12 October 2010

Judge: No extra Deposition Time for Kwame Kilpatrick

The Detroit News

Lawyers representing a slain exotic dancer who allegedly danced at the rumored Manoogian Mansion party in 2002 will not get a third crack at deposing former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a judge said today.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen today denied a request by lawyers representing Tamara “Strawberry” Greene to extend Kilpatrick’s deposition a second time. The court already extended the seven-hour limit once but rejected a bid to give Greene’s lawyers a second extension.

Rosen said more time is unwarranted, especially since Greene’s layers failed to list the topics that are still needed to be covered with Kilpatrick.

“The court is not inclined to grant a further extension, absent any indication that additional time is needed to address matters of relevance to this case that were not (and could not be) explored during the (already extended) allotment of time for deposing this party,” Rosen wrote.

Greene’s lawyers said they needed more time because Kilpatrick’s attorney made lengthy objections during one deposition and the former mayor gave prolonged answers, which delayed the questioning.

There were lengthy objections, Rosen agreed, but Greene’s lawyers slowed things down by adding commentary and asking repetitive or “seemingly irrelevant” questions, some of which drew objections from Kilpatrick’s legal team.

Greene, a dancer linked to a rumored party featuring more than one stripper at the mayor's Manoogian Mansion in the fall of 2002, was shot to death in Detroit on April 30, 2003. Her family is suing Kilpatrick and the city, alleging they obstructed the investigation of Greene's unsolved murder for political reasons.

Kilpatrick and the city have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit.

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