Lawyer for slain stripper’s family to get peek at file

Lawyers for the family of slain stripper Tamara Greene are finally getting a chance to view her police homicide file today.

However, whatever they see most likely will not be made public for some time.
“I won’t be permitted to discuss what I see,” Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma said this morning.

Greene’s slaying has drawn attention because of a never-proven party some say ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick held at the city’s mayoral residence. Some say Greene, whose stage name was Strawberry, danced at the Manoogian Mansion in fall 2002 and was later assaulted by Kilpatrick’s wife.

Yatooma and Robert Zawideh represent family members of Greene, shot and killed in a Detroit drive-by shooting on April 30, 2003. Kilpatrick, police officials and lawyers for the mayor and city deny the allegations they have interfered with the homicide investigation. The case remains unsolved.

State investigators say the party never happened.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen issued an order in April permitting Yatooma to review the file. But Rosen said they can’t copy any of the contents and have to sign a pledge agreeing not to divulge any information.

Greene’s family alleges in a federal lawsuit that Detroit police deliberately botched the investigation so her killers wouldn’t be held accountable for her death. Police officials have denied the charge, saying the case still is under investigation.