Worthy seeks to keep Greene suit under wraps: Free Press, other media seek access to depositions
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is asking a federal judge to keep sealed any portions of a lawsuit that reveal information in the ongoing investigation into the slaying of exotic dancer Tamara Greene.
A letter from Worthy to Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen was filed Monday in the lawsuit brought by Greene’s three children against the city of Detroit, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and police and city officials.
“For the past several years my office has conducted its own independent investigation into the murder of Tamara Greene,” Worthy wrote. “We have spent hundreds of hours interviewing witnesses and following up on leads. More recently, we have joined a multi-jurisdictional task force formed in an effort to solve this crime. Let me assure you that my office’s involvement into the investigation of this homicide is no ‘urban legend.’ “
Rosen has scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing Wednesday on a motion from the Free Press and other news media outlets to unseal various depositions, including that of state Attorney General Mike Cox, in the lawsuit.
Worthy stressed that her investigation isn’t dormant and she has veteran investigators and an assistant prosecutor to work with the task force.
“I would never suggest that the court should conduct a trial in secrecy or behind closed doors,” Worthy wrote. “I am simply asking that during the discovery phase of the civil lawsuit that the court maintains the procedural safeguards currently in place to avoid any interference with this ongoing investigation.”
Worthy also criticized the Detroit Police Department for its initial investigation into the killing calling it “woefully inadequate.”
“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,” she wrote. “It is important, however, to understand that because of the lack of a thorough investigation, my office became involved in this matter.”
The lawsuit by Greene’s three children charges that Detroit police intentionally stymied the investigation into Greene’s killing in a drive-by shooting, when someone rolled up in a white, two-door Chevy Blazer and fired, killing Greene on April 30, 2003, and wounding her boyfriend as they sat in a car outside his house. Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma represents the family.
Yatooma said he respects Worthy’s commitment to finding Greene’s killer.
“As it relates to Kym Worthy’s investigation into Tammy Greene’s murder, and our investigation into the cover up that followed, as Ms. Worthy says, ‘the initial investigation into [Tammy’s] murder was woefully inadequate,’“ Yatooma said. “Of course, we believe that this ‘woeful inadequacy’ occurred because the murder investigation was deliberately and unlawfully terminated. Both our investigation, and that of Ms. Worthy’s office, endeavors to learn the truth about what happened to Tammy Greene.”
According to a never-proven rumor — investigated by Detroit police and Michigan State Police — Greene, who went by the stage name Strawberry, danced at the mayoral Manoogian Mansion for Kilpatrick and others in fall 2002 and supposedly was assaulted by the mayor’s wife, who walked in on the party.
Cox, who investigated the party during a probe into allegations of misconduct by Kilpatrick and his inner circle, once deemed the party rumors as “urban legend.”
