Court to review more text messages in Greene case
DETROIT –A federal judge Friday said the court will review an even bigger trove of text messages that could prove damaging to the city and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and shed light on the unsolved killing of stripper Tamara Greene five years ago.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen told attorneys handling the case that he will issue an order in the next couple of weeks detailing how he will handle text messages from the mayor and other city officials and other requested evidence. It is likely the materials will first be reviewed by federal magistrates before being turned over to the attorneys for the son of Greene, 27, who was gunned down in 2003.
“I’m tremendously pleased with the decision to allow discovery to proceed,” said Norman Yatooma, who is representing Greene’s 14-year-old son.
The court fight is the second time in recent months that text messages have played a central role. Text messages between the mayor and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty obtained by The Detroit Free Press in January revealed conflicts with their sworn testimony from last year’s whistle-blower’s trial that they did not have an affair or discuss the firing of Deputy Chief Gary Brown. A jury awarded Brown and two other former police officers a total of $8.4 million.
Rosen is expected to order the city to produce a list of everyone who had a SkyTel pager during the time period in which Yatooma requested messages –Aug. 1, 2002 to Oct. 31, 2007, Yatooma said.
The judge said Yatooma needs to narrow the time frame and shorten the list, which includes Kilpatrick, Beatty, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and more than two dozen other current or former city officials.
The messages will be produced and reviewed by two federal magistrates who will decide which messages may be relevant. At that point, the information will be shared with the city’s attorneys, who can object to any release.
Then the court will decide which messages, if any, will be released to Yatooma.
“We are comfortable with the ruling,” said lawyer Jeffrey Morganroth, who is representing the mayor, Beatty and other city officials. He called the judge’s decision “reasonable and appropriate.”
Rosen also asked the lawyers involved to tone down their remarks to the press, Yatooma said.
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 April 30, 2003, murder was hampered and interfered with for political reasons.
Last week, Rosen ordered the city and SkyTel to preserve all text messages sent and received on the SkyTel pagers of Kilpatrick and 33 other current or former city officials for selected periods between the fall of 2002 and the fall of 2007.
SkyTel has indicated a willingness to comply with the court’s orders, and Rosen said he presumes SkyTel will comply voluntarily.
Greene’s name has been linked to a long rumored party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
At least two former Detroit police officers who filed the whistle-blower lawsuits against the city claimed that their investigation into the alleged party and/or Greene’s murder were among the reasons for retaliation against them.
You can reach Mike Wilkinson at (313) 222-2563 or mwilkinson@detnews.com.
