Cox volunteers to sit for Tamara Greene deposition
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has agreed to sit for a deposition with the lawyer for the family suing the city of Detroit in connection with the investigation into Tamara Greene’s unsolved killing.
“Although the Attorney General’s office has never been involved in the Tamara Greene homicide investigation and case law would likely preclude any Attorney General from testifying in a case like this, Attorney General Cox will voluntarily offer testimony in her family’s suit against the City of Detroit in order to offer information regarding the department’s 2003 investigation of the Manoogian Mansion party rumors,” Cox’s office said in a statement today
Cox’s name has resurfaced because Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma is deposing three state police investigators who claimed in 2004 that the attorney general impeded their investigation into rumors of a wild party at the Manoogian Mansion that ended in the assault of a stripper.
Yatooma said his office contacted Cox’s office on Tuesday seeking a deposition.
“Make no mistake, this was a deposition that was requested of his office three days ago,” Yatooma said. “He’s trying to look like he’s graciously offered up a deposition. Case law would require him to be deposed; more specifically the authority of a federal subpoena would require him.”
Yatooma is representing Greene’s family in a lawsuit against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and city officials, claiming they conspired to derail an investigation into Greene’s 2003 drive-by killing. Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans recently turned the investigation into Greene’s murder over to the multi-jurisdictional Violent Crimes Task Force.
Greene, a stripper, was gunned down in a parked car on April 30, 2003 at Roselawn and West Outer Drive. Her boyfriend was wounded and survived the shooting.
Cox told the Free Press last week that he closed the investigation into the party rumors and allegations of wrongdoing by Kilpatrick’s bodyguards after 130 witnesses had been interviewed and 90 subpoenas had been served. He said the state police interviewed 55 additional witnesses before their investigation ended.
The most popular version of the never-proven party rumor was that the mayor’s wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, happened upon the party and assaulted a stripper with a baseball bat.
Investigator Mark Krebs, a detective with the Michigan State Police, sat for a deposition last week with Yatooma’s office and city attorneys. Two other investigators, Curt Schram and John Figurski, will give depositions in the lawsuit at a later date. Schram had previously complained that Cox’s office quit authorizing subpoenas.
