MSP TROOPER TESTIFIES IN GREENE CASE — Trooper: Michigan AG Shut Down Investigation Too Early
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State Police trooper was questioned under oath Monday in Lansing regarding the investigation into the rumored but never-proven Manoogian Mansion party.
Tamara Greene, a dancer known as Strawberry, was rumored to have been at the alleged party thrown by former Detroit 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 denied that such a party took place.
In 2003, Michigan Attorney Mike Cox investigated and said he found no evidence that a party had occurred, calling the event an “urban legend.”
Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma 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.
MSP Lt. Curt Schram testified for more than six hours Monday. He was one of three detectives that were looking into her death until the case was closed.
Although his testimony was sealed, Local 4 Defenders have learned that Schram said Cox shut down the investigation into the Manoogian Mansion and an assault against Greene while there were still solid leads.
Schram said there was information from an FBI informant and a second confidential source that was never followed up on. Schram also said two Detroit police internal affairs officers had their computers tampered with and files were deleted.
MSP detective Mark Krebs has also previously given testimony, saying he believed the Detroit Police Department was destroying evidence in the case. In his testimony also, Krebs alleges that because of actions by Cox, he was powerless to stop them.
Krebs said Cox killed the investigation into an alleged assault by Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita, on Greene by refusing to allow investigators to subpoena witnesses and insisting Carlita not be interviewed at all.
Local 4 has learned that two more officers are expected to testify this week.
Cox has agreed to be deposed in the case on Dec. 11.
“Although the Attorney General’s office has never been involved in the Tamara Greene homicide investigation and case law would likely preclude any Attorney General from testifying in a case like this, Attorney General Cox will voluntarily offer testimony in her family’s suit against the City of Detroit in order to offer information regarding the department’s 2003 investigation of the Manoogian Mansion party rumors,” Cox’s office said in a statement.
