Kilpatrick’s wife, father to give deposition in stripper case
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.
