Lawyer in Exotic Dancer Suit Claims Detroit City Attorney Threatened Him
A lawyer representing the family of a slain exotic dancer in a suit against the city of Detroit has told police that a lawyer for the city threatened him.
Lawyer Norman Yatooma says the threat concerned a knife in his back, the Detroit Free Press reports. But City Attorney John Schapka says his words were a warning about the murderer’s possible reaction to high-profile depositions rather than a threat.
The Free Press obtained the Jan. 30 police report filed by Yatooma, who claims in a lawsuit that Detroit officials thwarted an investigation into the murder of exotic dancer Tamara Greene. The victim was slain in a drive-by shooting months after she allegedly performed at a party held at the mansion of then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Yatooma claims in the report (PDF filed by the Detroit Free Press) that Schapka made the threat to Yatooma’s supervising attorney after being informed that Yatooma intended to depose Bernard Kilpatrick, the father of the former mayor, the Detroit Free Press says. Schapka allegedly said that if the deposition takes place, he will “end up face down in an alley with a knife in his back.”
For his part, Schapka says it was all a misunderstanding. He said in an e-mail to Yatooma that he may have spoken “too cryptically and failed to communicate my thoughts in a clear fashion,” the Free Press says.
Schapka said he had reviewed the homicide file and fears the killer is a calculating person with little regard for the lives of others. Media attention caused by depositions of high-profile individuals could make the lawyers into targets, he said in the e-mail.
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