AG Cox finishes deposition in stripper lawsuit
Detroit — Attorney General Mike Cox has completed seven hours of questioning in a federal lawsuit brought by the family of a slain exotic dancer, but he hesitated as he left the courthouse when asked whether his deposition is completed.
“I’ve done my seven hours,” Cox told reporters after leaving the deposition in the case of Tamara “Strawberry” Greene. “If the court wants anything more out of me, I’ll be here to provide it.”
Witnesses in civil lawsuits can only be deposed for seven hours without a court order to extend the deposition.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen last week denied a request from Norman Yatooma, the lawyer for Greene’s family, to extend the deposition. But he said Yatooma could make a new request if he still had specific questions he wanted to ask after the seven hours was used up.
Yatooma said today’s questioning went well but he does plan to file a request to ask additional questions. “We’re very happy with what we got today,” he said.
Greene, who was linked to a rumored stripper party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit on April 30, 2003.
Her family is suing the city, Kilpatrick, and other city defendants, alleging they obstructed the investigation of her still-unsolved slaying for political reasons. Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is not a defendant in the case and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored Manoogian Mansion party in 2003 and declared it an urban legend. He did not investigate Greene’s killing.
Yatooma suggested the first round of questioning in December grew heated when he told reporters it was “not cordial.” Court records showed Rosen had to intervene to settle disagreements between the parties.
Asked about the tone of Monday’s session, Cox said; “I never thought it was anything but cordial.”
Asked if he still wanted a transcript of the deposition made public, Cox said his attorneys had asked Rosen to release the transcript and the judge said no.
Rosen said in an order he would seal the depositions but Cox or others could filed a motion seeking to have them unsealed.
Also in the Greene case, Yatooma filed court papers Sunday asking Rosen to grant him a default judgment in the case against the city and Kilpatrick. Yatooma said Rosen had given the city and Kilpatrick until Friday to provide records and answers to written questions.
“The city filed nothing at all and Kwame Kilpatrick’s response was woefully deficient,” Yatooma said.
http://detnews.com/article/20100125/METRO/1250426/AG-Cox-finishes-deposition-in-stripper-lawsuit
