Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick testified in federal court March 7 that he did not destroy e-mails or impede the investigation into the 2003 shooting death of a young stripper.
The family of Tamara Greene is suing Kilpatrick, 40, and the city for obstruction of a police investigation into Greene’s unsolved murder.
Prosecutors say Kilpatrick’s personal and work e-mails from 2002 and 2003 have disappeared along with a hard drive from his old computer which could prove Greene danced at the mayor’s mansion just six months prior to her death.
On the stand, Kilpatrick said he was not aware of the e-mails and had never spoken to any of his officials about the stripper’s killing.
“Unequivocally, we never discussed Tamara Greene. It had absolutely nothing to do with us,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
He also denied hosting a party and called the accusations against him “frivolous.”
Former Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, who held the position during Kilpatrick’s reign as mayor, said she didn’t “have any reason to destroy any e-mails,” adding that she had not seen any work materials since she retired, according to Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV.
“I expected a lie. You think about everything Kwame Kilpatrick has ever been accused of and everything you know now to be true, he lied,” prosecuting attorney Norman Yatooma told the TV station.
Kilpatrick’s lawyer said he expects a full hearing but wants the case tossed out because of insufficient evidence. Two of the ex-mayor’s former bodyguards also testified.
No one has been charged in Greene’s death but, according to the AP, the city said her killer is already in prison on separate charges.
Kilpatrick is also awaiting trial for unrelated tax, extortion and fraud charges stemming from a six-year long investigation into his practices with his father and several associates. He was Detroit’s mayor from 2001 until his resignation in 2008 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.