Kilpatrick’s longtime lawyer trying to step down
Attorney James Thomas, the one constant in ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s legal defense team, is attempting to step down.
A spokesman for Kilpatrick says it’s because Thomas isn’t getting paid.
Thomas filed a motion to withdraw as counsel today in U.S. District Court in connection with the civil lawsuit filed by family members of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene. Thomas’ motion was sealed, and Thomas declined comment when reached this evening.
But Mike Paul, Kilpatrick’s spokesman, said this evening that Thomas is quitting because he isn’t being paid. Paul said the city should pay the legal expenses for Kilpatrick because the allegations involving Kilpatrick are related to his duties as mayor and not as a private person.
“This is about an attorney who deserves to be paid,” Paul said. “The city has to pay on this.”
Paul urged the city to think legally, and not politically, because Thomas is the right lawyer successfully defend the lawsuit.
Thomas is owed more than $20,000 and hasn’t been paid at all during the lawsuit, Paul said.
Kilpatrick and Thomas have “great affection” for each other, Paul said.
Meanwhile, attorney Norman Yatooma, who represents Greene’s family, said Thomas’ removal would further delay the case.
“We cannot tolerate any more stall tactics,” Yatooma said this evening.
Greene’s family alleges in a federal lawsuit that Detroit police and city officials thwarted the investigation into her April 2003 slaying so her killers wouldn’t be held accountable for her death. Police officials have denied the charge, saying the case is still under investigation. Kilpatrick is a defendant in the lawsuit.
Kilpatrick, police officials and lawyers for the mayor and city deny allegations that they have interfered with the homicide investigation.
Thomas represented Kilpatrick during the text message scandal that ultimately landed him in jail for three months.
