Depositions in Tamara Greene case unsealed

Documents unsealed in federal case against city of Detroit

DETROIT – Want some light reading? Okay, that's a bit of a joke. 

Here you will find the list of unsealed federal court documents in the Tamara Greene case against the city of Detroit. 

Greene, an exotic dancer, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2003. It was rumored that she danced at a never-proven party at the Detroit mayor's Manoogian Mansion that was thrown by then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002.

Her family filed a lawsuit in 2005 on claims Kilpatrick and other high-ranking city officials thwarted the investigation into her death.

The family's attorney, Norman Yatooma, has said the city has repeatedly withheld records in the case and that evidence related to the case had been intentionally destroyed, specifically e-mails sent between officials on city-owned computers.

But U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen threw out the $150 million lawsuit in November, saying there wasn't enough evidence that the investigation into Greene's death was sabotaged. That's why he has unsealed these depositions and affidavits. 

Many more including testimony from Carlita and Bernard Kilpatrick, the wife and father of Kwame Kilpatrick, remain under seal. 

Kwame Kilpatrick testified over two days in the summer of 2010 while in prison for perjury in the original civil lawsuit brought by two Detroit officers who were fired for investigating the mayor. The depositions of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope are among those unsealed.  Other Detroit police employees talk about the urgent calls for police to come to the disturbance at the Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, and how a police report of the assault on Greene by Carlita Kilpatrick has disappeared. 

Was there a cover-up?  Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox investigated and called the incident an urban legend.  But state police investigators on the case testify they were upset when Cox pulled the plug on the investigation before they were finished.

Yatooma is appealing Judge Rosen's decision.  The Greene family wants this case to go before a jury.  The appeal will take several months.

Note: Transcripts may contain language offensive to some.