Attorney reviews police files on dancer’s death

Detroit — A legal team working for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara “Strawberry” Greene spent Wednesday reviewing the Detroit Police Department’s Greene homicide file.

They plan to return in about a week to complete the review, said lawyer Norman Yatooma, who saw the file, along with a private investigator and expert witness.
Yatooma would not discuss what he saw in the file, which he viewed under strict secrecy provisions ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen.

“Neither the file nor any information it contains shall be disclosed to any persons not participating in the review … absent an express order of the court authorizing such disclosure,” Rosen said in a written order.

Detroit police have said that premature release of the contents of the murder file could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.

Greene, linked to a long rumored but never proven stripper party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.

Her family alleges former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other top city and police officials obstructed the murder investigation for political reasons.
The defendants deny the allegations.

The police submitted the homicide file to the court under seal in April 2008.
Until recently, lawyers have been haggling over the terms under which Yatooma would be able to view it and other confidential records in the case. The case could go to trial next spring.