Greene’s lawyer asks judge to allow him to view sealed text messages

DETROIT — A lawyer for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene asked a judge today to let him look at text messages that U.S. magistrate judges have deemed potentially relevant in the family’s lawsuit against the city of Detroit.

Lawyer Norman Yatooma said he should be able to look at the handful of text messages, which were filed under seal, because lawyers for former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and other defendants in the case have not put forward any reasons why they can’t be used in the case.

“The defendants have had ample opportunity to review the text messages and file objections to their disclosure,” Yatooma said in a court filing. “Indeed, they have had over three months.”

Greene, said to have performed at a long-rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor’s official residence in the fall of 2002, was killed in a drive-by shooting on April 30, 2003, while sitting in a vehicle outside her home.

Greene’s family is suing the city of Detroit, Kilpatrick, his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, and numerous top police officials, alleging they obstructed the investigation into Greene’s unsolved killing for political reasons.

Kilpatrick and the other defendants deny the allegations.

U.S. magistrate judges in October completed their review of all text messages sent on any city-issued SkyTel pager on the day Greene was killed. The text messages filed under seal were ones deemed potentially relevant to the case. None of the lawyers in the case have reviewed them.

Yatooma asked to review the messages in confidence and said he would only disclose their contents with permission from the court. Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who is handling the case, will rule on Yatooma’s request.