion prompted the Republican candidate to criticize the timing, witness and attorney involved.
WDIV on Monday night first reported on the affidavit signed under oath by 35-year-old Dearborn resident Wilson Kay Jr., who said he worked for a motorcycle club that was hired to provide security at the party. In the statement, Kay said he saw Kilpatrick and Cox receive lap dances and witnessed Carlita Kilpatrick assault dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene with the leg of a broken table.
Attorney Norman Yatooma is representing Greene's family in a civil suit against the City of Detroit and Kilpatrick, alleging local officials conspired to block an investigation into her drive-by murder, which occurred the following year.
Cox repeatedly has denied attending the party or interfering with any investigation, and said Monday he has never been to the Manoogian Mansion.
After eight years and investigations by local, county, and state authorities, Kay is the first and only person to say he was at the party, and the Cox campaign was quick to point out he has a lengthy criminal track record, which includes convictions for breaking and entering, attempted arson, marijuana possession and carrying a concealed weapon.
Kay, who filed for a police protection order on Monday after reportedly receiving a death threat, also failed to show up for a recent deposition, but Yatooma says he may ask a federal judge to compel him to testify.
Cox and Yatooma appeared separately on WJR-AM 760 on Tuesday to discuss the case.
On whether Kay can be trusted in light of record, missing deposition
Cox: I don't think he wanted to commit perjury. You know, an affidavit, you can't ever be prosecuted for an affidavit, but if you swear under oath at a deposition, you absolutely can be. I don't know that he wanted to add felony conviction number six to his record.
Yatooma: When you're dealing with criminals, you often receive information about them from criminals. You may not like it, but that's the reality of it.
On the affidavit being leaked one week before the gubernatorial election
Cox: Mr. Yatooma is following a tried and true marketing ploy and it happens all across the country: Be the trial lawyer who fights "the man." And in this case, I'm "the man." And it gins up business and it gets his name in the paper. And a week from the election, this certainly gets his name in the paper. This affidavit was done July 13th. The reality is there will be motions -- the deposition cutoff is as I understand it a week from now. There's not going to be any motions filed for a number of weeks. This would have been, in a normal case, attached at that time. But Mr. Yatooma can read the calender, and he knows what's going on.
Yatooma: This has nothing to do with the primary, or quite frankly Mike Cox. I'm not a big fan of Mike Cox, there's no secret about that, but this isn't about Cox. It's about Kwame Kilpatrick and the City of Detroit. The date's are driven not by the election, but they're driven by the scheduling order of the courts. The discovery close date here is July 31, which means that all discovery is to be completed by the end of this month.
On why Kay didn't come forward sooner
Yatooma: Don't forget one obvious fact, six years ago, Kwame Kilpatrick was not in jail. Kwame Kilpatrick was running the city, and it seems with an iron fist. He controlled the police force. He controlled the executive protectin unit. He controlled darn near everything he wished. Right now, Kwame Kilpatrick controls nothing, not even his meal schedule. So it's a lot easier for people to come forward than it was two, three, four, five, six, seven years ago.
Cox: We have this affidavit but he wouldn't show up for a deposition. For 14 years, when I was a prosecutor in Detroit, we had people who would see there friend or neighbor murder someone else on their street. And they would come down to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice and they would testify in an open courtroom knowing that afetr the guy was convicted they'd have to go back on the same street. It happens every single day in the criminal courts, not only in Detroit, but all across this country. This mayor has been gone for a number of years. He holds no power over anyone. His father is supposedly broke. He has nobody out there on his behalf. The idea that anybody out there would be afraid of him at this point is completely ludicrous.
Kwame Kilpatrick seated for deposition in the Tamara Greene case
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Jul 29, 2010
A friend's pal's uncle says the party was real
Detroit News
July 29, 2010
At a reception last fall in the suburbs, the fellow sitting next to me wanted to pass on a hot tip about the infamous Manoogian Mansion party - he works with a guy whose brother is a real player in the city, and he was at the party. No joke. There was a party, and this brother of a co-worker, this player whose name couldn't be revealed because it would ruin him with his homeboys, was there.
I put my head on the table and banged it real hard a couple of times.
In the eight years the Manoogian party has been this town's favorite urban legend, I've talked with hundreds of people who are just one, two or three degrees of separation from Kwame Kilpatrick's big blow-out on the river.
It must have been bigger than Woodstock, because everyone seems to work with someone who knows a trooper who answered a 911 call at the mansion, but was ordered to keep it on the QT. Or they have a brother who delivered the liquor and was told to forget he was there. Or their girlfriend's ex-husband was at the party when he was supposed to be at work, and that's why they got divorced. What unites them is an inexplicable fear for their lives if they talk openly about what they saw.
Maybe they're afraid of the motorcycle gang Kilpatrick hired to provide security for the blow-out, as if it were a Rolling Stones concert.
Seemingly out of nowhere, slickster attorney Norman Yatooma this week produced one of those bikers as the first on-the-record eyewitness, a felon with a rap sheet to rival the one being compiled by the party's host. Yatooma is trying to squeeze millions out of the city in a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamara Greene, the stripper who provided the entertainment and then was mysteriously slain. Greene, according to the biker, was whupped with a table leg by an enraged Carlita Kilpatrick, who showed up at the Manoogian to find the stripper perched on her husband's lap.
And what a coincidence - the biker also identified one of the revelers as Attorney General Mike Cox, who was enjoying a lap dance himself. That fits quite nicely into Yatooma's allegation that Cox killed the State Police investigation of the party. Wow. Now we know why.
I don't know if this is a sleazy legal trick or a sleazy political trick, given it came just a week before the Republican gubernatorial primary that Cox is trying to win. It may be both.
But I can't swallow that after eight years, suddenly we have someone with first-hand knowledge of the party and can link it to Cox, and conveniently he surfaces just days before the election. And he's describing a throw-down that would have rocked the river. Yet the neighbors didn't notice a thing.
I guess the mayor must have confiscated all cell phones at the door, because not one image or video has emerged from the party, and when does that happen today?
I don't know if this latest "bombshell" hurts Cox in the election. I tend to believe that the issue has been around so long the polls have already accounted for its impact. But it's a close race; even a few percentage points lost at this point is damaging.
Maybe Cox can turn it into a positive, though. If he was at the Manoogian that night, he knows who else was there. Give them all a call, and since they are so easily intimidated, tell them that if they know what's good for them, they'll show up at the polls next Tuesday and vote for him. If all the friends of the uncles of old college roommates respond, he'll win in a landslide.
Why question Carlita Kilpatrick?
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Aug 11, 2010
City attorney seeks end to stripper suit
Detroit News
August 20, 2010
For all of the thousands of records that attorney Norman Yatooma has generated in his bid to prove the city of Detroit obstructed the investigation of a stripper's 2003 death, he's failed to produce any proof of a conspiracy, a city attorney says.
John Schapka, in a motion filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, asked a judge to allow the city to file a request to dismiss a suit claiming it obstructed the investigation into the death of Tamara Greene.
Schapka derided Yatooma's sweeping search for evidence as an "unfocused shotgun blast of supposition."
He wants to keep the records private, as previously ordered by Rosen. To defend the city, Schapka said he will need to quote liberally from thousands of pages of secret records.
Greene, linked to a rumored party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family sued ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city in 2005, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her unsolved murder.
Schapka said the evidence generated in the case is staggering: more than 10,000 pages of Detroit police and fire records alone, in addition to 11 million police computer files. Two investigations, one by the Michigan State Police and a homicide investigation by the city, generated 3,500 pages of records, he wrote.
But he said all of that evidence "fails to demonstrate the existence of a triable genuine issue of material facts in this regard."
Rosen had earlier ruled that many records would be sealed, in part because their release could unfairly damage people only tangentially tied to the probe.
"To support its position, the city must attach and cite most, if not all, of the sealed depositions taken in this matter," Schapka wrote.
Schapka took aim at Yatooma, the Greene family's attorney, for his discovery efforts. He has sought text messages, investigative records and other documents, as well as interviewing several dozen people in and out of the former Kilpatrick administration.
But Schapka said Yatooma pursued "often inconsistent, convoluted conspiracy theories upon which they predicate the city's factual liability."
Suspicious numbers in Tamara Greene's phone?
WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7
Aug 26, 2010
Bernard Kilpatrick Deposed In Tamara Greene Murder Case
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Aug 31, 2010
City must release cell phone records in Greene case
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Sep 2, 2010
Detroit claims to know Tamara Greene's killer
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Sep 14, 2010
Detroit wants to file motion under seal in Greene case, claims it will reveal killer and C.I.
Detroit Examiner
September 14, 2010
The City of Detroit expects to file a motion the dismiss the case of Greene v Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick on Wednesday. But Monday, the city asked Judge Gerald Rosen to keep the motion under seal because it will reveal the names of the killer and a jailhouse confidential informant, which would hurt the ongoing murder investigation.
Detroit's ploy will likely fail for a number of reasons:
1. The suspect's name is already public. Remember when former DPD Chief Warren Evans, as he was just getting settled in, declared that the Tamara Greene file (or what was left of it) was going to the top of the stack of cold cases to be investigated? Well if the 'new investigation' has produced any suspects, the DPD has not talked about them.
Yet one name came out of the initial investigation, and you can be damned sure this is the man the city will name as the 'killer.' Their problem is that the name is no secret, or mentioned only by a select number of people in whispers. Rather, Darrett King's name has been trumpeted to the news media for some time, most frequently by retired DPD investigator Mike Carlisle.
Naming King as Greene's killer is in the city's interest because he was a suspect in the first investigation. That tends to cast doubt on plaintiff's lawyer Carl Yatooma's contention that the original investigation was morbidly inadequate. More important, it would support the notion that the Greene family could have filed a civil action against the killer despite any alleged suppression of the criminal case. That could be used in the city's motion to dismiss the case.
All that notwithstanding, since King's name is no secret, the idea of sealing the motion is absurd.
2. The C.I.'s name should not be used anyway. If a confidential informant exists, the cops wouldn't want his name used in a civil action. Even if the document were sealed, too many people in Yatooma's office would be exposed to it, e.g., secretaries, law clerks, paralegals, filing clerks, to assure confidentiality. Besides, it's unfair to base a motion to dismiss on the statements of some guy Yatooma never got to depose and cross-examine under oath.
3. Sealing deps is one thing; sealing a motion goes too far. Sure, Judge Rosen has ordered certain depositions to be sealed. But sealing a pleading, especially a motion to dismiss a plaintiff's case, should probably never be done.
It's worth mentioning that Garrett King has not been charged with Greene's murder. There's no rush, since King is doing 19-30 years in prison, but Kym Worthy passed on the chance to indict him after Carlisle's investigation, evidently believing the case against him was too weak.
Carl Yatooma doesn't like King for the killing, and frankly neither do I. King knew both Tamara Greene and her friend Eric Mitchell. So if King were to kill Greene as she sat in her car with Mitchell, why would he make two passes at Greene's car, pumping her full of lead, without also killing Mitchell? There would have been too great a chance that Mitchell would recognize King to chance leaving him alive.
I'll talk about the criminal case in a separate writing.
City of Detroit lawyer: We know who killed stripper Tamara 'Strawberry' Greene
MLive
Sep 14, 2010
The city of Detroit says it knows who killed stripper Tamara Greene in 2003 but wants to keep that and other information secret while its investigation continues.
A lawyer for the city made those revelations Monday in a motion asking a federal judge to let Detroit file a sealed request to dismiss a lawsuit by Greene's family.
The family has sued the city and ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick over what they say was a deliberately bungled investigation.
Greene has long been rumored to have danced at a party at the mayor's official residence.
The motion says that to defend itself, the city would have to compromise its investigation by disclosing evidence identifying the killer and an informant.
A Greene family lawyer says the court could seal evidence later.
Did Darrett King kill Tamara 'Strawberry' Greene?
MLive
Sep 15, 2010
Attorney General Mike Cox says attorneys for the City of Detroit believe convicted felon Darrett King murdered exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene in a 2003 drive-by shooting.
City lawyer John Schapka on Monday requested that U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen seal a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of Greene's family, who allege former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city leaders conspired to block an investigation into her death.
"To demonstrate the lack of causal nexus between Greene's death and the rumored Manoogian party, the City must detail the factual evidence which identifies her killer, including that originating with an informant," he wrote in the filing, per The Detroit News. Rosen denied the request to seal the motion.
Cox, whose gubernatorial campaign suffered from rumors of his own involvement in the Manoogian Mansion party, said he was forwarded "blurbs" of the motion last night but has not seen the full document.
"It's laid out in the City of Detroit motion that a guy who is incarcerated in federal prison said that Darrett King, who was the chief suspect, admitted it to him," Cox told host Paul W. Smith this morning on WJR-AM 760.
"People from the Detroit police homicide cold case unit went and interviewed him quite a while ago. In fact, Tamara Greene's grandmother reported shortly before Ms. Greene was shot that Tamara Greene was telling people -- telling her grandmother -- that she was afraid of Darrett King because he had beaten her and blackened her eye two weeks before. And that as a matter of fact, she had bought a gun because she was afraid of King."
Cox again cautioned that he had not read the full motion, but said he believes homicide detectives requested a warrant request "quite a while ago" but prosecutors determined the case was not strong enough to take to trial.
King has long been linked to the murder. Retired homicide investigator Mike Carlisle has gone on record -- in court and in print -- that he believes King killed Greene.
While he was unable to persuade Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to press charges against King, Carlisle managed to send him to prison in an unrelated case of attempted murder.
As The News pointed out Monday, Carlisle also has said King admitted knowing and arguing with Greene, his wife owned a car similar to the one identified in the drive-by shooting and he is left-handed like the suspected shooter.
Attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene's family, told Fox 2 on Monday
that he doubts King is responsible.
"He's been brought up many times," Yatooma said. "He seems to be something of a red herring, maybe a scapegoat, but irrespective of your animal metaphor, I think this is likely not the killer. He Has no impact on our case, of course, because we haven’t sued anybody for killing Tammy Greene. We’ve sued Kwame Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit for covering up the murder investigation into Tammy Greene."
Carlisle told the television station he never felt pressure to end his detective work, noting "Norman Yatooma didn't investigate this homicide. I did."
Court filing: Detroit investigators believe drug dealer killed Tamara Greene
MLive
Sep 16, 2010
An attorney for the City of Detroit said in a filing this week investigators know who killed Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, and he's asking a judge dismiss a lawsuit filed against the city on behalf of her family.
Attorney General Mike Cox saw snippets of the filing and said yesterday the city believes Darrett "Little D" King killed Greene. The Detroit Free Press obtained the full filing and confirms that suspicion.
The newspaper reports that investigators failed to determine a connection between Greene and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick -- despite long-running rumors she danced at a Manoogian Mansion party he hosted six months before she was killed in a 2003 drive-by shooting. Furthermore, the city says "no evidence exists which suggests Kilpatrick interfered with the Detroit Police Department's investigation, as Greene's family contends.
Instead, Detroit police believe Greene was caught in the middle of a drug feud and that King meant to shoot Eric "Big Nose E" Mitchell, a fellow dealer who was sitting in the passenger seat of her car.
King has long been linked to the murder. Retired Detroit homicide investigator Mike Carlisle has gone on record -- in court and in print -- saying he believes King killed Greene. The city also says King confided to a local drug kingpin that he killed Greene, and someone close to Mitchell said he recognized the shooter but would not cooperate with police.
Despite that evidence, Wayne County Prosecutors have not filed charges against King, who is serving a prison sentence for an unrelated case of attempted murder. Detroit police last year turned the case over to an FBI-led violent crimes task force, and Chief Ralph Godbee said this morning on WJR-AM 760 the "task force is moving in a direction that closure -- at some point -- we believe is imminent."
"We want to be at a point where we can meet not only the burden for arrest and warrant, but provide prosecutors with the predicate for conviction once the case is presented," he said.
Based on the evidence presented in the filing, attorney John Schapka is asking U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen to dismiss the $150 million lawsuit against the city.
Attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene's family, earlier this week called King "something of a red herring" and tells WDIV dozens of witnesses have said in depositions they were punished trying to investigate the stripper's death.
"This homicide was intended not to be solved," he said. This homicide was directed not to be solved. Anybody who tired to solve it paid for it dearly. This case cannot be thrown out."
For state House: Wayne County
Detroit News, The (MI)
October 20, 2010
The legislature is up for grabs this year. The Nov. 2 election will usher 34 new members into the Michigan House of Representatives alone, including at least 10 from Wayne County's 23 legislative districts. The decisions they and their colleagues make in the next two years will be momentous for Michigan. We looked at all of the candidates' ideas on key issues and particularly in the case of incumbents their ability to work with the other party to get things done. These are our recommendations.
District 8 (Detroit): Democrat Thomas F. Stallworth III has the pedigree to succeed George Cushingberry Jr. He's the brother of former Rep. Keith Stallworth, son of former Rep. Alma Stallworth and an ex-Detroit School Board member. Stallworth worked 25 years in DTE and MichCon management slots. More recently, he has headed Detroit health department programs to reduce youth violence and drug abuse.
Kwame Kilpatrick's computer thrown away before he left office
Detroit News
October 26, 2010
Detroit - A federal judge today said he is "troubled" that ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's computer was thrown away seven months before he resigned in 2008, a move that thwarts an ongoing attempt to recover e-mails between the former mayor, his mistress and other city officials. The frank statement came during a routine hearing today in U.S. District Court in a lawsuit involving the city and family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, who allegedly performed at a rumored Manoogian Mansion party in 2002.
City lawyer John Schapka said that computers belonging to Kilpatrick and his former mistress and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty were thrown away and replaced in February 2008.
The computers, including the hard drives, were thrown away even though the Greene lawsuit was pending along with other legal cases involving electronic communication.
"I'm highly troubled by that," U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen said. "The question is: What do we do?"
He might issue sanctions against the city. But before he decides, he wants Greene family lawyer Gary Hermanson to submit a brief within 14 days addressing the handling of evidence.
The city then would have two weeks to respond.
"We're really pleased with the court's ruling," Hermanson said. "We're hoping to get to the bottom of this."
It was unclear why computers in the mayor's office were replaced in February 2008. Schapka made an off-handed reference to the replacement in court today but declined comment after the hearing.
When Whalen asked him if it should have been obvious that the mayor's electronic communication would have been relevant to the ongoing lawsuits, Schapka said "perhaps."
Schapka said deleted e-mails cannot be retrieved from the city's computer servers. The servers electronically shred deleted items after a short period of time, and the city does not have hardware or software to permit recovery, Schapka said.
Greene's family wanted more than just e-mails. Hermanson also requested police department activity logs for every officer assigned to the 7th Precinct between August and September 2002.
The city turned over logs for every weekend during that time period. Whalen directed the city to conduct a good-faith search for records from weekdays during that time.
Greene's family filed a lawsuit five years ago claiming a Detroit police investigation into Greene's drive-by shooting death in April 2003 was quashed by authorities. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen has extended deadlines to Nov. 10 for the family's lawyers to file responses to requests for summary judgment and dismissal of the lawsuit from its targets - the city and Kilpatrick.
Caption: City lawyer John Schapka said that computer hard drives belonging to ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former mistress and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty were thrown away and replaced in February 2008.
Explosive New Documents
Details about what witnesses say happened inside the Manoogian Mansion
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Nov 21, 2010
Pleading in Greene case reveals fresh witness testimony on Manoogian party
Detroit Examiner
November 21, 2010
A pleading made public today in the Greene civil case reveals testimony of another witness that not only claims the fabled Manoogian party actually took place, but that it was one hell of a bash.
It was predictable that at the close of discovery in Greene v City of Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick the defendants would file a motion to dismiss the case. It was also virtually certain the plaintiff's answer would contain reference to testimony not yet made public.
Plaintiff's lawyer Norman Yatooma originally filed his answer to the motion to dismiss under seal, but Judge Gerald Rosen has authorized a public version that is redacted to exclude rank hearsay or statements that might prove embarrassing to non-parties.
It's still a bombshell, especially excerpts from the deposition testimony of one Tamika Ruffin, who swore she was paid $1,000 to perform exotic dancing at the party. Though Ruffin claims 10 police officers were present, marijuana and cocaine was openly available for the guests. Tamara Greene was also there, and had the misfortune to be giving the ex-mayor a lap dance when Carlita Kilpatrick showed up.
According to Ruffin, there was a brief fist fight between the two women, which Greene seemed to be getting the better of until Carlita struck her on the head with a piece off wood.
Further, Ruffin's deposition claims. Greene received phone calls of a threatening nature from Carlita Kilpatrick for months after the incident.
Greene, of course, was shot to death on April 30, 2003, perhaps 7 months after the rumored party. Norman Yatooma has previously, and correctly, asserted that he need not prove the party happened to show that the investigation into Greene's death was stymied by the ex-mayor, but he obviously wants to use the issue in the case.
Judge Gerald Rosen should decide the motion to dismiss within the next few weeks, and will most likely entertain oral arguments.
It promises to be an interesting case to follow, so stay tuned.
Tamara Greene Lawsuit
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Nov 22, 2010
Greene lawsuit developments
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Nov 22, 2010
New witness says there was a Manoogian party
Detroit News
November 22, 2010
Detroit - A second stripper claims the rumored Manoogian Mansion party was real and involved drugs and a fistfight between former first lady Carlita Kilpatrick and exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, according to a federal court filing unsealed Sunday.
The stripper, identified as Tamika Ruffin, dropped the bombshell claim in a civil lawsuit filed by Greene's family accusing the city and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of quashing an investigation into her death.
Her testimony is part of a multi-pronged attack by Greene family attorney Norman Yatooma against attempts by the city of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to dismiss the case.
Ruffin spun a sordid tale. She testified she was offered $1,000 to perform at the Manoogian party for Kilpatrick and friends, attended by about 10 uniformed police officers, and filled with cocaine and marijuana.
Carlita Kilpatrick crashed the party, Ruffin said, storming into the mayoral mansion and interrupting Greene giving Kwame Kilpatrick a lap dance.
"What the (expletive) is going on here? Who is this (expletive)? (Expletive), get the (expletive) up off my husband," she said, according to Ruffin's testimony.
Carlita Kilpatrick and Greene then got into a fistfight, according to Ruffin's deposition.
Ruffin said she saw Greene and Carlita Kilpatrick scuffle. Greene appeared to be winning the fight until Carlita Kilpatrick struck Greene with what appeared to be either a "two-by-four," a "baton" or a "table leg," according to the filing.
"It was big," Ruffin testified.
During the fight, Ruffin fled, ducking behind a car parked a few houses away. While hiding, she saw three police cars arrive at the Manoogian.
Greene later stayed at Ruffin's home for three weeks, during which time Carlita Kilpatrick repeatedly called Greene's cell phone, threatening her, according to Ruffin's deposition.
Ruffin could not be reached for comment Sunday. Yatooma said he has no idea of her whereabouts.
"I can't get in touch with her. She ran from us," he said in an e-mail response to The News. "We had to file a motion to have her held in contempt of court before we could get her into deposition. She was, and is, absolutely terrified."
Neither Kilpatrick lawyer James Thomas nor the mayor's publicist, Mike Paul, returned phone calls Sunday seeking comment.
Ruffin is the second stripper tied to the long-rumored party. Paytra Williams, a Detroit police officer who investigators say moonlighted as an exotic dancer under the name Almond Joy, is said to have danced at the party and gave a 41/2-hour deposition in April.
Williams' name is largely absent from the Yatooma filing, which was filed last week but unsealed Sunday.
Several of Yatooma's witnesses have come under scrutiny for their credibility.
Ruffin's tale is one of several new allegations to surface in the case. The city and Kilpatrick have asked Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen to dismiss the case, arguing that five years and numerous depositions have failed to prove any allegations.
City attorneys have maintained Greene was killed because of a drug feud.
The 5-year-old case has captivated the public with allegations of wrongdoing by a host of local and state government leaders, including Attorney General Mike Cox.
Cox investigated the party but concluded it was urban legend.
He could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Other allegations
Among the other revelations in Sunday's filing:
Two of Kilpatrick's bodyguards, Loronzo Jones and Greg Martin, were caught on videotape attending Greene's funeral. The Rev. Kenneth Hampton of Grace Bible Church in Detroit gave a copy of the tape to Detroit Police executives, according to the filing.
Yet the videotape and funeral registry are missing from the homicide file, Yatooma wrote.
Hampton gave a deposition in which he said he provided copies of the funeral videotape to then-Assistant Detroit Police Chief Harold Cureton and Lt. Billy Jackson, both of whom oversaw homicide investigators looking into Greene's death.
Hampton also said he visited police headquarters five times inquiring about the investigation's progress. Jackson testified that while the video should have been part of the homicide file, it was not there when he reviewed it.
Kilpatrick had an extramarital affair with Sheryl Robinson Wood, the former federal monitor overseeing reforms in the Detroit Police Department.
In making the accusation, Yatooma cited a deposition the former mayor gave in the case.
"Incredibly, Kilpatrick testified that he had no recollection of how many times he had sex with Wood, the location of the trysts, or even the year in which they occurred," Yatooma wrote.
Wood, who was named the federal monitor in 2003, resigned in July 2009 after the FBI discovered text messages â€" later deemed by a judge as "inappropriate" â€" between her and Kilpatrick.
The city wants Robinson Wood and her firms to repay more than $10 million in legal fees paid for overseeing police reforms.
Until Sunday, no one had publicly accused the pair of having a relationship.
Shows pattern, says attorney
Yatooma said the affair illustrates how the disgraced mayor and his administration interfered with police activities, including the probe into Greene's unsolved death.
"This case involves proof of a decision made by the Mayor of the City of Detroit â€" and enforced as the unwritten policy of the DPD â€" not to investigate any matter, nor otherwise pursue any inquiry, pertaining to events that occurred at the Manoogian Mansion involving Greene. ...
"Doing so would inevitably expose the prior wrongdoing on the part of the mayor, his wife and his friends in the DPD, while at the same time revealing to the public that all of them had viable motives to commit murder," Yatooma wrote in the filing.
City spokesman Dan Lijana declined comment Sunday.
Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University, offered some insight into the filing.
It's not enough for Yatooma to prove a cover-up existed, Henning said. Yatooma also has to show the cover-up prevented the city from identifying Greene's killer, he added.
"That's the toughest part here," Henning said. "It's not an easy case."
The filing spins an account of how, in 2002, a newly elected Kilpatrick appointed friends to key city posts to watch his back and those same people eventually "turned a blind eye to misconduct occurring within Kilpatrick's inner circle."
Yatooma notes how the probe was hindered by missing police files and investigators blocked from pursuing leads. Sgt. Odell Godbold, who found himself on a newly created assignment working out of the basement of the Fisher Building, testified people received "multiple, multiple promotions as a result" of hindering the Greene homicide investigation.
Two witnesses discounted
The filing repeated claims from several people, including two that have been discounted.
Wilson Kay Jr., a convicted felon with a history of mental illness, said he worked security at the party and signed an affidavit that he saw Carlita Kilpatrick assault Greene.
Kay also said Cox attended the party and received a lap dance while he was there â€" an allegation Cox has denied.
And the filing relies on a deposition from fired city emergency medical technician Cenobio Chapa. Chapa claimed he was at Detroit Receiving Hospital in the fall 2002 when an injured woman showed up for treatment. The woman claimed to have been assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick, he said.
Chapa, who was fired after airing his claim, lost a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city earlier this month.
According to Sunday's filing, the Kilpatrick administration had an established practice of interfering with and shutting down investigations into possible wrongdoing by Kilpatrick and his inner circle.
"The Greene case illustrates what happens when those responsible for the enforcement of the laws and the protection of the public are themselves the lawbreakers," Yatooma wrote.
The civil lawsuit accuses Detroit and Kilpatrick of quashing an investigation into Greene's death in 2003. Greene, 27, was killed in a drive-by shooting several months after she was linked to the rumored but never proven party at the mayor's mansion in fall 2002.
The filing also sheds light on the recent deposition of the mayor's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, who repeatedly refused to answer questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Bernard Kilpatrick refused to address whether he talked about the party and rumored assault with his son or whether his son admitted covering up the assault and Greene's death.
Yatooma's claims of a cover-up are supported by what he says are several missing pieces of evidence, including Greene's cell phone, e-mails from Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, statements from her co-workers, Crime Stoppers tips and handwritten notes by investigators.
Accusations made against Kwame, Carlita Kilpatrick
Legal papers filed Sunday in federal court offer details of what allegedly happened at the rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion. Norman Yatooma, who is representing the family of slain stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, submitted the brief to counter efforts by Kilpatrick and the city to dismiss the case.
Tamara Greene
The exotic dancer allegedly assaulted by Carlita Kilpatrick, the mayor's wife.
Carlita Kilpatrick
Reportedly caught exotic dancer performing for the mayor and assaulted her.
Sheryl Robinson Wood
The former federal monitor overseeing Police Department reforms is accused of having a relationship with the mayor.
Kwame Kilpatrick The former mayor is accused of quashing an investigation into Greene's death in 2003.
What's next
A status conference is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. today in the Greene case in U.S. District Court in Detroit before U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen. It's unclear when the judge will decide whether the case goes to trial.
Surprise witness in Manoogian told doc 'demons are trying to get me'
Detroit News
November 22, 2010
Detroit - A surprise witness who said the Manoogian Mansion party was real has a closed-head injury and told a psychiatrist in 2007 that "three demons are trying to get me," court documents reveal.
The stripper, Tamika Ruffin, 37, has gained prominence since Sunday, when it was revealed she testified that she attended the infamous Manoogian Mansion party and saw then first lady Carlita Kilpatrick assault stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
"She's compromised," said James C. Thomas, an attorney for Kwame Kilpatrick, who is a defendant in the suit by Greene's family alleging the city covered up her murder.
Ruffin of Redford Township is married to an Inkster Police detective.
Since her name surfaced Sunday in the Greene case, Ruffin has disappeared with her children, lawyer John Carlisle said.
"She is afraid something bad is going to happen to her and her children," Carlisle said.
Ruffin was reluctant to testify under oath in the Greene case and only sat for a deposition after a subpoena was issued and after being assured her name would not surface publicly, Carlisle said.
"She's getting screwed in this deal," Carlisle said. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And she's in the hot seat because of the release of her name."
The Manoogian party was the last time Ruffin performed as a dancer, her attorney said.
"It was her last day as a dancer. I would remove the word exotic and say she was a novice dancer," Carlisle said. "It wasn't like she was an old pro."
Court documents show that Ruffin's auto insurer, Citizens Insurance, sued an uninsured off-duty Detroit firefighter whom court documents claim was intoxicated when his car crossed the centerline on East Davison near Conant Jan. 15, 2006 and struck her minivan nearly head-on.
Court files show that at least three psychiatric reports found Ruffin suffered long-term psychiatric and physical impairments from the crash. But another doctor, Dr. Raymond G. Mercier, concluded in 2007 that she "is not disabled from a psychiatric point of view."
"About the only significant finding is that she is angry that the accident occurred and she is involved in litigation," the Southfield doctor wrote in his report.
Mercier said Ruffin, "talked about starting to have visions, becoming psychic. She went on to say there are 'three demons trying to get me.' She talked about how she believes demons have gotten into her and the need for exorcism."
Ruffin told the doctor that she had been studying the Bible and was seeing "visions from the Lord," according to the report. Ruffin told Mercier, "lots of people from head injuries go psychic."
Ruffin also told Mercier she took psychiatric medication as early as 1994, including Zoloft for depression. At the time of his 2007 interview of Ruffin, Mercier said she told him she was taking Cymbalta for depression, and also Lyrica and an anti-seizure medication.
Documents in the lawsuit indicate that she was a debt collector but didn't mention working as a stripper.
Thomas said several parts of Ruffin's story are suspicious.
Ruffin testified the party happened in March 2003 and that two or three months later - in May or June 2003 - Greene moved into Ruffin's home, according to Ruffin's deposition.
That's impossible, Thomas said. Greene, 27, was already dead, the victim of a drive-by shooting in April 2003.
Greene family attorney Norman Yatooma acknowledges Ruffin got the date of the party wrong, but he believes she was simply mistaken. A foggy memory is understandable given the passage of time since the Manoogian party was supposedly held, he added.
"To be confused about dates from seven years ago is not ludicrous," Yatooma said today.
She also claimed there were 50 strippers giving lap dances to a cocaine- and marijuana-fueled party of 150 people, including about 10 uniformed officers. When Carlita Kilpatrick and Greene started to fight, the partygoers fled, spilling into the streets of a stately neighborhood at 11 p.m. And parked outside was a WJBK-TV (Channel 2) news truck, Ruffin said, according to Thomas.
Ruffin's testimony has played a starring role in a multi-pronged attack by Yatooma against attempts by the city of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to dismiss the case.
"I think she was clearly there to say what Yatooma wanted her to say," Thomas said.
The questions raised about Ruffin's mental well-being are unfair, her lawyer said.
"If I were accused of all the things that the mayor and the city are being accused of, I probably would try to discredit her myself," Carlisle said.
He said Ruffin was not married at the time of the rumored Manoogian party and her husband, an Inkster detective, was not involved.
Even if there was a party, Yatooma has failed to prove Kwame Kilpatrick obstructed an investigation into Greene's death in 2003, Thomas said.
Ruffin's deposition alleged Carlita Kilpatrick crashed the party, storming into the mayoral mansion and interrupting Greene giving Kwame Kilpatrick a lap dance. Carlita Kilpatrick and Greene then got into a fistfight, according to Ruffin's deposition.
While the fight ensued, Ruffin said she fled outside and hid between two cars.
During the deposition, city lawyer John Schapka ripped her theory apart while cross-examining Ruffin, Thomas said.
"He said, 'Come on, you're sitting outside half-naked in March,'" Thomas said. "She said, 'OK, you got me.'" Thomas added: "She admitted she lied."
Ruffin - who Thomas said is "certainly older than 30, and probably younger than 50" - also claimed to have knocked on a Manoogian neighbor's window for help.
"She says she got some old guy, at a house she can't describe, a guy she can't describe, to drive her home," Thomas said. "That's where things stand with Tamika, (Yatooma's) main witness on the party."
There have been issues with party witnesses brought forward by Yatooma.
Wilson Kay Jr., a convicted felon with a history of mental illness, said he worked security at the party and signed an affidavit that he saw Carlita Kilpatrick assault Greene.
Kay also said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox attended the party and received a lap dance while he was there - an allegation Cox has denied.
Yatooma lashed out against criticisms of his witnesses' backgrounds"This is about a party with drugs and sex acts. What are you looking for? Juilliard dancers ... and secret service agents?" Yatooma said today. "We've got to take the witnesses as we get them."
Stripper says she danced at mayor's house
Hillsdale Daily News, The (MI)
November 22, 2010
A stripper says she got $1,000 to perform at a dope-fueled party at the Detroit mayor's mansion and saw Kwame Kilpatrick's wife attack a woman who was giving the then-mayor a lap dance, according to a legal brief a lawyer filed Sunday in U.S. District Court.
On Friday, Judge Gerald Rosen ordered lawyer Norman Yatooma to file an unsealed response to efforts by Kilpatrick and the city to dismiss the suit by the family of 27-year-old Tamara Greene. She was shot to death in 2003, and her family sued Kilpatrick, the city and others, saying they suppressed an investigation of the killing.
No one has been charged in her fatal shooting.
According to Yatooma's brief, obtained by the Detroit Free Press, Tamika Ruffin gave a deposition in which she said guests got marijuana and cocaine at the 2002 party, and 10 police officers attended.
Ruffin said Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, entered the party, saw Greene giving her husband a lap dance and began punching her, according to the brief. Carlita Kilpatrick then began hitting Greene with a table leg or piece of lumber, Ruffin was quoted as saying.
City officials and Kilpatrick, who resigned in 2008 and now is in a state prison for lying in another civil case, have denied such a party took place. They also have denied squelching the investigation of Greene's death.
The Associated Press left e-mail messages Sunday seeking comment from Kilpatrick lawyer James Thomas and city lawyer John Schapka.
Lawyer: Did boats carry strippers to Manoogian party?
Detroit News
November 24, 2010
Detroit - A lawyer representing the family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene wants the city to turn over records that could prove whether city boats were used to ship strippers and guests to a rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
The demand was included in a filing late Tuesday asking a federal judge to order the city of Detroit to pay a "substantial" sanction for failing to turn over documents, including boat logs, requested by Greene family lawyers.
The sanctions could include default judgment against the city for failing to turn over requested documents, including logs from 2002 that could prove whether a Detroit police boat unit ferried partygoers and strippers to the Manoogian Mansion, which backs up to the Detroit River, as several anonymous tipsters have told Greene family lawyers.
"How many more times must the plaintiffs have to come before this court and point out the glaring deficiencies in the city's misleading and half-baked responses to document discovery requests that should have been answered fully and properly many months ago," Greene family lawyer Gary Hermanson wrote late Tuesday. "The time has surely come for a substantial sanction, not another chance to make unfounded excuses."
In particular, Greene family lawyers want activity logs and run sheets for Sept. 4, 2002.
The Sept. 4 date showed up on a cryptic entry in the city's fire boat log, which refers to a "Mason McBride" party and a rendezvous between the fire boat and the private charter boat Infinity near the Ambassador Bridge, according to Hermanson's filing.
Yet when the city turned over new documents Nov. 9, there were no activity logs for the boat unit for any weekdays in 2002, Hermanson wrote.
There is a Mason-McBride Inc. insurance and financial services firm based in Troy, but it was unclear if the cryptic note in the city's logs is referring to the firm or another party.
A Mason-McBride executive could not be reached immediately for comment today.
The city also failed to turn over missing activity logs of Detroit Police Sgt. Shawn Gargalino, who reportedly was dispatched to the Manoogian following several 911 calls about a disturbance in fall 2002, according to a Greene family lawyer.
This is the second time Greene family lawyers have requested sanctions against the city in recent months.
The new claims, filed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, are the latest salvos in the long-running case, which intensified Sunday when the deposition of stripper Tamika Ruffin was unsealed, revealing she says she attended the infamous Manoogian Mansion party and saw then-first lady Carlita Kilpatrick assault Greene.
Greene family lawyer Norman Yatooma has requested a default judgment against the city for intentionally throwing away ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's computer. He also said the city should pay a sizable fine.
Kwame Kilpatrick filed an affidavit this week contradicting city lawyer John Schapka. The computer wasn't trashed, the ex-mayor wrote. It was left for his successor, Ken Cockrel Jr., who denied receiving a computer from Kwame Kilpatrick.
Schapka could not be immediately reached for comment today.
A federal judge has scheduled a Dec. 1 hearing before deciding whether to sanction the city of Detroit for destroying Kwame Kilpatrick's computer in 2008 while lawsuits were pending involving e-mails and text messages.
The city turned over thousands of documents Nov. 9 after Greene family lawyers asked for police activity logs for officers assigned to the 7th Precinct from August to October 2002.
But the city failed to turn over Gargalino's run sheets and activity logs for the police department's Harbormaster Boat Unit.
Gargalino had two supervisory runs Sept. 4, 2002, the only day of the month he had any such runs. But the city has not produced the run sheets, Hermanson wrote.
The Greene family lawsuit accuses Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick of quashing an investigation into Greene's death in 2003. Greene, 27, was killed in a drive-by shooting several months after she was linked to the rumored but never proven party at the mayor's mansion in fall 2002.
Boat records sought in slain stripper case
Lawyer questions whether city boats transported strippers to fabled party
Detroit News
November 25, 2010
Detroit - A lawyer representing the family of slain stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene wants the city to turn over records that could prove whether city boats were used to ship strippers and guests to a rumored Manoogian Mansion party.
Dozens of tipsters have claimed city boats were used to transport partiers and strippers to the Manoogian, which backs up to the Detroit River, Greene family lawyer Gary Hermanson wrote in a court filing late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
But the city has failed to turn over the boat logs and other city documents, a failure that should result in the city paying a "substantial" sanction, Hermanson wrote.
"How many more times must the plaintiffs have to come before this court and point out the glaring deficiencies in the city's misleading and half-baked responses to document discovery requests that should have been answered fully and properly many months ago," Hermanson wrote.
The boat rumor is the latest allegation to surface in the long-running lawsuit filed by Greene's family, which accuses Detroit and ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of obstructing an investigation into the woman's 2003 death.
Meanwhile Wednesday, a city attorney argued Detroit should not be penalized for failing to preserve Kilpatrick's e-mails.
The e-mails were automatically deleted years before Greene's lawyers asked for them, the city attorney, John Schapka, wrote.
A federal judge scheduled a hearing Dec. 1 before deciding whether to sanction the city.
Kilpatrick's e-mails were automatically deleted by the city's computer server years earlier, when it was unforeseeable that the controversial mayor's messages could hold evidentiary value, Schapka wrote.
"Such foresight would constitute clairvoyance," Schapka wrote.
Since the e-mails had been deleted, and because Kilpatrick never saved e-mails on his desktop computer's hard drive, the location of Kilpatrick's computer is immaterial, Schapka wrote.
Schapka said the computer was thrown away in 2008.
Kilpatrick said this week he left the computer for his successor, Ken Cockrel Jr.
Cockrel has said he doesn't remember receiving any computer from Kilpatrick.
Another Greene family attorney, Norman Yatooma, has requested a default judgment against the city for intentionally throwing away Kilpatrick's computer. He also said the city should pay a sizable fine.
Schapka's filing includes an affidavit from a city employee saying he found e-mail messages belonging to Kilpatrick.
Terrence Sims, a Detroit employee who oversees the city's e-mail system, recently supervised a search for Kilpatrick's e-mail, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Greene family lawyers want Kilpatrick's e-mails from September 2002 through June 2003 to see if there is any proof that the ex-mayor or city obstructed the homicide investigation.
While Sims' search failed to find e-mails from September 2002 through June 2003, other e-mails were found and extracted, Sims wrote in the affidavit.
The affidavit and Schapka filing came hours after Hermanson questioned whether boats ferried partiers and strippers to the rumored Manoogian party. In particular, he wants activity logs and run sheets for Sept. 4, 2002.
The Sept. 4 date showed up on a cryptic entry in the city's fire boat log, which was turned over to Greene family lawyers earlier.
The log refers to a "Mason McBride" party and a rendezvous between a city fire boat and the private charter boat Infinity near the Ambassador Bridge, according to Hermanson's filing.
Yet when the city turned over additional documents Nov. 9, there were no activity logs for the city boat for any weekdays in 2002, Hermanson wrote.
Mason-McBride Inc. is an insurance and financial services firm based in Troy. Scott McBride, the company's secretary/treasurer, said his firm chartered the Infinity for a lunch cruise on or around Sept. 4, 2002.
The firm used the Infinity for a lunch cruise for employees and clients, McBride said.
"It had nothing to do with the city or Manoogian," he told The Detroit News.
Judge orders Kilpatrick to testify about missing computer
Norman Yatooma
Dec 6, 2010
Tamara Greene's Son Says Someone Is Lying
Norman Yatooma
Dec 7, 2010
Judge - Where are former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's computer and emails?
Norman Yatooma
Dec 7, 2010
Lawyer Norman Yatooma for the family of Tamara Greene talks about missing e-mails
Norman Yatooma
Dec 7, 2010
Judge Ruth Carter deposed in Greene lawsuit
Norman Yatooma
Dec 7, 2010
Former stripper's testimony taints Greene case, city contends
Detroit News
December 17, 2010
Detroit - A witness whose mental well-being and memory were questioned after she testified about attending the rumored Manoogian Mansion party destroys any claim of a cover-up into the death of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, a city lawyer said Thursday.
The city filed paperwork in U.S. District Court in Detroit asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Greene's family. The lawsuit accuses Detroit and ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of obstructing an investigation into Greene's 2003 death.
The filing said testimony from ex-stripper Tamika Ruffin contradicts other accounts provided by witnesses presented by Greene family lawyer Norman Yatooma.
"Ruffin's testimony destroys plaintiff's claim that the party was covered-up," city lawyer John Schapka wrote.
Ruffin surfaced as a surprise witness last month, saying she was offered $1,000 to perform for Kilpatrick and friends at the Manoogian party, attended by about 10 uniformed police officers and filled with cocaine and marijuana.
Carlita Kilpatrick crashed the party, Ruffin said, storming into the mayoral mansion and interrupting Greene giving Kwame Kilpatrick a lap dance.
The party allegedly occurred in fall 2002.
Ruffin testified the party happened in March 2003 and that two or three months later - in May or June 2003 - Greene moved into Ruffin's home. But Greene, 27, was dead by that time, the victim of a drive-by shooting in April 2003.
Ruffin also testified she lived with Greene in June 2003 - two months after Greene was killed.
Ruffin also said a Fox 2 news van was parked outside the Manoogian.
"Of course, with the broadcast media on the scene, plaintiff cannot realistically claim a cover-up of the party or the events unfolding there," Schapka wrote.
Yatooma acknowledges Ruffin got the date of the party wrong, but he believes she was simply mistaken.
Strawberry: How an Exotic Dancer Toppled Detroit's Hip-Hop Mayor
Paperback – January 1, 2011
Tamara Strawberry Greene was an exotic dancer with dreams of opening her own clothing store until an April morning in 2003 when she was violently gunned down on a Detroit side street. Shocking revelations pointed to a possible cover-up of her homicide by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick when rumors surfaced that Greene danced naked for him at a wild bachelor party and was allegedly attacked by his wife, Carlita. This book, written by a former Detroit Free Press writer/columnist Carol Teegardin, details how a talented young woman, reaching for the stars, helped topple the Kilpatrick administration.
Jonathan Bond talks about his slain mother, Tamara Greene
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
New Twist In Tamara Greene Investigation
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Lawyer: Stripper Danced At Detroit Mayor's House
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
EXCLUSIVE: Suspected killer of Tamara Greene speaks out
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
New Witness Says She Danced at Manoogian Mansion Party
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
What Really Happened at Manoogian Mansion?
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Officer: Manoogian Party Never Happened
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Legal documents unsealed Sunday reveal new 'witnesses' in rumored Manoogian party
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
New Witness Says She Danced at Manoogian Mansion Party
Greene Gave Kilpatrick A Lap Dance
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Greene Case Revelations
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Kilpatrick Calls Greene Investigation 'Frivolous'
Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Being Sued By Family Of Tamara Greene
Click On Detroit
March 9, 2011
DETROIT – Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick called the investigation into slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene's death frivolous on Monday while testifying in federal court.
On Monday, he said that he became aware of the investigation into her death in early 2006.
I thought it was frivolous then, and even more so now, Kilpatrick said.
Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2003. It was rumored that she danced at a never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion that was thrown by then-mayor Kilpatrick in 2002.
Her family has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming Kilpatrick and other high-ranking city officials thwarted the investigation into her death.
At the center of testimony by Kilpatrick Monday was the whereabouts of a series of e-mails from 2002-2003. The family's attorney, Norman Yatooma, said the city has repeatedly withheld records in the case and that evidence related to the case has been intentionally destroyed, specifically e-mails sent between officials on city-owned computers.
Kilpatrick is among the people who have been ordered to testify about the case. Others include his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, and former Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
During his three hours of testimony, Kilpatrick said he could not remember or recall deleting specific emails. He admitted he had deleted e-mails after they were read, but not on purpose to cover up any wrongdoing. He also said he never told anyone in his office to delete e-mails.
Then during the last five minutes of testimony, he said the following about the Greene investigation and his e-mails.
Absolutely, unequivocally, no. There has never been any communication about Tamara Greene or her murder investigation, he said.
He said he had three computers when he was mayor, from 2002 to fall 2008, but typically used only his City Hall computer. He said he didn't know about any computer hard drives being removed.
He said he wasn't tech-savvy enough to even know how to purge e-mails.
"Unfortunately, I'm not a computer guy. I rarely did computer work at all at home," Kilpatrick said. He said the mail in his inbox ranged from "'Happy birthday' to 'We need to cut grass at X park,' and everything in between."
"I expect Kwame to lie. It's what he knows. It's what he's good at. It's his comfort zone. So, I expected a lie. If you think about everything that Kwame Kilpatrick ever been accused of and everything you know now to be true, he lied every time, said Yatooma.
As he questioned Kilpatrick, Yatooma was repeatedly reined in by U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen, who stopped him from asking about a confidential FBI report and limited the inquiry to e-mail from 2002 and 2003. "What you're doing with your questioning, you're testifying. ... I don't want speeches," Whalen told Yatooma at one point.
"There was a requirement under the law for them to keep these e-mails," Yatooma said. "They should have known that these e-mails were necessary at such time that the attorney general was investigating the party. They should have known that these e-mails were relevant at such time when the chief of police wrote a letter and said keep everything on file. It's more than just curiosity."
A city lawyer has testified that the computer Kilpatrick used in his mayoral office was thrown out in 2008, while a lawyer for Kilpatrick has said the computer was left for his successor, Ken Cockrel Jr.
"The city appears to have wagered a bet that there's going to be less of a penalty to pay to destroy the evidence than it would be for them to produce it," Yatooma said. "That's why the law says that if you destroy the evidence, you can be held accountable."
Kilpatrick's attorney, Jim Thomas, said there was no cover up and it?s time to put an end to the case.
City officials deny any wrongdoing and have asked that the lawsuit be thrown out. Kilpatrick is in prison for violating probation in a criminal case. He's also under indictment on federal fraud and tax charges.
Attorneys Say Rumored Manoogian Mansion Party Date Is Key To Investigation
Norman Yatooma
Jan 11, 2011
Detroit asks judge to bar certain questions in slain stripper case
Detroit News
May 4, 2011
Detroit - The city's top lawyer shouldn't have to answer certain questions during a hearing today in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of slain stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, according to a court filing.
City lawyer John Schapka on Tuesday asked a federal judge to block Greene family lawyers from asking Law Department Director Krystal Crittendon about communications with ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, City Council members and city department heads.
Communications while serving as the city's top lawyer and as counsel of record in the Greene case are protected by attorney-client privilege, Schapka wrote.
"To the extent such inquiries trespass into confidential communications between and her client or the client's representatives, such are privileged and not subject to disclosure," he wrote.
The filing is the latest development in the legal battle brought by Greene's family to prove whether Kilpatrick or the city intentionally destroyed emails that could shed light on the woman's unsolved killing.
The request preceded an evidentiary hearing set for 9:30 a.m. in U.S. District Court in Detroit set to feature testimony from Crittendon and Kilpatrick cousin Patricia Peoples, the city's ex-deputy human resources director.
Greene family lawyer Norman Yatooma wants to ask Crittendon whether she told Kilpatrick and others to preserve emails related to the case. The emails should have been preserved after the lawsuit was filed and after a federal judge issued an order requiring preservation, Yatooma said.
"She doesn't want to talk about that? That's unfortunate," Yatooma said. "We're not calling her to talk about recipes."
According to earlier testimony from ex-Detroit lawyer John Johnson, Peoples said emails and electronic records belonging to Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff/mistress Christine Beatty were purged at the end of Kilpatrick's first term in office.
The email probe is one aspect of a broader suit filed in 2005 that accuses the ex-mayor and city of obstructing an investigation into the woman's unsolved death.
Greene family lawyers want to find emails received and sent by Kilpatrick and others from September 2002 through June 2003.
The woman, who allegedly danced at a rumored-but-never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion, was killed in an unsolved drive-by shooting in 2003.
Detroit officer: I never moonlighted, never danced at Manoogian Mansion
Detroit News
May 27, 2011
Detroit - For more than eight years, Detroit Police officer Paytra Williams remained silent about whispers and accusations linking her to a racy Manoogian Mansion party and slain stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene.
But now she is speaking out in an effort to clear her name.
"None of it is true," Williams, 38, said in a recent interview with The Detroit News.
Williams said she never moonlighted at the never-proven Manoogian party in front of then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. She denied getting into an altercation with the mayor's wife. And she said she did not know Tamara Greene.
She said the persistent gossip and reports to the contrary are hurting her family, tainting her reputation and harming her ability to advance her public safety career. Her mother has heard friends at senior gatherings whisper about the allegations. Her 14-year-old son has been taunted by other students. Williams said she has contemplated leaving the police department to escape the dogged innuendo.
"It's been stressful, very stressful â€" the backlash, the comments from individuals, strangers, co-workers," said Williams.
Her life began to change in the fall of 2002 when Williams got a phone call from a reporter who asked if she had danced at the Manoogian Mansion party and had been assaulted by then-first lady Carlita Kilpatrick.
"I had no idea what she was talking about," Williams told The Detroit News in an interview earlier this month.
Williams maintained a public silence about the matter until last month when she gave her first newspaper interview, held a press conference and on April 19 filed a libel suit against The News and former News reporter Charlie LeDuff in Wayne County Circuit Court.
The News asked to interview Williams in 2010 when she was being deposed in a case brought by Greene's family against the city of Detroit and Kilpatrick over the stripper's murder investigation. The request was turned down by her attorney, although he said she would deny any involvement in the alleged party.
In the recent interview with The News, Williams showed flashes of anger. She directed her harshest words toward retired Sgt. Odell Godbold. In 2005, he was in charge of investigating the Greene homicide.
A 2009 civil lawsuit filed by Godbold against the city of Detroit said that he learned from numerous sources that Greene and "an active duty female Detroit Police officer, moonlighting as an exotic dancer" attended the Manoogian party. He did not identify the officer.
Then last year, Godbold named Williams in a sworn affidavit filed in a lawsuit brought by Greene's family against the city and Kilpatrick.
Godbold said he learned from sources during the investigation that Williams danced at the Manoogian party, according to the affidavit.
Williams said she never moonlighted as an exotic dancer while employed as a Detroit police officer.
Godbold, in his affidavit, also said in May 2005 that Williams had met with him outside police headquarters and she told him she was "scared and didn't know what to do." Williams said the exchange never took place.
She also denied a statement in Godbold's affidavit that she was attacked by Carlita Kilpatrick and was seriously injured. Williams said she was not given a three-week paid leave of absence after the alleged incident, an assertion made in Godbold's affidavit.
Godbold also said Cmdr. Bryan Turnbow told him Williams was "unofficially" reassigned to another unit to hide her injuries and attendance at the party. Williams said that is not true.
"Odell Godbold is a flat-out liar," Williams said. "Odell Godbold is delusional."
In an interview with The News, Godbold defended his sworn statement.
"I do not lie," he said. "Paytra's problem is she never had an investigative background. Otherwise, the first thing she would realize is because her name came up in this investigation, everything was noted. I don't care what she says."
The alleged party has become a part of Detroit lore kept alive largely by a civil lawsuit filed in federal court by Greene's family. Greene allegedly performed at the party in 2002 and later was killed in an unsolved shooting.
Williams, now a narcotics investigator, angrily denied that she danced at the 2002 party, when she would have been 30 years old. Williams said she stopped working as an exotic dancer years before joining the Police Department. Williams also said she is not the only officer whose past includes working as an exotic dancer.
Williams remains puzzled why her name was linked to the rumored Manoogian party. She said she has been dealing with rumors within the workplace for years.
"My right to my private life has been taken away, for no reason at all," she said. "And it's not fair."
Williams said she did not know Greene. And she never danced at the All-Star gentleman's club on Eight Mile, where Greene once worked.
Williams, a Northville native, said her two-year stint as a dancer ended in 1995 â€" four years before she was hired by Detroit Police.
Her last day as an exotic dancer, Williams said, led to a career in law enforcement. In 1995, she saw a man get shot outside a now-closed Detroit strip club on Livernois. Williams said she administered first aid, helped saved the man's life, identified and testified against the shooter, who was convicted.
"That was my first real introduction to law enforcement and the officers that worked the case," she said. "I was very impressed."
She worked as a secretary and bank teller before applying to the Detroit Police Academy. She was hired by the department in 1999.
Although Williams was first confronted with questions about the Manoogian party in late 2002, it was not until Greene was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 2003 that the gossip and innuendo intensified.
"It really blew up. It went from me being the one who was assaulted to me taking (Greene) to the hospital and using my insurance card," Williams said.
An investigation by then-Attorney General Mike Cox in 2003 concluded the Manoogian party had "all the earmarks of an urban legend."
Williams said she was questioned during the Cox probe. Michigan State Police investigators showed up unannounced and questioned Williams at work.
"They basically treated me like I was a criminal," she said, referring to State Police investigators. "The way they were talking to me was very belittling and degrading."
Williams took issue with a passage in a 2010 News account that said she had a checkered police career and worked in close proximity to powerful men.
She said her record is clean except for a written reprimand that was expunged from her personnel file earlier this year. And while she worked as a bookkeeper on the same floor as the police chief's office, she was not in the chief's inner circle. She said she held the same position under several chiefs, including Benny Napoleon, Charles Wilson and Jerry Oliver.
"In the chief's office, there is a chief's staff. She was not a part of that," said her lawyer, Marvin Barnett.
Williams also denied a News report that she was assigned at one point to Kilpatrick's executive protection unit.
Williams left the bookkeeping job and was assigned to tactical operations about seven years ago. The small unit was a hostile place for her, she said, where members made snide comments about the rumors.
In 2005, she was deposed by lawyers involved in a lawsuit filed by former homicide Lt. Alvin Bowman against the city. Bowman alleged he was transferred out of homicide for attempting to investigate Greene's killing.
"I had nothing to do with why he was moved, and the only questions they posed to me were about finding out about the dancing world," Williams said.
Bowman won a jury trial against the city and was awarded $200,000. After the deposition, Williams said she endured another round of harsh treatment from co-workers and isolation in her personal life.
"It got really hard for me to be at work because of all the attention," Williams said. "It's like I have the plague. If people know me, they don't want their kids to play with my son."
The scandal and rumors, Williams said, have left her contemplating her future within the department.
Williams is not optimistic about rising within the Detroit Police ranks. She feels like she has been blacklisted.
"I personally have not done anything wrong," Williams said. "But my name is too tainted and I don't think anybody is willing to stand up for me."
Williams was asked if she would have to leave the Detroit Police Department to advance her career.
"Probably yeah," she said. "I'm listening to things, keeping my options open."
Magistrate finds City of Detroit destroyed evidence in Greene civil case
Detroit Examiner
August 3, 2011
In a victory for the family of Tamara Greene, a federal magistrate has recommended that sanctions be imposed against the City of Detroit for knowingly or recklessly destroying evidence relevant to the case. The recommendations of Magistrate Stephen Whelan, issued Wednesday, will now go to US District Judge Gerald Rosen for ratification.
Should Judge Rosen approve the recommendations, which is more likely than not, it could dramatically alter the litigation in the family's favor.
Tamara Greene, an exotic dancer whose stage name was Strawberry, allegedly danced at a rumored but never proven party at the Manoogian Mansion during October 2002. On April 30, 2003, she was murdered in a drive-by shooting. The criminal case has never been solved.
Her relatives filed the civil action Greene v City of Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick, alleging that high-ranking city officials stifled the DPD's investigation into her death, causing it to go unsolved.
In 2008, Judge Rosen issued an order mandating the preservation of evidence by city lawyers. Yatooma made a convincing case that in the months and years following the order, attorneys for the city intentionally or through malfeasance, allowed evidence, mostly in the form of e-mails between city officials on city owned computers, to be lost.
Yatooma moved the magistrate for a default against defendants, which would have stripped them of the ability to put on proofs as to anything but the amount of damages.
Magistrate Whelan refused to go that far, but he concurred with Yatooma that the city had destroyed relevant evidence after Judge Rosen's 2008 order. The recommendations Whelan issued today are:
1. If the case comes to trial, the jury should be allowed to hear proofs that the city destroyed evidence;
2. The jury should be instructed to infer that any evidence destroyed would be contrary to the interests of defendants (called an "adverse inference" instruction), and;
3. Defendant's should have to pay Yatooma's attorney fees in connection with this motion.
If Judge Rosen adopts these recommendations, it would virtually prohibit a successful motion by defendants to dismiss the case, and it would elevate Yatooma's chances at trial.
No time limit has been set for Judge Rosen's response to the magistrate's recommendations.
Tamara Greene's Son Talks With Local 4
Click On Detroit
August 4, 2011
DETROIT – Tamara Greene's son, Jonathan Bond, said he now knows what he has always believed to be true: The city of Detroit is hiding something in the murder investigation of his mother.
A judge ruled Wednesday that city of Detroit lawyers intentionally destroyed former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's emails and other potential evidence after specifically being told to save it.
Bond, 18, said he believes his mother's murder investigation was sabotaged to protect Kilpatrick's reputation. Now that the evidence was destroyed, Bond said he wonders if he will ever know who killed his mother and why.
"There is no way that a mistake was made," Bond said. "There is a reason why she died."
He said people do not ignore court orders and destroy evidence unless they have something to hide. He said he is confident the judge in charge of the case will see to it that those responsible for hiding evidence will answer for it.
"These people purposely did this. There is no way around it," Bond said.
Bond said it's not about winning a case, it's about finding out who killed his mother, and he knows what she would say about city officials pulling a fast one.
"She would say, 'Is this what my taxpaying money is really going to? Hiding evidence?'" Bond said.
Bond recently graduated high school and said he plans to attend college in Metro Detroit so he can keep an eye on the case.
New Information On Murdered Dancer Tamara Greene
Click On Detroit
September 30, 2011
DETROIT – A local woman tracks down witnesses and friends of Tamara Greene. See why she says the rumored Manoogian Mansion party is no urban legend.
Watch Local 4 Defender Kevin Dietz's report Friday at 11 p.m.
The author in the interview, Carol Teegardin is doing a book signing at the Rust Belt Market, at the corner of 9 Mile and Woodward, on Sunday on Oct. 9 from 11a.m.-7 p.m.
Carol Teegardin Book Interview - Author of "Strawberry", the murder of Tamara Greene
Defenders: Exclusive Video Of Tamara Greene's Funeral
Family Wants Video To Help Remind Public, Police That Case Is Still Unsolved
Click On Detroit
October 3, 2011
DETROIT – The Local 4 Defenders have never-before-seen video of slain Detroit dancer Tamara Green's funeral.
Greene was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2003. It was rumored that she danced at a never-proven party at the Detroit mayor's Manoogian Mansion that was thrown by then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002.
Her family is suing the city claiming Kilpatrick and other high-ranking city officials thwarted the investigation into her death.
Greene's family gave the video to Local 4 in hopes it would remind the public and police that justice needs to be found. It shows several family and friends shedding tears as they walk by her white casket.
Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's son, said it doesn't matter what Greene did for a living, her life counted.
"The court is interested in the truth. It is very important. The kids need closure. They need closure because this has been going on for a long time," Flagg said.
Flagg said he blames Kilpatrick for sabotaging Greene's death investigation so that no one would find out she danced at the rumored party.
"I still believe that that's the case. I still believe that we can get it, the truth is still there. I believe the people that we have deposed, they will get on the stand and they will tell the truth. She never got a proper investigation," Flagg said.
Greene's son was 10 years old when his mother was killed. He is now 18.
Greene case dismissed
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Nov 1, 2011
Interview with former Mich. AG will stay sealed
Associated Press State Wire: Michigan (MI)
November 1, 2011
A judge says he won't unseal a deposition by former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who was interviewed for hours about his investigation of a rumored party in 2002 at the Detroit mayoral mansion.
Federal Judge Gerald Rosen made the disclosure in a footnote Tuesday in a 102-page decision dismissing a lawsuit against the city of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The lawsuit had accused Kilpatrick of interfering with the investigation of a stripper's murder. When Cox was attorney general, he investigated whether Tamara Greene performed at the Manoogian Mansion but ultimately called the party an ''urban legend.''
The judge last year refused to unseal Cox's deposition and apparently won't change his mind now. Rosen says the deposition had no role in his decision to dismiss the lawsuit.
Manoogian party still 'unsolved mystery'
Detroit News
November 2, 2011
Was there a party or not?
In 102 pages of his ruling on the Tamara Greene lawsuit released Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen offered little clarification on one of the case's central mysteries â€" the rumored and never proven Manoogian Mansion party of 2002.
In sorting through the evidence, Rosen made it clear he sees no definitive answer. That party, where Greene was alleged to have performed as a dancer, was considered by some to be the impetus behind her murder on April 30, 2003.
Throughout the document and in his footnotes, Rosen makes both point and counterpoint.
"For what it is worth, it seems unlikely that this will ever be established with any degree of certainty whether this rumored party ... actually took place," Rosen wrote in his decision, which threw out a $150 million lawsuit filed by Greene's family against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit.
But for many, the focal point of Greene's slaying has always been the party, which supposedly ended when Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, beat a stripper so badly she was taken to a hospital.
Rosen's lengthy decision offers factual tidbits for those on both sides of the argument. Here are elements of the ruling that could support the theory that a party took place:
Sandy Cardenas, who worked as a 911 dispatcher in fall 2002, claimed to remember sending police units to a disturbance call at the mansion.
Detroit police received a call on May 21, 2003, from an unknown person asking if the shooting victim in the case was "Strawberry" â€" the name Greene used as a dancer. The caller said "Strawberry was one of the dancers at the mansion."
At a March 2004 meeting with Detroit investigators, Michigan State Police officers allegedly contended the Manoogian party did occur, according to the testimony of Detroit Inspector Craig Schwartz.
During the investigation, a relative of Greene told Detroit investigators that "(Greene) had danced at the mansion ..."
Sgt. Odell Godbold was told by one of Greene's relatives that she had "expressed some fears and she was fearful for her life" and that she had told this relative that "she had danced at the mansion and that there was a fight."
In the summer of 2004, a retired Detroit police officer, Bryan Turnbull, approached a city investigator and said "an active Detroit Police Department officer had danced at the Manoogian Mansion party and had been assaulted." That officer allegedly showed up for work with visible injuries.
Godbold testified various materials "handwritten notes, witness statements, and polygraph results" appeared to be missing from the copy of the homicide file produced by the city in the course of discovery.
Items that seemingly puncture the party theory include:
- Despite the prolific history of the scandalous Kwame Kilpatrick text messages, Rosen pointed out that none from him or his associates "touch(ed) upon the Greene homicide investigation at all, whether directly or tangentially.
- Rosen noted that Cardenas' affidavit is "replete with hearsay" and is based on her recollections of other responders' statements.
- Schwartz said the Michigan State Police investigators' belief a party took place "had no basis in fact, had no substantiation and was based on wild speculation."
- After years of silence, a Detroit police officer rumored to have danced with Greene at the party spoke out in May and denied any involvement.
"None of it is true," Paytra Williams told The Detroit News. She said she never moonlighted at the never-proven party. She denied getting into an altercation with Carlita Kilpatrick and said she did not know Tamara Greene.
In June 2003, then state Attorney General Mike Cox summarized the findings of his office's five-week investigation into the party, saying "not one witness had any direct or indirect credible knowledge if such an event." Cox added: "These allegations appear to be founded solely on wild rumor and speculation" and that "the party has all the earmarks of an urban legend."
Stripper's killer still on the loose
Detroit News
November 2, 2011
A federal judge's 102-page ruling Tuesday may have closed the legal battle over claims that the city or ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick impeded a homicide investigation, but at least one question remains: Who killed Tamara Greene?
More than 81/2 years after Greene, known as "Strawberry," was gunned down in Detroit, her case remains unsolved. Over the years, lawsuits and a rumored and never-proven party, there have been no charges and no arrests connected to her murder.
It's a cold case, but investigators say it's still important, even after U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen dismissed a suit Greene's family filed against Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit.
"The Wayne County Prosecutor's office has an open investigation into the Tamara Green homicide," said Maria Miller, assistant Wayne County prosecutor. "The dismissal of the civil case has no impact on our investigation."
Detroit Police also said Tuesday's dismissal of the civil suit isn't relevant to the criminal investigation. "The court's decision in regards to the Greene family lawsuit will not affect or disrupt the continued investigation that's being conducted by members of the Detroit Police Department's Homicide unit," Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said in a statement.
Greene, 27, was shot to death as she sat in her car in front of a home in the Bagley section of Detroit. Someone fired several rounds and Greene was hit three times, including once in the face and once in the neck.
For a while, it looked as though a 5-foot-6-inch felon with the street name "Little D" was panning out to become a suspect. Mike Carlisle, a retired Detroit homicide investigator who had worked the Greene case, testified that he believed Darrett King killed Greene.
According to police reports, she was a victim of an escalating feud between King and another man - the man she was sitting with in the car before she was gunned down.
Carlisle's statements were not enough to convince prosecutors. Even Norman Yatooma, the Greene family attorney, has said he doubted King was the killer.
Rosen wrote that any suggestion King killed Greene is "wholly gratuitous" â€" he passed a polygraph and had an alibi.
King is serving a 25-year sentence for assault with intent to commit murder stemming from a gas station shooting in 2004.
Police are still looking for tips in Greene's slaying. Anyone with information can call the Detroit homicide unit at (313) 596-2260 or Crime Stoppers at (800) SPEAK-UP.
Time to move past the absurd Manoogian rumor
Detroit News
November 4, 2011
This week's abrupt end to the so-called Tamara Greene lawsuit in Detroit's U.S. District Court ought to take the city a major step toward overcoming K.W.S. "Kwame Withdrawal Syndrome".
Detroit has been trying to forget the Kilpatrick years for some time, but the cloud of the scandal-ridden ex-mayor continued to hover over the city, and much of the darkness was spawned by the years-old rumor of that never-proven Manoogian party.
It seems everyone in town knows someone who knows someone who was there and supposedly saw Greene, the stripper/dancer, beaten by Kilpatrick's wife with everything from her fists, to a table leg, to a baseball bat.
Of course, every time you asked for the name or phone number of the person who actually witnessed the mythical event, the information was never forthcoming, and not one eyewitness has stepped forward in more than a half-decade since to offer any credible evidence â€" heck, no one can even give the date of the supposed party.
After Greene's death in a drive-by shooting while seated in a car next to a known drug figure in front of a known drug house, the legend grew despite the obvious clues that pointed to a drug-related shooting.
The story came to include allegations that some unknown cop took her out in a planned hit to presumably ensure she never testified against Carlita Kilpatrick and that the mayor's office stopped efforts to investigate the mythical plot.
Logic never occurred to those spreading the rumors, whose story would require belief that a police officer willingly risked life in prison by committing a murder to cover up a simple assault.
But logic never mattered to the rumor mongers, nor attorney Norman Yatooma, who brought the federal court suit on behalf of Greene's family.
Yatooma "and we won't engage in similar rumor mongering over his motives" claimed the city never properly investigated her death and linked the reason for such inaction to the party that never was proven beyond wild speculation.
When then-Attorney General Mike Cox investigated the party rumor and declared it urban legend, he became the brunt of unsubstantiated cover-up claims that included the fantastical assertion that he ditched the probe because he had been at the party.
When thousands of pages of text messages from city officials were publicly revealed, not a single line could be found relating to Tamara Greene or a party at the Manoogian.
This alone should have been proof that Cox's conclusion was correct, considering Kilpatrick administration officials openly discussed other scandals in their messages, including details of the sexual proclivities of the ex-mayor and his chief aide, Christine Beatty.
But the rumor mill, spurred by Yatooma's ever-increasing introduction of "evidence" based on claims by some disreputable witnesses, would not allow the story to die and Detroit to overcome the trauma it suffered from Kilpatrick's numerous other misconducts.
Federal judge Gerald Rosen's decision should put an end to all this fiction for once and for all, unless of course the fiction creators now want to paint him as being involved in some grand conspiracy.
Rosen spent years reading the depositions from questionable witnesses, reading reams of text messages, and considering all the wild claims â€" up to and including the destruction of evidence â€" offered as part of Yatooma's case.
Now a completely unassailable jurist has considered every clump of mud thrown against the wall in the Greene lawsuit and concluded there was no evidence of a party, an assault on Greene, a cover-up in the investigation of her death, or any shredding of documentation that might prove something that never occurred.
In short, he rejected every claim made by Yatooma in the lawsuit that kept the Kilpatrick wound open and helped stall Detroit's recovery from the wounds the ex-mayor inflicted on the city.
Tamara Greene didn't deserve to die, but her own poor judgment in acquaintances placed her in a position to become another victim of Detroit's mean streets and the city's ruthless drug trade. It's time to allow her children to understand that sad truth and stop directing their wrath at the wrong people.
And the city, for all its faults, didn't deserve to be victimized by the interminable extension of the Manoogian party rumors made possible by this lawsuit.
Now it's time for Yatooma to do the right thing, concede that an impartial arbiter in Rosen has rejected all his claims, skip any appeal, and help clear the Kilpatrick cloud by finally allowing the Manoogian party legend to die.
Tamara Greene documents unsealed
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Jan 10, 2012
Depositions in Tamara Greene case unsealed
Click On Detroit
January 11, 2012
DETROIT – Want some light reading? Okay, that's a bit of a joke.
Here you will find the list of unsealed federal court documents in the Tamara Greene case against the city of Detroit.
Greene, an exotic dancer, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2003. It was rumored that she danced at a never-proven party at the Detroit mayor's Manoogian Mansion that was thrown by then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002.
Her family filed a lawsuit in 2005 on claims Kilpatrick and other high-ranking city officials thwarted the investigation into her death.
The family's attorney, Norman Yatooma, has said the city has repeatedly withheld records in the case and that evidence related to the case had been intentionally destroyed, specifically e-mails sent between officials on city-owned computers.
But U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen threw out the $150 million lawsuit in November, saying there wasn't enough evidence that the investigation into Greene's death was sabotaged. That's why he has unsealed these depositions and affidavits.
Many more including testimony from Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick, the wife and father of Kwame Kilpatrick, remain under seal.
Kwame Kilpatrick testified over two days in the summer of 2010 while in prison for perjury in the original civil lawsuit brought by two Detroit officers who were fired for investigating the mayor. The depositions of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope are among those unsealed. Other Detroit police employees talk about the urgent calls for police to come to the disturbance at the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, and how a police report of the assault on Greene by Carlita Kilpatrick has disappeared.
Was there a cover-up? Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox investigated and called the incident an urban legend. But state police investigators on the case testify they were upset when Cox pulled the plug on the investigation before they were finished.
Yatooma is appealing Judge Rosen's decision. The Greene family wants this case to go before a jury. The appeal will take several months.
A Grand Jury should investigate Manoogian party, Tamara Greene murder
Detroit Examiner
March 20, 2012
The legend of the Manoogian Mansion party in the fall of 2002 and the ensuing murder of a stripper, Tamara “Strawberry” Greene is, as former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox called it, “urban legend,” or it is a case of a massive cover up.
Attorney Norman Yatooma, the attorney who sued the City of Detroit and former Mayor Kawame Kilpatrick on behalf of Greene’s family, recently had the case dismissed by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen. An appeal in the case is expected.
Judge Rosen has sealed the testimony of Mike Cox testimony in the lawsuit, which is absurd. Several sources, including a Michigan State Police investigator, have said that Cox prematurely ended the investigation. There have been some reports that Cox was at the party.
At the time of the alleged party and the investigations, Cox was an elected official being paid for with taxpayer’s dollars. There are a few things the citizens would like to know.
Mr. Cox, were you at a Manoogian Mansion Party?
If so, what did you see or hear?
Did you do anything to hinder the investigation by the Michigan State Police regarding this matter?
Were any deals made with Kwame Kilpatrick regarding this case?
We should be given the answers to these questions, not by a press release or conference, but under oath.
That civil case brought many facts and rumors out and something needs to be done about it. A grand jury investigation is a powerful tool and should be used in this circumstance.
There have been way too many rumors and there have been lots of indications of a cover-up in the matter.
The grand jury can start by questioning every officer who was on duty on the night in question. Simple questions, were you dispatched, or did you hear anyone dispatched to the Manoogian Mansion that night? If so, what did you see?
It is not proving that there was a party that is the issue, but if a party is proven it really puts a new light on the Greene murder.
Tamara Greene may have been a stripper; she may even have been a prostitute. That does not matter, she was a human being. Justice needs to be done, questions need to be answered. A Grand Jury needs to be impaneled in this matter.
Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, father Bernard and Bobby Ferguson found guilty of 34 federal crimes
MLive
Mar 11, 2013
DETROIT, MI — When the verdict came, Kilpatrick remained solemn and shook his head slightly; Bernard Kilpatrick wept for his son.
Outside a plane circled towing a sign that said, "Don't drop the soap, Kwame, MOJO 95.5."
The same radio station proceeded to play jail-related music throughout the afternoon, including "Bad Boys," the theme song by Inner Circle for the TV show "Cops" and "Locked up," by Akon.
Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of 24 federal crimes related to public corruption on Monday.
His longtime friend and city contractor Bobby Ferguson is guilty of nine crimes.
Bernard Kilpatrick, Kwame Kilpatrick's father and a political consultant, has been convicted of filing a false tax return, which carries a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison.
Kwame Kilpatrick and Ferguson, friends since high school, face much longer sentences.
U.S. Attorney. Barbara L. McQuade declined to say what sentence her office will recommend, but said it could potentially be in excess of 20 years each.
Both Kwame Kilpatrick and Ferguson have felony records, Kilpatrick for two obstruction of justice convictions in 2008 stemming from perjury charges; and Ferguson for assault with intent to do great bodily harm for pistol whipping an employee in 2005.
Based on previous records, perceived access to cash and, according presiding Judge Nancy Edmunds, to Kilpatrick's "willingness to lie when it serves his purposes," both men are being jailed pending their sentencing.
McQuade said it usually takes three to four months after a verdict to set a sentencing date.
The conviction of Kilpatrick and Ferguson for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is the most serious and carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Bernard Kilpatrick was acquitted of that charge.
The law, established in 1970, was initially used by federal prosecutors to bring down Mafia bosses hidden within complex criminal organizations.
The verdicts bring to end a five-month long corruption trial with Kwame Kilpatrick - once heralded as the "hip hop mayor" — at the center.
All in all, Kwame Kilpatrick is guilty of 24 of the 30 charges brought against him. Ferguson is guilty of 9 of 11 and Bernard Kilpatrick guilty of 1 of 4.
Before being led away by U.S. Marshals, Kilpatrick and Ferguson removed their suit coats. Kilpatrick wore black. Ferguson wore brown.
Kilpatrick bent over quickly, still in view of courtroom cameras, and placed a white indiscernible object into his mouth but did not appear to chew. MLive has left messages with the U.S. Marshals Office in an attempt to identify the object.
"You all take it easy. Stay strong,"Kilpatrick said to family in the courtroom as he handed his jewelry, cuff links and other items to his mother, former Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.
"No doubt, no fear,' said the father of three as he was led away in cuffs.
Kwame left the courthouse Monday after the verdict without comment. Residents outside of the courthouse said "justice has been served."
"Today the jury found Kwame Kilpatrick guilty of... abusing the power of public office to enrich himself, his friends and family, instead of serving the people who elected him," said McQuade. "Kwame Kilpatrick stole money... While Kwame Kilpatrick enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, he watched the quality of life erode for the people of Detroit."
McQuade said the jury found that Kilpatrick "created a culture of doing business in Detroit."
"If you wanted a contract in Detroit there had to be bribes," she said. "If you wanted a contract, you had to get his friend Bobby Ferguson in on one of the contracts
"In all, Bobby Ferguson received $127 million worth of city contracts from the city of Detroit... The former mayor was not focused on running the city he was focused on using the office of the mayor as a moneymaking machine."
In addition to contract rigging, McQuade said Kilpatrick stole $500,000 from his nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund and "spent it on things like yoga lessons for himself, golf clubs, vacations at luxury resorts, summer camps for his kids."
"Kwame Kilpatrick didn't lead the city, he looted the city," she said.
All but one from the 12-person jury along with the three alternate spoke with media after the verdict reading.
The court is withholding their identities.
Juror no. 11, a Detroit resident, said she voted for Kwame Kilpatrick during both of his successful mayoral bids in 2001 and 2005.
When asked if she ever felt any anger toward the defendants based on the testimony she heard, the juror admitted: Some of the evidence, "really, really turned my stomach."
"I feel bad for the families; there's a bit of sadness for the children," said juror no. 11. "I don't feel bad for the defendants because I feel like you go into things knowing what you're doing."
The jurors acquitted the defendants on four counts, including the racketeering charge, but prosecutors said there are no plans to retry those crimes.
Mayor Dave Bing responded to the verdict Monday, saying: "I am pleased that this long trial has ended and we can finally put this negative chapter in Detroit’s history behind us. It is time for all of us to move forward with a renewed commitment to transparency and high ethical standards in our City government."
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who won a conviction against Kilpatrick for perjury, congratulated the US Attorney's office for the verdicts.
"I would like to congratulate the U.S. Attorneys Office on their successful prosecution of this complex corruption case. I will reserve any further comment until Defendant Kwame Kilpatrick is sentenced," Worthy said.
The verdicts are an ignoble end to Kilpatrick's political career, which was riddled with scandal. Early in his first term Kwame was known for hard partying ways, including a rumored party at the city's Manoogian Mansion. He then got caught leasing a $57,000 Lincoln Navigator
for his wife on the city's dime, and a series of text messages were made public revealing an extramarital affair.
McQuade said there were 35 people arrested in connection with corruption in Kwame Kilpatrick's administration and it's unlikely anyone else will be charged.
A number of witnesses admitted to bribing officials in exchange for government favors.
McQuade said "at the end of the day, I think it is the public officials who more culpable than the bribe payers... It's the public officials who create that culture of bribery and play-to-play that is so poisonous."
including four bribe payers — Karl Kado, a Cobo Hall Contractor; James Rosendall, a Synagro representative found guilty of bribing City Council in an attempt to win a $1.2 billion sludge contract; Jon Rutherforrd, president of a homeless shelter that donated $50,00 to the Civic Fund
"This is not a day for celebration," McQuade said. "There's human tragedy involved. It's never a happy day to see defendants go to prison. There are family members who will be impacted by this but we do think it is necessary.
"It's about going forward and what we're going to expect from our public officials... so although it's not a reason for celebration, it is a day of of great satisfaction and gratification that the jury did what we believe is the right thing."
Here's a breakdown of the charges against the three defendants:
Kwame scandal flashback:
The Manoogian Mansion party
MLive
Mar 11, 2013
DETROIT — The Manoogian Mansion party that never was — or at least that never was proven — is among the most fantastic of Kwame Kilpatrick lore.
Less than a year into his tenure came the most famous unproven party in Detroit's history, the raucous, stripper-pole laden Manoogian Mansion party that lore says involved a fight between Detroit's first lady and a stripper named "Strawberry."
But, then again, many say it never happened, including investigative reporter M.L. Elrick, formerly of the Detroit Free Press where he helped break the text-message scandal that led to Kilpatrick's resignation. He is now with Fox 2 News.
"We could never prove that it happened (and I believe it did not, at least not as portrayed in legend)," wrote Elrick in October of 2012 reminiscing about the time he and fellow reporter Jim Schaefer of the Free Press received a private tour of the mansion. "We were more successful confirming that Hizzoner used city funds to lease a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife, Carlita."
Fact or fiction, it affected Kilpatrick for years.
On record witnesses to the party include a stripper who identified the party as happening in March of 2003, even though all other accounts indicate it was in the fall of 2002, and a biker who said he was paid to provide security.
According to lore, stripper Tamara Greene was seen by the First Lady giving Kilpatrick a lap dance, which prompted Carlita Kilpatrick to grab a blunt object, potentially a leg from a piece of furniture, and attack Greene.
Greene would be killed in a drive-by shooting that occurred in April of 2003, which led to rumors that it might have been an inside job to keep her quiet.
A former police officer claimed she heard second hand that then-Attorney General Mike Cox, who later investigated the party rumors on behalf of the state, attended Manoogian Mansion party.
Attorneys on behalf of Greene's son would file a $150 million lawsuit against the city alleging a coverup by Kilpatrick and the city by destroying documents and demoting or firing of six investigators who investigated Greene's death. The case was thrown out of court in 2011 for lack of evidence but is now being considered on appeal.
To the surprise of appellate judges, U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen who dismissed the case in 2011, sealed much of the evidence, including the depositions of former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, and Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, and his former aide Christine Beatty.
Mention of the party first became public in May of 2003, days after Kilpatrick fired Deputy Chief Gary Brown in retaliation for an investigation into indiscretions by the mayor's security detail.
Brown released a memo mentioning the 2002 party and accusing Kilpatrick's bodyguards of misconduct.
Brown and two other officers would file a whistleblower lawsuit which was settled for more than $8 million in 2007. Attorneys in that case uncovered the steamy emails between Kilpatrick and Beatty that eventually were made public by the Detroit Free Press and led to Kilpatrick's resignation and perjury allegations.
Ernest Flagg V City Of Detroit -
Obstruction of justice in the investigation of Tamara Greene murder - OPINION
Michigan Court Of Appeals
April 25, 2013
Greene family, city of Detroit keep legal battle alive in bankruptcy court
Detroit News
May 15, 2014
Detroit - More than a decade after a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion and the slaying of exotic dancer Tamara Greene, the battle over whether the city and former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick quashed the murder investigation continued Thursday with a filing in federal bankruptcy court.
Greene's family filed a lawsuit in 2005 in U.S. District Court against Kilpatrick and the city, claiming the disgraced mayor and his appointees obstructed the police probe into her April 2003 drive-by killing. But the lawsuit is frozen because the city is in bankruptcy, so both the family's attorneys and the city have filed motions in federal bankruptcy court to argue their cases.
The lawsuit, which sought $154 million in damages, was denied in 2011 by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen. Norman Yatooma, attorney for the Greene family, appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The appellate court last year upheld the lower court's decision.
Yatooma plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but when the city filed bankruptcy in July 2013, all lawsuits against the city were put on hold. In February, Yatooma filed a proof of claim in bankruptcy court listing Greene's family as one of the city's creditors; the motion filed Thursday by the city objected to Yatooma's proof of claim.
"The city has no liability to the claimant ... and seeks the entry of an order ... disallowing and expunging the claim," city attorneys wrote in Thursday's court filing. "The city seeks the entry of an order disallowing and expunging the claim because the claim asserts alleged liabilities that have already been adjudicated on a final basis in the city's favor."
Yatooma said Thursday his filing and the city's were perfunctory.
"We filed an appeal for writ to the U.S. Supreme Court, but bankruptcy automatically stays all litigation," he said. "We had to file a proof of claim in bankruptcy court to say our case is still pending. If we didn't file that in bankruptcy court, we'd waive our right to appeal (to the Supreme Court), and if the city had to file their objection. That's what happened (Thursday)."
Yatooma expressed hope that the High Court would rule in favor of the Greene family, since both Rosen and the appellate judges found the city destroyed evidence in the Greene case.
"The federal court dismissed our case, but in the same hearing the magistrate made a scathing recommendation for sanctioning the city for destroying evidence," Yatooma said. "So the judge accepted that recommendation, then dismissed our case for lack of evidence. So the city destroyed evidence, but didn't hamper the investigation? That's incredible."
The appeals court judges wrote: "Even assuming that all missing items and counterproductive personnel assignments were pursuant to a policy of obstruction, plaintiffs fail to raise a genuine question of disputed fact as to whether a reasonable probability exists that Greene's killer would have been found absent the alleged policy. Thus, the District Court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit."
Rumors of a raucous party at the mayor's residence eventually led to Kilpatrick's downfall. The mayor fired then-deputy chief Gary Brown, who claimed in a lawsuit he was dismissed for investigating the alleged party. Officer Harold Nelthorpe also sued the city on the same grounds.
In 2007, a jury awarded Brown and Nelthrope $6.5 million after a trial in which Kilpatrick and chief of staff Christine Beatty denied they had an affair. After vowing an appeal, Kilpatrick abruptly changed course and settled for $8.4 million.
It was later revealed that Brown's attorney, Mike Stefani, had given text messages to the Detroit Free Press prior to the settlement, which showed Kilpatrick and Beatty were involved in an affair.
Stefani claimed he'd given the text messages to the newspaper "for safekeeping."
Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, and eventually pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, and agreed to abdicate the mayor's seat.
After serving a four-month jail term and moving to Texas, Kilpatrick was indicted by federal authorities for public corruption in a separate case. In October 2013, he was sentenced by federal Judge Nancy Edmunds to 28 years in prison, matching the longest sentence ever given to a public official.
Kilpatrick is serving his sentence in an Oklahoma federal prison.
Daughter of Tamara Greene speaks out for justice in mother's murder
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Aug 8, 2017
Detroit council approves $250M tax breaks for Bedrock
Detroit News
November 21, 2017
Detroit - The City Council on Tuesday approved $250 million in new state tax incentives for Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Detroit.
Bedrock needed council approval to get the incentives for four "transformational" projects that could redefine downtown. The plan has been met with some public rancor over the billionaire's need for tax money to help finance the ambitious projects.
The council voted, 7-1, in favor of the incentives, with Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez voting no.
Castaneda-Lopez said she believes Bedrock has done a good job of reaching out to the community but believes the council has a limited understanding of the company's true financial need.
"Fundamentally, I just struggle with the public subsidies that we give to larger corporations without a true fiscal analysis," she said. "What's an application look like that doesn't have any of the abatements factored in?"
Bedrock sought the quick approval as it aims to use part of the tax incentive to start construction in December on the former Hudson's site, an estimated $909 million project.
"We are very excited," said Jared Fleisher, vice president of government affairs for Quicken Loans and the family of companies. "We very much appreciate the city council's support. This is obviously a critical step for us in delivering these four transformational projects."
The tax incentives, known as transformational brownfield tax credits, were created this year by the state Legislature after Gilbert played a high-profile role in a statewide coalition that lobbied for the legislation.
Bedrock wants to apply the new state tax breaks on four downtown projects that it says are part of a $2.1 billion investment.
Fleisher said that there is one final approval needed with the Michigan Strategic Fund, and that's expected in December or early 2018.
The four projects include creating the tallest building in the city on the empty historic Hudson's site; developing three acres of mainly empty space for the Monroe Block, renovating the equivalent of 7.2 football fields of interior space at the long-dormant Book Tower and Building, and a major expansion of the One Campus Martius building.
According to the proposal, the bulk of the $250 million in tax incentives would come from state income tax generated by residents living in the new developments; state income tax generated by workers at the developments; state income tax on construction labor building the projects, and state sales tax on construction materials used to build the massive projects.
Further, the $250 million would be used to pay off bonds Bedrock will issue on the project and the tax money would be captured over a period of 30 years. Those taxes will come from revenues created from the new developments, which currently include buildings that have been empty or dormant for years.
Each of the four projects is estimated to take five years of construction to complete.
Some residents decried the incentives Tuesday as an unfair benefit for the wealthy. Others praised Bedrock as a partner, telling council the approvals will help bring jobs and upgrades to city communities.
Allison Laskey, a member of the Charlevoix Village Association neighborhood group, urged council to hold off on approving the plan during public comment.
"There hasn't been enough time for due process," said Laskey, who is worried about budget implications and job creation. "This is a very important piece of legislation, and it's taking place on a short-time frame. Why rush this through City Council between the election and the Thanksgiving holiday?"
But others, such as Keith Stallworth, a representative for the Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan, touted the construction jobs that will be created at the sites over the next five years.
"We consider a good collaborator one that identifies a problem and is willing to sit with those that are interested in solving it," he said.
Bedrock and city officials gave a lengthy presentation during a subcommittee session earlier this month explaining how no general revenue taxes or money dedicated for the Detroit public schools would be used in financing the project.
"There wasn't a penny of city taxes captured under this (tax increment financing)," Fleisher said. "There's no impact on the school district. It's a very positive day all around for the city. This investment without any capture of city taxes will be an enormous positive impact to the city."
Further, officials said, the city could see $673 million in new tax revenue.
Donor comes forward with additional $100K reward for info on Tamara Greene's murder
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Oct 30, 2018
Tamara Greene murder: $100K reward added
Click On Detroit
Oct 30, 2018
Reward for arrest in Tamara Greene's death grows to $102K+
The Detroit News
Oct 30, 2018
The reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects in the slaying of an exotic dancer embroiled in a Kwame Kilpatrick scandal has gotten a $100,000 boost.
Crime Stoppers of Michigan officials will hold a news conference Wednesday to announce the reward, which now totals $102,500 thanks to an anonymous donor. The 2 p.m. news conference will be held at Crime Stoppers' offices in Southfield.
Tamara Greene, an exotic dancer who went by the name "Strawberry," was killed April 30, 2003, at the age of 27.
Greene, a single mother of three, was pulling her car up to a curb at Roselawn and West Outer Drive on Detroit's northwest side when an unknown person in a white Chevrolet Blazer passed by her vehicle and fired multiple gunshots.
Four months before her death, Greene allegedly performed at a party for Kilpatrick at the city’s Manoogian Mansion. The existence of that party was never formally proven.
Greene's family filed a lawsuit in 2005 in U.S. District Court against Kilpatrick and the city, claiming the disgraced mayor and his appointees obstructed the police probe into her April 2003 drive-by killing.
The lawsuit, which sought $154 million in damages, was denied in 2011 by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen. Steven Rhodes, a U.S. bankruptcy judge, disallowed and expunged the lawsuit in 2014.
Last year, Greene's death became the basis for a true crime drama called “Strawberry — What Party?”
Law firm puts up $100K reward to solve murder of Tamara Greene
WXYZ-TV News Detroit
Oct 31, 2018
Crimestoppers: $100K reward offered in Tamara Green's murder
Click On Detroit
Oct 31, 2018
Officials hope bigger reward can crack Tamara Greene murder
James David Dickson
The Detroit News
Oct 31, 2018
Southfield — The search for answers in the murder of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene has been long and difficult, stretching out more than 15 years.
But with an anonymous donor stepping forward and sweetening the reward pot for information leading to an arrest in the case to $102,500, officials hope those answers will come soon.
The original reward offered was $2,500.
Greene was dropping off boyfriend Eric "Big E" Mitchell at his home, in the area of Roselawn and West Outer Drive, about 3:40 a.m. April 30, 2003, when a white Chevy Trailblazer pulled up and someone inside fired shots, striking Greene three times, police say.
The circumstances surrounding Greene’s death have been clouded in unproven theories that have become part of Detroit lore over the years.
One theory claims that Greene, 27, was killed by Detroit police officers after dancing at a 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion during the tenure of then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The theory is that she was slain because she "knew too much" and wanted money for her silence.
"But the very existence of the party has never been confirmed," as a 2008 Detroit News article on the case explained, "nor has any connection been shown between Greene's ... slaying and city hall."
Mike Cox, Michigan's attorney general at the time, famously dismissed the alleged party as an urban legend. The family sued the city in federal court in 2005, alleging a cover-up, but the case was dismissed in 2011.
Another theory had it that a man named Darrett King, a drug dealer and rival of Mitchell's, made sexual advances on Greene at a party about two weeks before her death and was rebuffed. Mitchell, law enforcement said at the time, intervened and beat up King. The gunfire that killed Greene also hit Mitchell five times, and Mitchell gave investigators King's nickname, telling them "it was Little D," police said.
A retired Detroit Police homicide detective testified years ago during an unrelated trial that he believes King shot Greene.
King would serve a year in prison after being convicted by a Wayne County jury of cocaine distribution under 50 grams, an offense that took place the day of Greene's death. He's at the Thumb Correctional Facility, serving time on a 2009 conviction for assault with intent to murder. That conviction stemmed from a December 2004 incident. The earliest King will get out is October 2027, and the latest is July 2038, prison records show.
A Crime Stoppers of Michigan press conference held Wednesday didn't touch on the theories for how the mother of three ended up dead. Investigators familiar with the case declined to discuss any aspect of it.
“In a perfect world, there would be no killing of a 27-year-old mom,” Matt Conquest, director of law enforcement relations for the organization, said.
Tipsters can reach Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. All tipsters remain anonymous and Crime Stoppers pays after there is an arrest.
Greene slaying reward upped by another $50K
James David Dickson
The Detroit News
Nov 14, 2018
Detroit — The reward for information leading to an arrest in the 2003 murder of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene has been upped by another $50,000, Crime Stoppers of Michigan announced Tuesday.
That brings the total to $152,500.
In late October, an anonymous donor came forward and sweetened the reward by $100,000. It had started out at $2,500, the standard reward in Crime Stoppers homicide cases.
Now the donor is identifying himself as Robert Carmack, the organization noted in a news release.
Carmack told Crime Stoppers that he made the initial reward donation — and the subsequent donation — because he had been a single father. Greene had three children at the time of her death.
Greene was dropping off boyfriend Eric "Big E" Mitchell at his home, in the area of Roselawn and West Outer Drive, about 3:40 a.m. April 30, 2003, when a white Chevy Trailblazer pulled up and someone inside fired shots, striking Greene three times, police say.
A number of theories have been offered to explain Greene's death, but none have resulted in an arrest and conviction some 15 years later.
One theory claims that Greene, 27, was killed by Detroit police officers after dancing at a 2002 party at the Manoogian Mansion during the tenure of then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The theory is that she was slain because she "knew too much" and wanted money for her silence.
"But the very existence of the party has never been confirmed," as a 2008 Detroit News article on the case explained, "nor has any connection been shown between Greene's ... slaying and city hall."
Mike Cox, Michigan's attorney general at the time, famously dismissed the alleged party as an urban legend. The family sued the city in federal court in 2005, alleging a cover-up, but the case was dismissed in 2011.
Another theory had it that a man named Darrett King, a drug dealer and rival of Mitchell's, made sexual advances on Greene at a party about two weeks before her death and was rebuffed. Mitchell, law enforcement said at the time, intervened and beat up King. The gunfire that killed Greene also hit Mitchell five times, and Mitchell gave investigators King's nickname, telling them "it was Little D," police said.
A retired Detroit Police homicide detective testified years ago during an unrelated trial that he believes King shot Greene.
King would serve a year in prison after being convicted by a Wayne County jury of cocaine distribution under 50 grams, an offense that took place the day of Greene's death. He's at the Thumb Correctional Facility, serving time on a 2009 conviction for assault with intent to murder. That conviction stemmed from a December 2004 incident. The earliest King will get out is October 2027, and the latest is July 2038, prison records show.
Tipsters who have information on Greene's death can reach Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 800-SPEAK-UP.
Tamara Greene reward could be up to $252,500
Metro Times
Nov 15, 2018
There could be more than $250,000 available for a tipster with information that could solve the murder of Tamara Greene, a stripper who was killed in 2003with alleged ties to disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Earlier this month, a donor added $100,000 to the $2,500 in the Crime Stoppers of Michigan's reward fund, and later added another $50,000 — bringing the total to $152,500.
Metro Times initially reported that Greene family attorney Norman Yatooma had donated the $100,000 to the reward fund, based on a press conference held by Yatooma earlier this month in which he made the claim. However, Crime Stoppers of Michigan says it was not Yatooma who had donated to the fund but rather controversial Detroit businessman Robert Carmack. (Why Carmack would donate to the fund is unclear, although it could be an attempt to drum up some positive publicity as Carmack is embroiled in an ugly land dispute with the city.)
When asked about the discrepancy, a spokesman for Yatooma provided a balance to Metro Times showing an additional sum of $100,000 in a "Tamara Greene reward fund." When we showed that to Crime Stoppers, a spokeswoman said the organization cannot consider the donation as part of its official Tamara Greene fund because they have not been given the money yet. For it to count, Yatooma will have to cut a check to the organization and sign a contract, which Crime Stoppers says he has not yet done.
Giving Yatooma the benefit of the doubt, we emailed his spokesman to tell him that he has to actually give Crime Stoppers the money for it to be added to the fund. In a response, Yatooma says his $100,000 reward is separate and in addition to the one offered from Crime Stoppers.
"To be clear, our money is not for Crime Stoppers but rather for whomever provides information that leads to the prosecution of Tammy’s murderer," he writes. "The police agency that the tipster chooses is of no import to us. They can call Crime Stoppers, our office, or the DPD directly. If a person is charged with her murder, that tipster will receive $100k from our firm. The reward money has been deposited, you have been provided the account statement, and I have now publicly made that pledge. Our interest is simply in providing long overdue justice to three kids who lost their mother to the evil intent of another. It’s time for that person to finally pay for that fatal crime."
$252,500 ought to loosen some lips.
Greene, who was known as a dancer named "Strawberry" and a mother of three, was alleged to have attended a long-rumored but never proven party at the Mayor's Manoogian Mansion in 2002. On April 30, 2003, Greene was shot in a drive-by while dropping off her boyfriend Eric "Big E" Mitchell at his home near Roselawn and West Outer Drive in northwest Detroit. The drive-by vehicle was believed to be a white Chevy Trailblazer, according to police.
Tipsters with any information are asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-773-2587.
Crimetown Podcast: The Murder Of Tamara Greene
Feb 2019
Popular podcast Crimetown focuses on Kwame Kilpatrick, Tamara Greene murder
WXYZ-TV Detroit
Feb 5, 2019
Evidence found in retired Detroit Police homicide detective's home during eviction
Feb 8, 2019
The Mayor (Kwame Kilpatrick / Tamara Greene)
Swindled
Feb 16, 2019
Unsolved slaying of stripper Tamara Greene gets national audience in podcast
Detroit Free Press
Feb 17, 2019
The fate of a slain stripper rumored to have danced at a never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion in Detroit grabbed headlines for more than a decade, led to a lengthy legal battle and even became fodder for a play.
Now Tamara Greene’s controversial, unsolved case is getting national attention in the podcast “Crimetown.”
Episode 15 of Season 2 is devoted to the death of the 27-year-old mother who danced under the name Strawberry and was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2003. The episode was released Monday on Spotify.
Listen: 'The Murder of Tamara Greene' episode of the 'Crimetown' podcast on Spotify (registration required)
“What we tried to do with the episode was take the listener on the sort of journey a Detroiter might have gone on ... hearing about this case,” Crimetown senior producer Drew Nelles said.
Greene was fatally shot several months after rumors of the party at the mansion, where she supposedly danced. Greene’s family claimed in a lawsuit that then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sabotaged the murder investigation to protect himself and his then-wife after Greene was attacked at the alleged party.
The party has never been proven and no one has ever been charged in Greene's killing.
“It’s a challenging story to tell because there are just so many competing narratives around it,” Nelles said.
The podcast features interviews with police who investigated the case and offered conflicting theories; a retired Detroit EMS lieutenant; Greene's pastor, the Rev. Ken Hampton; an ex-boyfriend of Greene's, and attorney Norman Yatooma. Yatooma unsuccessfully sued the city and Kilpatrick, alleging Greene’s murder investigation was sabotaged to prevent her killers from being found.
He pointed to missing evidence and deleted emails that were brought up in the lawsuit, which was eventually tossed by a federal judge who concluded there wasn’t evidence of a cover-up.
Kilpatrick has maintained he never interfered in the murder investigation and has long denied the party happened.
Listeners of "Crimetown" hear some of the unproven theories about what happened to Greene, including that cops may have been involved. A retired Detroit Police homicide detective shared that he believes Greene’s boyfriend, who was with her when she was killed, was the intended target.
“Tamara Greene, the bottom line, was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all this comes down to,” said Mike Carlisle, the retired cop who worked on the case. “If the mayor was involved, I’d gladly have put a pair of handcuffs on that man for what he did to the city of Detroit, but he wasn’t.”
But retired Detroit Fire EMS Lt. Michael Kearns described responding to a call at a gas station where a woman, who said her name was Tammy Greene, told him she was dancing at a party at the Manoogian and got hit by the mayor’s then-wife.
“She had been crying.” Kearns said of his encounter with the woman. Kearns' account has been reported before, including in the Free Press.
Season 2 of the podcast focuses on Detroit and includes stories about corruption in the city. The series also includes interviews with Free Press staff writer Jim Schaefer and his reporting partner back then, M.L. Elrick, who broke the stories that led to Kilpatrick's downfall.
Half of the 20 episodes are devoted to the saga surrounding Kilpatrick, who is serving 28 years in prison for corruption.
“It’s impossible to do that story without going into the Tamara Greene case at least a little,” Nelles said. “Obviously, it’s a very complicated story with a lot of competing opinions, and there was just absolutely no way to do the story justice without devoting at least an entire episode to it.”
Looking back at some of Michigan's biggest unsolved cases
Click On Detroit
March 20, 2019
DETROIT – Local 4 is dedicating a day to bringing awareness to unsolved cases around Michigan.
Unsolved Michigan Day will bring you stories of unsolved cases, including criminal cases, murders and missing persons.
See how profiling cold cases that are solved leads to reports of new unsolved cases for detectives.
The Oakland County child killer is the center of Season 3 of Shattered. See why detectives feel strongly this case can still be solved.
What happened to Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton? Their father is in prison on kidnapping charges but the three boys have not been seen since Thanksgiving 2010.
Phone Bank: The Michigan State Police Missing Persons Unit will be taking tips on unsolved missing persons cases and reports on new cases from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. CALL: (313) 298-WDIV
Some of these cases have remained unsolved for decades. Here are some of the cases we're highlighting:
Detroit woman Tamara Greene's murder unsolved after more than 15 years
The murder of an exotic dancer in Detroit back in 2003 remains unsolved.
Family members said Tamara Greene was pulling her car up to a curb at Roselawn Street and West Outer Drive to drop off her boyfriend when an unidentified man in a white Chevrolet Blazer pulled around the corner and began shooting at the car.
Detroit woman Tamara Greene's murder unsolved after more than 15 years
Tamara Greene killed in drive-by shooting
Click On Detroit
March 20, 2019
DETROIT – The murder of an exotic dancer in Detroit back in 2003 remains unsolved.
Tamara Greene, 27, was a mother of three who went by the stage name "Strawberry."
Family members said Greene was pulling her car up to a curb at Roselawn Street and West Outer Drive to drop off her boyfriend when an unidentified man in a white Chevrolet Blazer pulled around the corner and began shooting at the car.
Tamara Greene was a stripper rumored to have danced at the never-proven party at the Manoogian Mansion when Kwame Kilpatrick was mayor.
Her killer was never found.
New push to find her killer
Attorney Norman Yatooma announced he is offering $100,000 for information that leads to an arrest. The reward appears to have doubled, as Crime Stoppers said $100,000 was added by an anonymous donor.
Yatooma, on behalf of Greene’s children, sued the city of Detroit, claiming it quashed the investigation into her death at every turn.
The suit was eventually dismissed after the judge said they lacked evidence.
“Every single tipster we talked to, every person who called in anonymously, every single person that disguised their number, their voice, every single person was afraid,” Yatooma said.
Yatooma said he believes enough time has passed and someone might come forward due to the reward.
Tamara Greene Press Conference
Crime Stoppers
Jun 19, 2019
Rubin: The fleshed-out story of Strawberry Greene
The Detroit News
Oct 12, 2019
The most sympathetic character in “Strawberry — What Party?” is a dead stripper.
That’s part of the point. No one will walk into the theater eager to waste emotion on Kwame Kilpatrick, unless you count a bit of loathing and a renewed regret for all that wasted talent.
But 131/2 years after she died and well after she stopped showing up in headlines, she has mostly become a name and a mystery — and now, a role to be won.
Maybe there was a bachelor party at Manoogian Mansion, back when Kilpatrick lived there and not a federal prison in Oklahoma. Maybe Tamara (Strawberry) Greene danced at the bacchanal, and maybe the mayor’s wife attacked her with a bat or a table leg.
If you’re willing to stretch credulity, maybe all of that had something to do with the bullets that raked her Buick Skylark in a drive-by that remains unsolved.
Playwright Carol Teegardin is unconvinced. This, however, she believes: Tammy Greene deserves better.
Better than what she had in life, which was precious little besides three children. Better than to be remembered only for her occupation and her strawberry tattoos.
She danced in “a club full of creeps,” Teegardin said, and had a series of unfortunate boyfriends. But after getting to know Greene’s family, part of the research for a book that became the basis for the play, she said Greene also had dreams and drive and a desire to be something different.
Now two very strong actresses are vying to play her. The first round of auditions was Tuesday at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, with callbacks scheduled for Thursday night.
Alenna Mae was more bold and Joselyn Hill was more vulnerable, and director Mary Bremer-Beer will have a difficult decision to make.
The show itself is supposed to open Jan. 20 at the Marlene Boll Theatre in the downtown Detroit YMCA — go to BrownPaperTickets.com or call (800) 838-3006 — and yes, Kilpatrick will also loom large.
Or at least he will if Bremer-Beer can find the right actor.
Finding the right fit
Teegardin and Beer tried to stage the play a year ago, but the cast wasn’t quite right and the theater they had in mind wasn’t quite in Teegardin’s price range.
A former journalist, teacher and actress and current mostly-retired substitute, she’s bankrolling the production and hoping ticket sales for a six-night run will recoup her $12,000. At one point Tuesday, she walked through the lobby of the college theater holding copies of “Strawberry” over her head and calling out, “Ten bucks. Anybody?”
Inside, Bremer-Beer was explaining that she wanted realism, honesty and affection, even for the racketeering mayor who’s doing 28 years.
“He was in love,” Bremer-Beer was saying. “He loved both these women,” meaning his wife and chief of staff Christine Beatty. “And he loved Detroit.”
“You’re going to have to love your character,” she said. “You have to love yourself.”
Someone will have to find the vulnerability in a big, brash, charismatic and conniving politician. But that’s part of acting.
Acting the part “I guess they’re all bad guys,” said Claude Lyons, 52, of Detroit.
Indeed they were. There was Bobby Ferguson, the mayor’s partner in crime, and the enabling bodyguards, and Greene’s thieving boyfriend who ultimately went to prison himself, and the mayor’s dad who served 15 months for tax evasion.
And there was Lyons with his friend, Ed Gaines, 61, a retired police officer he met doing church theater, auditioning to play someone who was almost certain to be unsavory.
“I’m from the east side,” said Lyons, a public works supervisor. “I’m used to grime.”
Acting, he explained, “allows you to get outside yourself and express emotions you can’t express as yourself.”
Then he paused, and he and Gaines offered modest grins: “... Because we’re law-abiding citizens.”
Reggie Cashaw of Mount Clemens was one of two candidates to play Kilpatrick, the least law-abiding figure in the drama.
He pledged Alpha Phi Alpha in college like Kilpatrick, and he was an offensive lineman in high school like Kilpatrick, but he didn’t radiate authority the way the mayor did.
Roosevelt Johnson of Detroit has a commanding voice and a long resume, but he’s 58 and less physically imposing than Cashaw.
Heading into callbacks, no decision had been made.
The jury was still out.
Former lawmaker blazed trail for others
34-year House member founded the Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan, founded and led the Black Child Development Institute
Detroit News
August 27, 2020
Longtime Detroit lawmaker and a founder of the Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan Alma Stallworth died Tuesday, her family confirmed on Facebook. She was 87.
Mrs. Stallworth's death prompted messages of consolation from the Detroit Legislative Caucus and the Michigan Democratic Party, who praised her as a "constant fixture in Detroit politics for decades."
Her son, Thomas Stallworth III, confirmed his mother's death on Facebook, noting that she had gone to be with her husband, "her partner of 65 years."
"Today the loss of mom almost a year after my dad leaves a hole in my heart the size of a crater!" Thomas Stallworth III said. "The out pouring of support by the friends God has provided reminds me of how blessed I am and that I'm not alone in feeling this loss."
Thomas Stallworth and his brother, Keith, are former state representatives.
"We know all is good ... as you can now rest in the arms of your lifelong love and our Lord!" Keith Stallworth wrote.
Mrs. Stallworth served in the state House from 1970 to 2004, during which time she "recognized the lack of and need for Black voices in government and policy-making spaces," the Detroit Caucus said Wednesday in a statement.
"Many of us serving today couldn't have done so without her work and dedication," the caucus said. "Rep. Stallworth will be greatly missed, and her legacy lives on in all of us."
Mrs. Stallworth paved her own path at a time when there wasn't one laid out for her, said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint.
"A longtime public servant, champion for other Black lawmakers and dedicated advocate for children, Alma created a lasting legacy that will continue to benefit Michigan communities," Ananich said. "We will honor her by continuing her work of making our state a more fair, equal place."
Besides founding the Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan, which develops policy and programs affecting Black communities in Michigan, Mrs. Stallworth was president and founder of the Black Child Development Institute, whose Detroit affiliate focused on literacy, child welfare and health policy.
Mrs. Stallworth's "guidance and wise counsel" left a legacy that "will be felt for decades to come," said Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes.
"The sparkle of pride in her eyes, when she acknowledged me as the first Black woman to chair the Michigan Democratic Party, was a treasure for me personally," Barnes said in a statement. "It was decades of her hard work that helped make that possible."
Kwame Kilpatrick’s release brings back painful memories for former Detroit assistant chief
Click On Detroit
January 26, 2021
DETROIT – When Kwame Kilpatrick had his sentence commuted by former President Donald Trump bad memories started emerging for Steve Dolunt, a retired Detroit police assistant chief.
On Tuesday, Dolunt shared the painful period in his life and career during Kilpatrick’s tenure as Detroit mayor.
“They went through hell worrying about me and I didn’t realize it at the time how they were worried about me,” he said.
Dolunt got emotional talking about the incredible stress his family was under that started back in 2003 when his life and career were turned upside down.
Kilpatrick was the reason and when the disgraced mayor was freed in January of 2021, years of emotions were again ripped open for Dolunt’s wife.
“I called home and she was in tears. She was angry and upset. I said what’s the problem? She said, they put you through hell,” added Dolunt.
It started when Dolunt was transferred to the Detroit Police Internal Affairs Department.
He was handed three memos outlining troubling concerns that the officers on Kilpatrick’s security detail were involved in a party with strippers at the Manoogian Mansion.
There were allegations of overtime abuse and having crashed department vehicles fixed under the table. However, there was no mention of Kilpatrick.
“We were investigating the officers on staff. Not him. One thing led to another. Didn’t help that Strawberry (Tamara Greene) the dancer got killed. It kept ballooning and ballooning. Gary Brown, now in charge of the water department, he got screwed. He did. Bottom line,” said Dolunt.
Then deputy police chief, Gary Brown, was fired. Dolunt was then locked out of the investigation he launched.
“The ironic part is, I was internal affairs and I was being locked out of my files and doing my job granted, career wise, terrible. I got demoted, transferred. It was terrible. It really was bad,” he said.
The department transferred Dolunt 12 times in two years.
Jerry Oliver was the Detroit police chief at the time.
“Jerry Oliver said to me, an amoeba has more sense than to investigate the mayor. But I wasn’t investigating the mayor, it was his officers. It got to a level of the mayor’s office,” he said.
There was the murder of Greene. Kilpatrick’s text messages came to light. Then campaign cash scandals and rigged contracts were under investigation.
Dolunt wasn’t a part of any of those investigations. Instead he says his department relentlessly made life miserable for him, even sending him home to get a box to clean out his desk.
“I had to go home. My wife says, what are you doing here? You’re home for lunch? No. She could tell something was wrong. It is hard to tell your family you have been demoted, you didn’t do anything wrong that was really, really hard,” he said.
And the hardest part for Dolunt was he walked out of his office with that box in front of his fellow officers.
He could have ignored it and shoved everything under his desk. Dolunt says the right thing to do was to investigate it as the story got bigger.
“To me the kicker is, Kwame Kilpatrick is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met. He could have been the first Black president and I honestly believe that in my heart. He was that smart. He was that good. Unfortunately, he was also a criminal,” he said.
Mother of 3 Murdered – Did the MAYOR do it?
Brooke Makenna
Feb 28, 2021
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