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It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. Friends of the murdered teens, who were themselves brutalized, later told investigators the gunshot police heard was a toy starter's pistol one teen had fired as a prank. Young campaigned against the unit and abolished it when he took office as mayor in 1974. “Detroit,” a movie about police killings during the 1967 civil unrest, debuts Aug. 4, about a week after the 50th anniversary of what some call a riot and others a rebellion caused lasting damage to the city of Detroit. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Lippitt stopped the interrogation. "Ronald August is guilty of working under those conditions. By sunrise, two other teens were also dead: Carl Cooper, 17, and Fred Temple, 18. Lippitt says he never dwelled on the slight and quickly joined the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, where he tried more than 100 felony cases before he turned 30. In his statement, Mr. August admitted shooting young Pollard after first omitting this from an earlier report. A man shoots a burglar in his kitchen. Guilty of working days and nights with little or no rest. This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. And he's upset. Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe. August's trial was relocated to tiny Mason, a nearly all-white town near Lansing. As the trial closed, another victory for the defense: Beer told jurors they could only convict August of first-degree murder or acquit him, leaving them with no option for a "compromise" verdict of manslaughter. After witness accounts began to emerge, the cops initially claimed the teens were already dead when they entered the Algiers. Police — and their politically powerful union — did more than fight crime in Detroit. Will breweries keep making hand sanitizer? "The film is a blatant appeal to bias and bigotry," assistant prosecutor Avery Weiswasser argued. For about an hour, three young white Detroit cops — Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Senak — along with a black security guard, Melvin Dismuke, allegedly brutalized motel guests in an effort to learn who fired the gun that started the raid. Senak, Anna born to eternal life on November 22, 2013. Carl Cooper, 17, and Fred Temple, 18, were found dead on the annex floor soon afterward. David Senak, 27, and Robert Faille, 34, the two other De troit policemen, are being tried for the first time for their alleged part in the July 26, 1967, incident. And judges, colleagues, retired newspaper reporters who covered his career and even critics agree he's a hell of a lawyer. When he turns on the light, he realizes it's his teenage neighbor and plants a knife. ", Even with an all-white jury, Lippitt says, he did a "hell of a job," was better prepared than prosecutors and "cut the witnesses to shreds.". Lippitt quit the prosecutor job in 1965 because it paid $10,500 per year, about $82,000 in today's dollars. Even if Lippitt is reluctant to say so, he helped defend the Constitution by providing vigorous defenses to unpopular defendants, Mitchell says. A daily summary of stories delivered Monday–Friday afternoon. He told The Detroit News in 1971 he wouldn't represent poor people because "to win costs money." Lippitt got the federal conspiracy case moved to Flint, claiming he couldn't get an impartial jury in Detroit because of the publication of The Algiers Motel Incident book. He takes a few moments to consider. Someone has to do the dirty work.". They enforced a social order that separated blacks and whites, says Thompson, the UM professor. "All I did was my job," Lippitt says. He's discussing his most infamous case: successfully defending white cops accused of beatings and murder at the Algiers Motel as Detroit burned in the summer of 1967. I love animals. His strategy, which he'd employ in other brutality cases over the years, was to remove blacks from juries, poke holes in witness testimony and criticize police administration for failing to better train the officers. The garden is well-tended. The allegations were savage. News delivered to your email as it happens. "It was always more and more money. Win. He most closely correlates to 23-year-old Vice Patrolman David Senak in real life, but the connection is loose at best. ("They used to call me the fastest white boy in Detroit.") The case exposed racial wounds that perhaps still haven't healed. "Norman Lippitt is soulless," says Sheila Cockrel, a former Detroit city councilwoman whose deceased husband, Ken Cockrel Sr., was an attorney who sued the city over police abuses in the 1970s. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. That made him the public face — and defender — of the city's white ruling class, says Heather Ann Thompson, a University of Michigan professor of African-American history who has studied the city's police force. Not that it may depict his clients, the cops, as racists. DETROIT — Tucked behind a sleepy tree-lined road, David Senak’s home gives the impression of suburban peace. Prosecutors persuaded Beer to allow them to fire a starter's pistol in the courtroom. Boxes of news clips saved by Lippitt's mother include fashion spreads for which he posed in The Detroit News Sunday Magazine. They all left the Algiers without filing a report, calling for assistance or notifying the families of … I give to charity. The Algiers Motel was razed in 1979 and is now a park. As an attorney, you have an obligation to pursue everything on behalf of your client. Courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library of Wayne State University. There's a "direct line" between Lippitt's legal victories — and tactics that included eliminating blacks from juries — and outrage over recent police killings of civilians that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement, says Danielle McGuire, a Wayne State University history professor who is writing a new book about the Algiers Motel killings. Helping you succeed in business since 1985. The Detroit officers in charge of the raid were David Senak, Ronald August, and Robert Paille. Join Facebook to connect with Daniel D Senak and others you may know. In less than two years, police killed 22 men, all but one were black. "Ask any lawyer 50 years of age or younger: Everyone knows me, everyone. Detroit MI  48207-2997. Yes, please keep me informed on upcoming events, recognition programs and awards. Cost of ending a pandemic: Who pays for shots in arms? No charges were ever filed in connection with the shoot ings of the Cooper and Temple youths. "He helped lay a foundation for what is acceptable and what police can get away with, which helped drive the call for black power. He made big money winning acquittals for cops accused of brutalizing blacks in Detroit. "Norman got extremely wealthy protecting raging police brutality. FLINT, Mich., Jan. 20—The Algiers Motel incident was re opened here today as three Detroit policemen and a pri vate guard went on trial in Federal court in connection with the beating of eight Negro youths and two young white women in the motel annex dur ing the Detroit riots of 1967. Lippitt says people can think what they want of him, as long as no one calls him a bad lawyer. The prosecution and the de fense anounced today that be tween them they expected to call about 70 witnesses during the trial, which they expected to last at least five weeks. Told by Bridge that he was called "soulless" and "transactional," Lippitt seems taken aback. "People don't remember, these were violent times," says Grant, the retired police union leader. … In a way, Norman Lippitt helped get Coleman Young elected. By the mid-1960s, Lippitt was married and had two children. "Norman didn't cause the '67 riots. Lippitt pauses. On the third night of the violence, police reported sniper fire at the Algiers Motel on Woodward Avenue, about a mile from the origin of the uprisings. By the late 1970s, he says he was billing $250,000 per year, the equivalent of $1 million, representing police. The two most … "Norman Lippitt and the police acquittals absolutely had a major impact on race relations both in the 1970s and today," says McGuire, the Wayne State professor. Lippitt leans back in his corner office in downtown Birmingham. "He only had to do a couple of things: Discredit the witnesses and get the whitest jury you could get," says McGuire, the Wayne State professor who has interviewed Lippitt several times. Forty-three people died during the devastating riots that gripped Detroit in 1967. Thrust into an incendiary case at age 32, Lippitt says he did what he's always done: Work hard and win. For 17 years, until 1984, he was lead counsel for the Detroit Police Officers Association, where he defended numerous officers accused of brutality and murder. "I don't know why everybody wants to make me a do-gooder. To this day, there's much confusion about what happened in those early hours at the Algiers. "There was nothing positive to say about the police department then," says Bell, who is African-American. "It was a war! Norman Lippitt makes no apologies. … Survived by her brother Joseph Senak and her sister Leona Senak. If convicted, the defendants face maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $5,000 fines. Lippitt was a jock who excelled in sports. Initially, two officers were charged with murder, but Lippitt persuaded a judge to drop charges against Paille. "Rather than hearing what the community was saying — that the police were operating like a renegade army — they kept doubling down with brutality," says Thompson, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year for a book she wrote about the 1971 Attica Prison riot. She entered into rest at her home on September 8, 2017, at the age of 94. "I'm a trial lawyer. I'm not a do-gooder. Is he guilty of murder or filing a false police report? He was then ordered to leave the building while those remaining were led to believe he had been killed fo refusing to tell where the weapons were, the witness said. By morning, three black teens were dead. Each spent one night in jail and were … Search Daily Globe newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Ironwood, Michigan on February 5, 1970, p. 3. After several hours of talking to Bridge ("I love this"), Lippitt has one more revelation about the Algiers. Sometimes, he helped police with phrases, such as "Fearing for my life ...," Lippitt acknowledges. Other witnesses described a “game” they said the defend ants in today's trial played with the Negro youths. Lippitt closed the case by arguing that what happened in Detroit was neither a riot nor an uprising. Coroners remove the bodies of three black teens: Carl Cooper, 17, Aubrey Pollard, 19, and Fred Temple, 18. U.S. attorneys also brought charges against all three police officers, and the guard Dismukes, accusing them of conspiring to deny civil rights to Algiers' motel guests. Police initially claimed the three died during a sniper gunfire in July 1967. Quite the contrary. Helen M. Senak Helen Marie Senak (Nee Rusnak) was born May 30, 1923 in Detroit to John and Marie Rusnak. In his first order as Detroit's first black mayor, he disbanded the STRESS unit. Obituary for Anna Senak, Senak, Anna born to eternal life on November 22, 2013. But not one out of 10 will remember my criminal days anymore," Lippitt says. He says he wasn't making enough money as an assistant prosecutor. Charged with conspiracy to violate the rights of 10 occu pants of the motel annex are three suspended Detroit police men, Ronald J. August, 30 years old, Robert N. Paille, 34, and David Senak… The private guard, Melvin Dismukes, a Negro, was tried earlier on charges of felonious assault during the incident. It would become a theme for much of his life. He was also acquitted. Would he be considered a nice guy now if he did a shitty job with those cases?". During his trial last June, Mr. August, who entered the annex after the “game” began, testi fied that he had taken young Pollard out of the line against the wall and into an adjoining room to protect him from being beaten by Mr. Senak. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this … "What bothers him is that so many people are reacting negatively.". Survived by her brother Joseph Senak and her sister Leona Senak. Cooper’s death has never been explained. Now 81, he's edgy and annoyed — but loving the attention — in the days leading to the Aug. 4 release of "Detroit," Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's movie based on the Algiers Motel killings. Guilty of standing idle while looting and firebombing and sniping was going on. Now, media from as far away as Japan are calling. He defended Detroit officers in the infamous STRESS (Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets) unit, formed to crack down on street violence in 1971. Cockrel, the former city councilwoman, says Lippitt's legacy is sorrowful. This is what happened in those first days of that war in Detroit — while the mayor and the governor and the president were indecisive.". Lippitt hasn't seen the movie. See the article in its original context from. Were some of his clients racist? Search Daily Globe newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Ironwood, Michigan on January 28, 1970, p. 3. No sniper weapon was ever found. "What do you think of my new shoes?". Upon hearing what they thought was gunfire, law enforcement shot out the lights near the motel and stormed the building. Lippitt was a "swashbuckler," a "stick-your-chin-out and take-the-first-swing personality" who worked harder than most and had an easy rapport with jurors, says his former partner, Robert Harrison, a Bloomfield Hills attorney. "And he did it with no ideology behind it other than 'winning.' Ronald August, 31 years old, one of the three officers, ad mitted killing Auburey Pollard, 19, when, Mr. August said, the Negro youth tried to grab a shotgun from him. She entered into rest at her home on September 8, 2017, at the age of 94. He banned all television and radio equipment from the corridors opposite the courtroom and he also pro hibited the making of sketches while the court was in session. "Does it take a genius to play on people's racism? 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A bottle was thrown. Something is amiss when a racist sadist steals the narrative by default from underdeveloped victims. Two years later, he got the police union contract. Born in in Bridgeport, he was the son of the late Peter and Eva (Puknik) Senak. Search Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Santa Fe, New Mexico on February 26, 1970, p. 7. According to trial testimony, newspaper accounts and a book, The Algiers Motel Incident by John Hersey, the short version goes like this: Amid the violence, several black teens, including a music group, the Dramatics, along with two white teenage girls, took refuge in the motel. The women had their clothes torn and were taunted as "n****r lovers.". To him, each case was a battle. So is the judge and the assistant prosecutor, Weiswasser. Is Norman supposed to take a fall? Sheila Cockrel, a former Detroit city councilwoman, says she’s troubled that Norman Lippitt has tried to rationalize the tactics he used in his defense of police officers accused of murder. A union driver would pick him up and take him to headquarters to help officers involved with the shootings write their reports. On … And more and more fame to get more and more money. "We could smell a tiger the moment Norm took his first case," an anonymous lawyer is quoted in a 1971 profile in The Detroit News. Judge Roth later denied a motion by Norman Lipitt, a Detroit lawyer retained by the Detroit Police Officers Association to defend Mr. August and Mr. Paille. It was never enough for Norman," says Sanford Plotkin, a defense attorney who worked with Lippitt in the 1990s and admires his "brilliant legal mind.". Lippitt got August's murder trial delayed several times, citing pretrial publicity and raw feelings about the incident in Detroit. "I do fight for the cop, the fuzz, the pig … I think he's trying to do a near impossible job," Lippitt told the newspaper. Guilty for not being allowed to shoot criminals. Over the years, he represented Ambassador Bridge mogul Manuel "Matty" Moroun in a lawsuit with his sisters over the family business (Lippitt loosened up one of the sisters in a deposition by asking if she thought he was handsome); prominent trial attorney Geoffrey Fieger over a breach of contract case (the two had a falling out when Fieger criticized Lippitt's opening statement); former Detroit Red Wings hockey great Sergei Fedorov (it didn't end well), and the wife of Oakland Mall owner Jay Kogan in their divorce (which included a brawl in his office and $5.6 million alimony judgment). To this day, it remains unclear how and when Cooper was shot. "I can't believe all the shit I've done in my life," says Lippitt, who spoke to Bridge Magazine for six hours about a career that's included a judgeship, celebrity clients and a thriving commercial law firm, Lippitt O'Keefe Gornbein PLLC. Anne was a proud and loving aunt. Lippitt says he never spoke to his clients again. 1155 Gratiot Avenue "He was a winner. "He got off people who assassinated young men," she says. "That's our Normy," one says. Further survived by other relatives and friends. Norman Lippitt says he’s peeved an upcoming movie about Detroit’s civil unrest in 1967 won’t give him proper credit for his legal skills in successfully representing Detroit officers tied to the killings of three black teens in what’s become known as the Algiers Motel incident. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The four defendants are being tried under an 1871 Fed eral law making it a crime to conspire to deprive a person of his civil rights to life and free dom from injury. Mr. Lipitt sought to bar from admission in this trial the state ments the two police officers made to their superiors in de layed reports the week follow ing the incident. Helen M. Senak Helen Marie Senak (Nee Rusnak) was born May 30, 1923 in Detroit to John and Marie Rusnak. Three white Detroit police officers – Ronald August (from left), Robert Paille and David Senak – along with black security guard, Melvin Dismuke, allegedly brutalized Aligers Motel guests during the July 1967 unrest.

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Last year, he met for three hours with Bigelow, the director of the "Detroit" movie, which will have its premiere in Detroit on Tuesday. "If I was the prosecutor, they would have been convicted. When I was a judge, they used to say about me: I was a woman's judge. "I'm just pissed off that they're going to make me look irrelevant. Guilty of being shot (at) in the street. ", "I don't apologize for that. They'd hoped it would show police overreacted. "I would have had an all-white jury in (the Detroit) Recorder's Court as well. For about an hour, three young white Detroit cops – Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Senak – along with a black security guard, Melvin Dismuke, allegedly brutalized motel guests in an … Again, the jury was all white, an easier accomplishment at the time, before the U.S. Supreme Court made it harder to strike potential jurors on the basis of race. The other three white police officers present, Ronald August, Robert Paille, and David Senak, also appear in the photo with Dismukes. Back then, Lippitt looked like "Godfather"-era Al Pacino, in his Ralph Lauren suits, perfect hair and sideburns. Those who opted for the latter stayed on the jury. But it's the words Lippitt won't speak that frustrate veterans of Detroit's civil rights movement. It's on prominent display in his office alongside another favorite: "Warriors' Words," whose quotes — particularly those about self-confidence — are highlighted. When a hair found on the weapon matched Peterson's cat, Lippitt opted for a different defense. ", It's an argument that Lippitt's former partner calls "ridiculous.". And then, like so many Detroiters, Lippitt moved on. David Senak, 27, and Robert Faille, 34, the two other De troit policemen, are being tried for the first time for their alleged part in the July 26, 1967, incident. Around that time, Lippitt says he was awakened several times a month by union calls when police shot civilians. Lippitt was never shy about discussing money. He puts his feet on his desk to reveal soft leather driving shoes that he wears without socks. I'm not a do-badder, either," Lippitt says. "Are you ready for this? Blacks were so outraged by the killings that prominent leaders, including Ken Cockrel and civil rights icon Rosa Parks, participated in a symbolic citizens tribunal that found the officers guilty. Startup founders report on their pandemic pivots, Masco launches $50 million venture fund subsidiary, Curbside pickup here to stay at Lafayette Foods, Michigan Good Food Fund to forge long-term relationships, Michigan reopens Obamacare health insurance enrollment. Employers can do better to help ease burden, Editorial: State needs to regroup on vaccine rollout — and tapping private sector a good step, Editorial: Continued shutdowns demand more transparency, Editorial: Doing what's right, not required, for community. They led one black teen into a side room and fired a gun to make their friends in the hallway think the teen was murdered and become so scared they'd confess. Mr. Paille, in his, had begun to describe his part in the happenings when, on the advice of Mr. Lipitt, he ended his statement. It's a form of cynicism that is breathtaking.". A welcome flag hangs from the window. A desire to avoid being a jeweler led him to graduate from Detroit College of Law in 1961. Longtime friend Oliver Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor and one-time general counsel of Ford Motor Co., says Lippitt has "become a caricature of himself" over the years. He ended up dead, under circumstances that suggested the second cop didn't know he was supposed to fake Pollard's execution. Lippitt likes to talk. 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Lippitt moved his practice from downtown Detroit to Southfield in the mid '70s. And then a window broke. Instead, the noise "sounded like a howitzer" in the cavernous building and scared jurors, Lippitt says.

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It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. Friends of the murdered teens, who were themselves brutalized, later told investigators the gunshot police heard was a toy starter's pistol one teen had fired as a prank. Young campaigned against the unit and abolished it when he took office as mayor in 1974. “Detroit,” a movie about police killings during the 1967 civil unrest, debuts Aug. 4, about a week after the 50th anniversary of what some call a riot and others a rebellion caused lasting damage to the city of Detroit. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Lippitt stopped the interrogation. "Ronald August is guilty of working under those conditions. By sunrise, two other teens were also dead: Carl Cooper, 17, and Fred Temple, 18. Lippitt says he never dwelled on the slight and quickly joined the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, where he tried more than 100 felony cases before he turned 30. In his statement, Mr. August admitted shooting young Pollard after first omitting this from an earlier report. A man shoots a burglar in his kitchen. Guilty of working days and nights with little or no rest. This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. And he's upset. Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe. August's trial was relocated to tiny Mason, a nearly all-white town near Lansing. As the trial closed, another victory for the defense: Beer told jurors they could only convict August of first-degree murder or acquit him, leaving them with no option for a "compromise" verdict of manslaughter. After witness accounts began to emerge, the cops initially claimed the teens were already dead when they entered the Algiers. Police — and their politically powerful union — did more than fight crime in Detroit. Will breweries keep making hand sanitizer? "The film is a blatant appeal to bias and bigotry," assistant prosecutor Avery Weiswasser argued. For about an hour, three young white Detroit cops — Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Senak — along with a black security guard, Melvin Dismuke, allegedly brutalized motel guests in an effort to learn who fired the gun that started the raid. Senak, Anna born to eternal life on November 22, 2013. Carl Cooper, 17, and Fred Temple, 18, were found dead on the annex floor soon afterward. David Senak, 27, and Robert Faille, 34, the two other De troit policemen, are being tried for the first time for their alleged part in the July 26, 1967, incident. And judges, colleagues, retired newspaper reporters who covered his career and even critics agree he's a hell of a lawyer. When he turns on the light, he realizes it's his teenage neighbor and plants a knife. ", Even with an all-white jury, Lippitt says, he did a "hell of a job," was better prepared than prosecutors and "cut the witnesses to shreds.". Lippitt quit the prosecutor job in 1965 because it paid $10,500 per year, about $82,000 in today's dollars. Even if Lippitt is reluctant to say so, he helped defend the Constitution by providing vigorous defenses to unpopular defendants, Mitchell says. A daily summary of stories delivered Monday–Friday afternoon. He told The Detroit News in 1971 he wouldn't represent poor people because "to win costs money." Lippitt got the federal conspiracy case moved to Flint, claiming he couldn't get an impartial jury in Detroit because of the publication of The Algiers Motel Incident book. He takes a few moments to consider. Someone has to do the dirty work.". They enforced a social order that separated blacks and whites, says Thompson, the UM professor. "All I did was my job," Lippitt says. He's discussing his most infamous case: successfully defending white cops accused of beatings and murder at the Algiers Motel as Detroit burned in the summer of 1967. I love animals. His strategy, which he'd employ in other brutality cases over the years, was to remove blacks from juries, poke holes in witness testimony and criticize police administration for failing to better train the officers. The garden is well-tended. The allegations were savage. News delivered to your email as it happens. "It was always more and more money. Win. He most closely correlates to 23-year-old Vice Patrolman David Senak in real life, but the connection is loose at best. ("They used to call me the fastest white boy in Detroit.") The case exposed racial wounds that perhaps still haven't healed. "Norman Lippitt is soulless," says Sheila Cockrel, a former Detroit city councilwoman whose deceased husband, Ken Cockrel Sr., was an attorney who sued the city over police abuses in the 1970s. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. That made him the public face — and defender — of the city's white ruling class, says Heather Ann Thompson, a University of Michigan professor of African-American history who has studied the city's police force. Not that it may depict his clients, the cops, as racists. DETROIT — Tucked behind a sleepy tree-lined road, David Senak’s home gives the impression of suburban peace. Prosecutors persuaded Beer to allow them to fire a starter's pistol in the courtroom. Boxes of news clips saved by Lippitt's mother include fashion spreads for which he posed in The Detroit News Sunday Magazine. They all left the Algiers without filing a report, calling for assistance or notifying the families of … I give to charity. The Algiers Motel was razed in 1979 and is now a park. As an attorney, you have an obligation to pursue everything on behalf of your client. Courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library of Wayne State University. There's a "direct line" between Lippitt's legal victories — and tactics that included eliminating blacks from juries — and outrage over recent police killings of civilians that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement, says Danielle McGuire, a Wayne State University history professor who is writing a new book about the Algiers Motel killings. Helping you succeed in business since 1985. The Detroit officers in charge of the raid were David Senak, Ronald August, and Robert Paille. Join Facebook to connect with Daniel D Senak and others you may know. In less than two years, police killed 22 men, all but one were black. "Ask any lawyer 50 years of age or younger: Everyone knows me, everyone. Detroit MI  48207-2997. Yes, please keep me informed on upcoming events, recognition programs and awards. Cost of ending a pandemic: Who pays for shots in arms? No charges were ever filed in connection with the shoot ings of the Cooper and Temple youths. "He helped lay a foundation for what is acceptable and what police can get away with, which helped drive the call for black power. He made big money winning acquittals for cops accused of brutalizing blacks in Detroit. "Norman got extremely wealthy protecting raging police brutality. FLINT, Mich., Jan. 20—The Algiers Motel incident was re opened here today as three Detroit policemen and a pri vate guard went on trial in Federal court in connection with the beating of eight Negro youths and two young white women in the motel annex dur ing the Detroit riots of 1967. Lippitt says people can think what they want of him, as long as no one calls him a bad lawyer. The prosecution and the de fense anounced today that be tween them they expected to call about 70 witnesses during the trial, which they expected to last at least five weeks. Told by Bridge that he was called "soulless" and "transactional," Lippitt seems taken aback. "People don't remember, these were violent times," says Grant, the retired police union leader. … In a way, Norman Lippitt helped get Coleman Young elected. By the mid-1960s, Lippitt was married and had two children. "Norman didn't cause the '67 riots. Lippitt pauses. On the third night of the violence, police reported sniper fire at the Algiers Motel on Woodward Avenue, about a mile from the origin of the uprisings. By the late 1970s, he says he was billing $250,000 per year, the equivalent of $1 million, representing police. The two most … "Norman Lippitt and the police acquittals absolutely had a major impact on race relations both in the 1970s and today," says McGuire, the Wayne State professor. Lippitt leans back in his corner office in downtown Birmingham. "He only had to do a couple of things: Discredit the witnesses and get the whitest jury you could get," says McGuire, the Wayne State professor who has interviewed Lippitt several times. Forty-three people died during the devastating riots that gripped Detroit in 1967. Thrust into an incendiary case at age 32, Lippitt says he did what he's always done: Work hard and win. For 17 years, until 1984, he was lead counsel for the Detroit Police Officers Association, where he defended numerous officers accused of brutality and murder. "I don't know why everybody wants to make me a do-gooder. To this day, there's much confusion about what happened in those early hours at the Algiers. "There was nothing positive to say about the police department then," says Bell, who is African-American. "It was a war! Norman Lippitt makes no apologies. … Survived by her brother Joseph Senak and her sister Leona Senak. If convicted, the defendants face maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $5,000 fines. Lippitt was a jock who excelled in sports. Initially, two officers were charged with murder, but Lippitt persuaded a judge to drop charges against Paille. "Rather than hearing what the community was saying — that the police were operating like a renegade army — they kept doubling down with brutality," says Thompson, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year for a book she wrote about the 1971 Attica Prison riot. She entered into rest at her home on September 8, 2017, at the age of 94. "I'm a trial lawyer. I'm not a do-gooder. Is he guilty of murder or filing a false police report? He was then ordered to leave the building while those remaining were led to believe he had been killed fo refusing to tell where the weapons were, the witness said. By morning, three black teens were dead. Each spent one night in jail and were … Search Daily Globe newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Ironwood, Michigan on February 5, 1970, p. 3. After several hours of talking to Bridge ("I love this"), Lippitt has one more revelation about the Algiers. Sometimes, he helped police with phrases, such as "Fearing for my life ...," Lippitt acknowledges. Other witnesses described a “game” they said the defend ants in today's trial played with the Negro youths. Lippitt closed the case by arguing that what happened in Detroit was neither a riot nor an uprising. Coroners remove the bodies of three black teens: Carl Cooper, 17, Aubrey Pollard, 19, and Fred Temple, 18. U.S. attorneys also brought charges against all three police officers, and the guard Dismukes, accusing them of conspiring to deny civil rights to Algiers' motel guests. Police initially claimed the three died during a sniper gunfire in July 1967. Quite the contrary. Helen M. Senak Helen Marie Senak (Nee Rusnak) was born May 30, 1923 in Detroit to John and Marie Rusnak. In his first order as Detroit's first black mayor, he disbanded the STRESS unit. Obituary for Anna Senak, Senak, Anna born to eternal life on November 22, 2013. But not one out of 10 will remember my criminal days anymore," Lippitt says. He says he wasn't making enough money as an assistant prosecutor. Charged with conspiracy to violate the rights of 10 occu pants of the motel annex are three suspended Detroit police men, Ronald J. August, 30 years old, Robert N. Paille, 34, and David Senak… The private guard, Melvin Dismukes, a Negro, was tried earlier on charges of felonious assault during the incident. It would become a theme for much of his life. He was also acquitted. Would he be considered a nice guy now if he did a shitty job with those cases?". During his trial last June, Mr. August, who entered the annex after the “game” began, testi fied that he had taken young Pollard out of the line against the wall and into an adjoining room to protect him from being beaten by Mr. Senak. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this … "What bothers him is that so many people are reacting negatively.". Survived by her brother Joseph Senak and her sister Leona Senak. Cooper’s death has never been explained. Now 81, he's edgy and annoyed — but loving the attention — in the days leading to the Aug. 4 release of "Detroit," Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's movie based on the Algiers Motel killings. Guilty of standing idle while looting and firebombing and sniping was going on. Now, media from as far away as Japan are calling. He defended Detroit officers in the infamous STRESS (Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets) unit, formed to crack down on street violence in 1971. Cockrel, the former city councilwoman, says Lippitt's legacy is sorrowful. This is what happened in those first days of that war in Detroit — while the mayor and the governor and the president were indecisive.". Lippitt hasn't seen the movie. See the article in its original context from. Were some of his clients racist? Search Daily Globe newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Ironwood, Michigan on January 28, 1970, p. 3. No sniper weapon was ever found. "What do you think of my new shoes?". Upon hearing what they thought was gunfire, law enforcement shot out the lights near the motel and stormed the building. Lippitt was a "swashbuckler," a "stick-your-chin-out and take-the-first-swing personality" who worked harder than most and had an easy rapport with jurors, says his former partner, Robert Harrison, a Bloomfield Hills attorney. "And he did it with no ideology behind it other than 'winning.' Ronald August, 31 years old, one of the three officers, ad mitted killing Auburey Pollard, 19, when, Mr. August said, the Negro youth tried to grab a shotgun from him. She entered into rest at her home on September 8, 2017, at the age of 94. He banned all television and radio equipment from the corridors opposite the courtroom and he also pro hibited the making of sketches while the court was in session. "Does it take a genius to play on people's racism? 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A bottle was thrown. Something is amiss when a racist sadist steals the narrative by default from underdeveloped victims. Two years later, he got the police union contract. Born in in Bridgeport, he was the son of the late Peter and Eva (Puknik) Senak. Search Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper archives with birth, death, marriage and divorce records from Santa Fe, New Mexico on February 26, 1970, p. 7. According to trial testimony, newspaper accounts and a book, The Algiers Motel Incident by John Hersey, the short version goes like this: Amid the violence, several black teens, including a music group, the Dramatics, along with two white teenage girls, took refuge in the motel. The women had their clothes torn and were taunted as "n****r lovers.". To him, each case was a battle. So is the judge and the assistant prosecutor, Weiswasser. Is Norman supposed to take a fall? Sheila Cockrel, a former Detroit city councilwoman, says she’s troubled that Norman Lippitt has tried to rationalize the tactics he used in his defense of police officers accused of murder. A union driver would pick him up and take him to headquarters to help officers involved with the shootings write their reports. On … And more and more fame to get more and more money. "We could smell a tiger the moment Norm took his first case," an anonymous lawyer is quoted in a 1971 profile in The Detroit News. Judge Roth later denied a motion by Norman Lipitt, a Detroit lawyer retained by the Detroit Police Officers Association to defend Mr. August and Mr. Paille. It was never enough for Norman," says Sanford Plotkin, a defense attorney who worked with Lippitt in the 1990s and admires his "brilliant legal mind.". Lippitt got August's murder trial delayed several times, citing pretrial publicity and raw feelings about the incident in Detroit. "I do fight for the cop, the fuzz, the pig … I think he's trying to do a near impossible job," Lippitt told the newspaper. Guilty for not being allowed to shoot criminals. Over the years, he represented Ambassador Bridge mogul Manuel "Matty" Moroun in a lawsuit with his sisters over the family business (Lippitt loosened up one of the sisters in a deposition by asking if she thought he was handsome); prominent trial attorney Geoffrey Fieger over a breach of contract case (the two had a falling out when Fieger criticized Lippitt's opening statement); former Detroit Red Wings hockey great Sergei Fedorov (it didn't end well), and the wife of Oakland Mall owner Jay Kogan in their divorce (which included a brawl in his office and $5.6 million alimony judgment). To this day, it remains unclear how and when Cooper was shot. "I can't believe all the shit I've done in my life," says Lippitt, who spoke to Bridge Magazine for six hours about a career that's included a judgeship, celebrity clients and a thriving commercial law firm, Lippitt O'Keefe Gornbein PLLC. Anne was a proud and loving aunt. Lippitt says he never spoke to his clients again. 1155 Gratiot Avenue "He was a winner. "He got off people who assassinated young men," she says. "That's our Normy," one says. Further survived by other relatives and friends. Norman Lippitt says he’s peeved an upcoming movie about Detroit’s civil unrest in 1967 won’t give him proper credit for his legal skills in successfully representing Detroit officers tied to the killings of three black teens in what’s become known as the Algiers Motel incident. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The four defendants are being tried under an 1871 Fed eral law making it a crime to conspire to deprive a person of his civil rights to life and free dom from injury. Mr. Lipitt sought to bar from admission in this trial the state ments the two police officers made to their superiors in de layed reports the week follow ing the incident. Helen M. Senak Helen Marie Senak (Nee Rusnak) was born May 30, 1923 in Detroit to John and Marie Rusnak. Three white Detroit police officers – Ronald August (from left), Robert Paille and David Senak – along with black security guard, Melvin Dismuke, allegedly brutalized Aligers Motel guests during the July 1967 unrest.

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