Grand Traverse County’s Prosecutor has released police reports from the Clarence Gomery case.
Gomery pleaded not guilty in District Court last Friday to a charge of solicitation to murder. He is accused of trying to hire a hit man in July to kill attorney Christopher Cooke.
Gomery is a former assistant prosecutor for Grand Traverse County – and former prosecutor for Leelanau County.
The story laid out in the police reports is similar to the one heard in open court but the report does add a few new details.
A friend of Gomery told detectives that he remembers Gomery telling him about a year ago that he wished Cooke “would fall off the face of the earth.”
Cooke himself told detectives that his relationship with Gomery was “not-so-friendly." The two were embroiled in a lawsuit that Cooke says was costing Gomery money – and threatening his license to practice law.
The report also details the prior relationship between the man who Gomery allegedly tried to hire – Dale Fisher – and Cooke.
Cooke’s wife told detectives of a confrontation between the two – that ended in a shouting match.
In court Friday, Fisher testified that Gomery planned to pay him $20,000 for the hit.
The case could go to trial as early as December.