Hearing set for Monday as contempt proceedings start against Detroit over dancer's homicide file.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A lawyer representing the 15-year-old son of a slain exotic dancer began contempt of court proceedings against the city of Detroit on Thursday, alleging city officials have not provided him with a homicide file and other records a federal judge ordered them to produce.
Norman Yatooma, who represents the son of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, asked U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to order the city to show why it should not be sanctioned or found in contempt of court.
Greene, who was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003, was linked to a long rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
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Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's son Jonathan Bond, alleges in a 2005 lawsuit the Detroit police failed to properly investigate Greene's unsolved killing for political reasons. Defendants include the city, Mayor Kwame Kilstrippers, former mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
In the motion, Yatooma said Rosen ordered the city to provide Greene's Detroit police homicide file by March 28. The judge also ordered the city to provide SkyTel pager identification numbers for various police and city officials so SkyTel could provide the court with their pager text messages. Federal magistrates would privately review the records for relevancy before any text messages could be used in the lawsuit.
Yatooma said both sets of records are "critical" to his case but the city has produced none in response to Rosen's order.
He cited correspondence from the city saying the list of pager identification numbers may have been shredded "to protect the privacy of (city) appointees." City attorneys have argued turning over the Greene homicide file could hurt the investigation.
"The city of Detroit has clearly defied this court's orders," Yatooma argued.
City attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Mayer Morganroth, attorney for Beatty, has said pager text messages cannot be subpoenaed in a civil case.
A hearing is set for Monday.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A lawyer representing the 15-year-old son of a slain exotic dancer began contempt of court proceedings against the city of Detroit on Thursday, alleging city officials have not provided him with a homicide file and other records a federal judge ordered them to produce.
Norman Yatooma, who represents the son of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, asked U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to order the city to show why it should not be sanctioned or found in contempt of court.
Greene, who was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003, was linked to a long rumored but never substantiated party at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002.
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Ernest Flagg, the father of Greene's son Jonathan Bond, alleges in a 2005 lawsuit the Detroit police failed to properly investigate Greene's unsolved killing for political reasons. Defendants include the city, Mayor Kwame Kilstrippers, former mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.
In the motion, Yatooma said Rosen ordered the city to provide Greene's Detroit police homicide file by March 28. The judge also ordered the city to provide SkyTel pager identification numbers for various police and city officials so SkyTel could provide the court with their pager text messages. Federal magistrates would privately review the records for relevancy before any text messages could be used in the lawsuit.
Yatooma said both sets of records are "critical" to his case but the city has produced none in response to Rosen's order.
He cited correspondence from the city saying the list of pager identification numbers may have been shredded "to protect the privacy of (city) appointees." City attorneys have argued turning over the Greene homicide file could hurt the investigation.
"The city of Detroit has clearly defied this court's orders," Yatooma argued.
City attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Mayer Morganroth, attorney for Beatty, has said pager text messages cannot be subpoenaed in a civil case.
A hearing is set for Monday.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
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