Cox fails to file motion to unseal Greene deposition
Detroit — Seven weeks after giving testimony in the Tamara Greene case, Attorney General Mike Cox has not moved to unseal the transcript of his deposition, as a spokesman said he would.
Cox was deposed over two days in the lawsuit brought by the family of Greene, an exotic dancer who used the stage name “Strawberry” and was linked to a rumored party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion in Detroit in the fall of 2002.
Greene was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and top city officials, alleging they obstructed her homicide investigation for political reasons. The defendants deny the allegations.
Cox, who is not a defendant and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, investigated the rumored party in 2003 and declared it an “urban legend.” He didn’t investigate Greene’s killing.
Cox said he would prefer to give his testimony in public.
“Over the attorney general’s objections, it’s my understanding that the court is going to seal his deposition,” Cox attorney Frank Monticello said at a hearing in November.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said, “I will seal his deposition initially,” but “if the attorney general wants it unsealed, I’ll entertain a motion to unseal.”
During the first day of Cox’s deposition in December, his spokesman John Sellek said Cox would make a motion to unseal the deposition.
But when Cox left the federal courthouse at the end of the deposition on Jan. 25 and was asked about unsealing his deposition, he said: “We argued that,” but “the judge said no.” No motion to unseal the deposition has been filed.
Sellek didn’t return calls Monday asking whether Cox intends to ask for the documents to be unsealed.
Sellek has said that Cox, through his attorney, made it “very clear” to the judge he wanted the deposition transcript open before the judge ordered it sealed.
Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics newsletter, said Cox had managed the public doubts about his investigation of Kilpatrick’s fabled party at the Manoogian by strong public statements and visits to newspaper editorial boards, where he convinced public image-makers that all was fine.
“Seemingly, he did all the right things to indicate total transparency, nothing to hide. This seems to run counter to all of that. …
