Yet another witness surfaced Monday in the Manoogian Mansion Party saga, placing Attorney General Mike Cox at the infamous party. The witness, Wilson Kay, says he provided security at the Party and saw Cox getting a lap dance from one of the strippers. Kay’s allegation was made in a sworn affidavit.

Mike Cox testified in this lawsuit in late 2009 and early 2010 because of his role in investigating the alleged party.  Despite previous statements that he would make his testimony public, Cox has made no move to make those transcripts available and as a result several media outlets filed a joint motion to unseal his testimony.

In response to this motion Judge Gerald Rosen said that he was reluctant to unseal the Cox deposition, but stated that if Cox wanted it unsealed, he could file a motion to do so.  

In his written order, Judge Rosen directed Cox at least SEVEN times that the request to unseal his testimony needs to come from Cox himself:

p. 14:  “As the Court stated at a November 2009 hearing addressing the then-upcoming deposition of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and other law enforcement witnesses: Initially I will seal his deposition…. If either party wants the deposition unsealed or if the Attorney General wants it unsealed, I’ll entertain a motion to unseal either all or part of it.”

p. 15:  Again, the parties and no-party deponents were reminded that they could move to unseal this deposition testimony…but no such motion has been brought to date.”

pp 37-38  “The remedy for any resulting over breadth in protective measures, of course, is a motion to unseal the discovery materials at issue. Indeed, the Court made this very point at the November 10, 2009 hearing. Tellingly, no party or witness has brought such a motion to date…”

P. 42  “The Free Press insists, however, that any such privacy interests that the Attorney General might claim should be given minimal weight, if not deemed altogether abandoned, in light of the Attorney General’s ‘highly publicized’ “Media Blitz” just before he was deposed, as well as his public expressions of his desire for him deposition testimony to be made public. Yet, if a party or witness wishes the court to revisit its decision to keep particular discovery materials under seal, such relief may be sought through a properly filed motion. Indeed, as indicated earlier, the Court has expressly stated a public hearing in this case that if a party or witness sought to unseal a disposition, such a request could be made by motion.”

pp. 42-43:  “The Court should not, and will not search through newspaper articles or public statements to determine whether such relief has been ‘requested.’ Simply stated, no such motion has yet been filed by any party or witness.”

pp. 43-44: ” Neither has the Court had an occasion to undertake such an inquiry, for the simple reason that, once again, no party or witness has moved to unseal the deposition.”

p. 46 n.28: “… the Court once again emphasizes that neither the Attorney General or any other witness or party has moved to lift the seal on any portion of this (or any other) deposition testimony.”

Mike Cox still has not taken the simple step of  asking the judge to unseal his testimony.  Meanwhile he claims he has nothing to hide.  

Really?

We can only conclude that his testimony must be so damaging that Cox is willing to risk the public backlash over keeping it sealed.   Michigan deserves to know the truth, especially about a candidate for Governor.

Mike Cox

Attorney General Mike Cox is under scrutiny again for dropping the investigation into the now infamous Manoogian Mansion party.

In a blistering radio ad being run by the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, a Detroit police dispatcher says she sent a number of patrol cars to the mayor’s official residence on the night of the party in question, but by the next morning the tapes of the call had been removed.

Cox later stopped his investigation into the matter after only 30 days, saying the party never happened. “Is Mike Cox hiding something?” the ad asks, and goes on to encourage police officers with more information to call a 1-800 number where they can anonymously provide more details.

Transcripts reveal a stunning exchange between lawyers and the former officer and 911 operator:

“Who did they tell you…who did they say was in the house?” an attorney asked Cardenas at the deposition.

“Mike Cox was in the house,” answered Cardenas.

“Did more than one person tell you who was in the house…at least in terms of the mayor and Mike Cox?” asked the attorney.

“Yes, several officers did,” Cardenas responded.

Cardenas was a 911 operator in 2002 and sent police to the Detroit mansion to investigate a number of disturbance calls in the fall of 2002. 

In 2003, Attorney General Mike Cox announced his own investigation only to abruptly shut down the investigation a few days later. According to a Michigan State Police investigator Cox shut down the investigation without fully interviewing key participants and potential witnesses.

Cox recently said that “Most viewers out there probably think some sort of party happened. But the reality as a prosecutor, I need to produce someone who can come in a courtroom and say, ‘I was there and this is what happened,’ who can raise their right hand and do that.” 

We don’t disagree with that idea, but that means actually interviewing potential witnesses. So why didn’t Mike Cox interview Officer Cardenas in his investigation?

 Maybe he knew what she would say. “Mike Cox was in the house.”

In 2002, it was widely reported that a party at Manoogian Mansion featuring  27 year-old exotic dancer Tamara “Strawberry” Greene abruptly ended when the mayor’s wife returned home and began assaulting Greene. Greene was later shot to death.

Manoogian Mansion

After a brief investigation in 2003, Cox dismissed accounts of the party as “urban legend.” Yet in a sworn affidavit, former 911 dispatcher Sandy Cardenas, says she sent police to the Detroit mansion to investigate a number of disturbance calls one fall night in 2002.  Cardenas states that within hours of these calls, 911 tapes were removed by a Detroit police officer from internal affairs. “You don’t take tapes out… unless they don’t want people to know something,” Cardenas told The Detroit News. In her affidavit, Cardenas further testified that a sergeant in the police force told her that the mayor’s wife Carlita showed up at the party and an assault took place.

Former police Sgt. Odell Godbold testified that in the course of his investigation of Greene’s murder, he heard from several sources (including an active duty Detroit police officer and part-time stripper) that a party did occur on the night in question and that she, Greene and another stripper were in attendance. Godbold said his superior officers were aware of his findings and that he was ordered to turn over the Greene homicide file in July 2005.  A few weeks later Godbold’s unit was disbanded overnight.  He arrived at work to find the room cleared out and all computers confiscated.  Godbold was reassigned and forced into early retirement a short time later.

(Copies of both Cardenas’ and Godbold’s full testimony is available here.)

In 2003, Attorney General Mike Cox announced his own investigation into whether the party ever occurred.  Cox meet privately with Mayor Kilpatrick without so much as a court reporter, never interviewed Carlita Kilpatrick, and shortly after his investigation began, and was unable to interview Greene because she had recently been murdered. After only five weeks Cox ended his investigation saying the party was an “urban legend.”

Investigator Mark Krebs, a detective with the Michigan State Police, testified that Cox ended the investigation prematurely.  Krebs said Cox “stymied” them by shutting the investigation down without fully interviewing key participants.

Why did Attorney General Mike Cox shut down his investigation into the party so quickly? Did the AG just colossally botch this case or are there reasons involved here that have yet to come to light?

Now, important new information may soon be coming to light regarding Cox’s handling of the investigation of the murder of Tamara “Strawberry” Greene.  Greene is alleged to have attended a now-infamous party at Manoogian Mansion in 2003 thrown by then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Reports allege that at the party, Greene found herself in an altercation with the mayor’s wife, which landed Greene in the emergency room.

According to Fox News 2 in Detroit, an ex-assistant attorney general under Cox named Brooke Jordan will soon come forward with more information about Cox’s decision to shut down an investigation into Greene’s murder.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGKUmfBnqhE

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox led an investigation into the alleged events at the  Manoogian Mansion, but abruptly called the probe off without ever interviewing Carlita  Kilpatrick, labeling the whole affair an “urban legend.”  Investigator Mark Krebs, a detective with the Michigan State Police, testified in the civil lawsuit against Kilpatrick and others that Cox ended the investigation prematurely.  According to the Michigan Messenger:

“Krebs testified that investigators, himself included, were stymied by Attorney General Mike Cox, reports WDIV television in Detroit. Krebs alleges that Cox would not authorize subpoenas to further the investigation, directed detectives not to interview Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita, and told investigators he would interview Kilpatrick himself, alone, without attorneys or other witnesses present.”

It was as the investigation was getting underway that Greene was shot to death in her car.  It goes without saying that Greene would have been a valuable witness in the case against Kilpatrick.  The civil lawsuit by Greene’s family alleges that the police were actually involved in the killing.  An affidavit filed by former Detroit police lieutenant Alvin Bowman states that “I suspected that the shooter was a law enforcement officer, and more specifically, a Detroit Police Department officer.” Bowman contended that the high number of .40 caliber bullets that hit Greene but not her boyfriend would indicate that the shooter had firearms training.

Questions remain about why Cox closed the investigation into the murder of Tamara Greene, and some question whether Cox and Kilpatrick (who subsequently pled guilty to two counts of perjury) struck a secret deal to keep the Manoogian affair quiet.  Expect to hear more in the weeks to come.

Here in Michigan, these sleazy tactics have already taken hold.  A group called the Michigan Civic Educational Fund has been running radio ads, billboards, sleazy websites and possibly anonymous phone calls. It appears to be an effort to boost the gubernatorial candidacy of Attorney General Mike Cox by tearing down his opponents.

Cecil D. St. Pierre, Jr.

The Michigan Civic Educational Fund was incorporated late in 2009 by a man named Cecil D. St. Pierre, Jr., a large-dollar campaign contributor to both Mike Cox’s gubernatorial campaign and his 527 campaign fund.

How did St. Pierre come into enough money to pump big bucks into the Cox campaign?  Well, he defended a man convicted in the nation’s first “date rape” drug case, in which a fifteen year old girl was killed.  Furthermore, St. Pierre makes his living by defending drunk drivers (he can be found at DUILawyerLocator.com), and brags on his website that he accepts cases for probation violations, domestic violence, assault and battery, criminal sexual conduct, and drug offenses.

Sounds like a real prince.

Helping St. Pierre are long-time operatives Michael Greiner and Jeff Schroder, both with extensive histories as smear merchants in Michigan.  They are well known in Warren, where their handiwork in mayoral races earned a rebuke from the Detroit News as “dirty politics.”

Now they’re back doing the same thing to Mike Cox’s opponents. Does Mike Cox have anything to do with this? With serious leadership and ethical issues of his own to contend with, along with his ties to the instigators, it’s a question worth asking.

Geoffrey Fieger

Last year, we found out some of the nation’s most public figures were serial philanderers.  It turns out Tiger Woods had more cocktail waitresses than major golf titles.  ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips lost his job after he took advantage of the intern pool at his company.