Slain dancer’s lawyer can depose Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife, father
Carlita Kilpatrick and Bernard Kilpatrick — the wife and father of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick — must answer questions under oath in a lawsuit filed by lawyers for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, a federal judge ruled Tuesday after a closed two-hour hearing.
Jerry Oliver, former police chief during Kilpatrick’s administration, also can be deposed, the judge said.
The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen was a breakthrough for attorneys Norman Yatooma and Robert Zawideh, who represent Greene’s family in a lawsuit against the ex-mayor and others in his administration, claiming they thwarted an investigation into Greene’s 2003 unsolved killing.
According to a never-proven rumor — investigated by Detroit police and Michigan State Police — Greene, who went by the stage name Strawberry, danced at the mayoral Manoogian Mansion for Kilpatrick and others in fall 2002 and supposedly was assaulted by the mayor’s wife, who walked in on the party.
Yatooma can now travel to Texas to depose the Kilpatricks.
“This is a necessary step to be able to resolve this mystery,” Yatooma said after his ruling in his favor.
But whether that deposition will ever be made public also remains a mystery.
Rosen has kept much of the proceedings private and much of the court filings sealed over the past six months, explaining in court Tuesday that he is concerned about “this case spiraling out of control to adversely impact the ongoing homicide investigation.”
Rosen said he also is worried about privacy rights of people who are not parties to the case, but whose names are being raised as the litigation continues.
On Tuesday, Rosen barred the news media from sitting in on arguments in the lawsuit by Greene’s family, which claims city officials stymied an investigation into her drive-by killing.
Before the hearing, Free Press lawyer Herschel Fink sent a letter to Rosen raising concerns about the fact that the judge has sealed records and conducted closed-door proceedings. Rosen responded in court that he would treat the letter as a motion and would take it under consideration.
Fink wrote that it’s hard to imagine “a case that would require greater transparency, but is being almost litigated entirely in secret.”
Rosen asked lawyers involved to submit written responses to Fink’s letter by April 9.
Legal experts such as Alan Gershel, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, said it’s unusual to close a federal courtroom.
“Any such decision is going to require a balancing of the First Amendment against potential risk that may occur if proceedings are open,” he said. “It sounds like Judge Rosen engaged in that kind of balancing test and decided that he had to come down on the side of protecting the investigation.”
After the closed hearing, Rosen opened the courtroom to deliver his rulings on several issues in front of him. Besides granting Yatooma permission to depose Carlita Kilpatrick, he said the lawyer could depose the ex-mayor’s father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver.
Yatooma said Bernard Kilpatrick now lives with his son in suburban Dallas and that he would conduct the depositions there within a month.
“There are a number of reasons to talk to Bernard Kilpatrick,” Yatooma said. “He was said to have been present at the party himself.”
Yatooma wants to question the Kilpatricks about a rumored party, never proven, at the mayoral Manoogian Mansion in 2002. One of the rumors was that Carlita Kilpatrick supposedly beat an exotic dancer, allegedly Green. Attorney General Mike Cox, whose office investigated the rumor with Michigan State Police, said that they found no evidence despite an extensive investigation that included more than 100 interviews. Investigators never interviewed Carlita Kilpatrick, but Cox interviewed the ex-mayor.
“It’s untenable to think that you conduct this case without talking to Carlita Kilpatrick — she is the one said to have been at the party and beaten Tammy Greene,” Yatooma said.
A version of this story appears on page 3A of the Wednesday, March 24, 2010, print edition of the Detroit Free Press.
