Tamara Greene’s lawyer wants flagged texts

A lawyer for the family of slain stripper Tamara Greene filed a motion Wednesday asking that he be given access to 13 text messages that might shed light on her 2003 killing.

Freep.com first reported last week that federal magistrate judges reviewing messages singled out the 13 text messages from hundreds that were exchanged April 30, 2003 — the day Greene was fatally shot — on city-leased pagers.

It’s unclear what the messages say, who exchanged them or why the magistrate judges singled them out.

Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma wrote in his motion Wednesday that the magistrates identified the messages in a sealed Oct. 14 order. Yatooma filed a subsequent request to review the messages and said that he has not received a response.

Greene was rumored to have danced at a party at the Manoogian Mansion in fall 2002, though state investigators say the party never happened.

She was killed in a drive-by shooting the following spring.

Yatooma, who represents Greene’s teenage son and other family members, is suing the city, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his top aide Christine Beatty, police executives and others, alleging they derailed investigations into her death.

Kilpatrick, police officials and lawyers for the mayor and city all have denied any effort to derail any investigations.