Detroit Text Messages to Be Reviewed
Two magistrates will review text messages subpoenaed in a $150 million lawsuit against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city to determine if they are relevant to the case, according to a ruling Friday.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, followed a conference with attorneys representing Kilpatrick and the city and the 14-year-old son of slain stripper Tamara Greene.
Attorney Norman Yatooma is seeking thousands of text messages from Kilpatrick, former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and dozens of other police and city employees from the morning Greene was killed and other times from Sept. 1, 2002 through last October.
But before those text messages are reviewed, Yatooma’s list has to be narrowed, attorney Jeffrey Morganroth said.
“The requests provided so far by the plaintiff are overbroad,” said Morganroth, who is representing the mayor and city. “The time period has to be narrowed. He also has to narrow down whose messages he wants to look at.”
The city is expected to produce a list of about 400 employees who had or have SkyTel pagers, Yatooma said Friday.
“Once we get the list of 400, we will narrow our request to 20 or so folks. That’s my off-the-cuff approximation,” he said. “But for the night of Tamara Greene’s murder, we want all pager communications from 1:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.”
SkyTel, the city’s communication’s provider, has said it is ready to deliver the records, Yatooma said.
Greene, 27, performed under the stage name “Strawberry” and was gunned down in front of her Detroit home on April 30, 2003. She is rumored to have danced several months earlier at an alleged party at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox investigated and said he found no evidence of such a party. Michigan State Police investigators also said that they found no evidence of wrongdoing following claims of a cover-up.
Kilpatrick, 37, repeatedly has denied such a party took place.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Jonathan Bond claims that Kilpatrick’s office stifled the investigation into his mother’s death.
