Figure in Greene Case Sentenced in Unrelated Crime

The man identified by the former lead investigator as the key suspect in the slaying of stripper Tamara (Strawberry) Greene was sentenced today to 14 to 25 years in prison for an unrelated double shooting.

A Wayne County Circuit Court jury earlier this month convicted Darrett (Little D) King of two counts of assault with intent to murder for the 2004 Christmas Eve shooting of two men outside a west-side Detroit gas station during a failed robbery.

King, 36, claimed that he was being framed by Detroit police investigators who are anxious to solve the shooting death of Greene. Her unsolved slaying has drawn wide attention because of a never-proven party held by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the city’s mayoral residence.

According to the rumors, Greene, who went by the stage name Strawberry, danced at the Manoogian mansion in the fall of 2002 and was later assaulted by the mayor’s wife.

Greene was killed April 30, 2003, in a drive-by shooting on Detroit’s west side. Her companion, Eric (Big E) Mitchell, was wounded.

Attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene’s family in a lawsuit related to her death, has said that Mitchell has told his staff investigators that King was not the shooter.

In the double shooting, King told the court that he was a successful dope dealer who had no reason to pull a robbery.

But retired homicide detective Michael Carlisle told jurors his investigation of King’s possible role in the Greene slaying led him to the 2004 shootings.