Judge appoints magistrates to review text messages in Tamara Greene case

DETROIT — A federal judge has selected two magistrates who will review a trove of text messages sought by lawyers representing the son of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, according to court records released Friday.

U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen set up a series of rules temporarily shielding text messages sent from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other city officials and employees in a detailed court order. The rules are intended to keep the text messages confidential until they can be reviewed and it can be determined which, if any, will be given to Greene’s lawyer, Norman Yatooma.

Rosen also issued an opinion denying the city’s attempts to quash subpoenas served on SkyTel, the city’s text-messaging service.

The order was released one week after Rosen said Yatooma can pursue text messages that could prove damaging to Kilpatrick and the city. Yatooma has requested messages sent or received by Kilpatrick and 33 city officials and employees between Sept. 1, 2002, and Oct. 31, 2007. But, the order also said Yatooma needs to narrow the time frame and try to shorten the list of officials who had SkyTel pagers, a list that currently includes Kilpatrick, former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and more than two dozen other current or former city officials.

Last week, the judge said he would allow SkyTel to produce text messages sent by any city official or employee between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on April 30, 2003, the day exotic dancer Tamara Greene was killed.

Text messages between the mayor and Beatty obtained by the Detroit Free Press in January revealed conflicts with their sworn testimony from last year’s police whistle-blower trial that they did not have an affair or discuss the firing of Deputy Chief Gary Brown. The settlement with Brown and two other former police officers totaled $8.4 million.

Rosen identified the two magistrates who will review the text messages once they are produced by SkyTel. They are Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen and Magistrate Judge Michael J. Hluchaniuk.

They will review the messages and determine whether each message is eligible for discovery.

The judge ordered Yatooma to produce by March 28 identification, or PIN numbers for text messaging devices of each official or city employee between August 2002 and September 2007, along with names of individual officials or employees. Yatooma also must specify time periods that each employee or official was assigned the PIN numbers.

Once the PIN numbers are produced, lawyers for the city and Greene’s son will meet with the judges and file any objections to the review.

If Yatooma has not sufficiently shortened the list of officials, the judges can narrow it for him and both sides can file objections.

Each magistrate will get his own sealed copy of the text messages, which will be sent directly to Rosen’s chambers, where they will be forwarded, under seal, to the magistrates.

Rosen also wants SkyTel to provide the text messages on a compact disc, rather than in a hard copy form.

The father of Greene’s 14-year-old son sued the mayor and other city and police officials in 2005, alleging the investigation of Greene’s murder was hampered and interfered with for political reasons.

Greene’s name has been linked to a long-rumored party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.

SkyTel has indicated a willingness to comply with the court’s orders, and Rosen said he presumes SkyTel will comply voluntarily.

You can reach Robert Snell at (313) 222-2028 or rsnell@detnews.com.