Lawyer in slain stripper case accuses Cox of campaign posturing
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 Thursday to subpoenas filed in the family’s lawsuit against the city of Detroit.
A spokesman for Cox today denied the allegation.
Lawyer 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.
But in a court filing Thursday, lawyers from the attorney general’s office 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 by way of investigative subpoenas must be kept confidential.
The court documents, titled “motion to quash/objection to subpoenas,” also say that because the three detectives are not now stationed in southeast Michigan, it “would require undue burden and expense” for them to travel to Birmingham, where Yatooma’s office is located, to be deposed.
“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 stripper 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.
But John Sellek, a spokesman for Cox, said the Michigan State Police object to many aspects of the subpoenas sent to the detectives, and it is standard practice and required by state law for lawyers from the attorney general’s office to represent state agencies in court.
“The attorney general wants to see the Greene murder case solved,” Sellek said today. “He’s glad that (Detroit Police) Chief (Warren) Evans is looking at the case again.”
The state police issued a statement today 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 for the upcoming deposition,” said the statement from Insp. Greg Zarotney, the state police litigation coordinator.
Cox announced in May that he is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
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.
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