THE DEFENSE
Norman L. Lippitt, the lawyer who
represented the police officers
charged in the Algiers Motel cases,
also provided his recollections to the
movie’s director, Kathryn Bigelow,
and her team. Lippitt, now 81 and
still practicing law, was contacted
by a film researcher and subse-
quently met for several hours with
Bigelow and later Matthew Budman,
one of the film’s producers, in early
2016.
The moviemakers took photos
of Lippitt’s extensive newspaper
clippings of the Algiers’ criminal
proceedings, saved by his mother
50 years ago. Lippitt was only 31
at the time but says he had already
had some successes representing
other members of the Detroit Police
Officers Association (DPOA). He con-
tinued as their lawyer for 18 years
until being named to the Oakland
County bench by Gov. James
Blanchard. After that, he returned to
private practice but gave up criminal
defense work.
Lippitt says he still encounters
Detroit police officers and retirees
who have heard of him and appre-
ciate his work. “I’m a hero to this
day for the police officers,” he says.
Lippitt points out that he has suc-
cessfully defended African American
police officers, who are also grateful
to him. Looking back on the week
of July 23, 1967, he says, “There
were wrongdoers among the police
and community members during the
insurrection or riot.” Lippitt arranged
a private showing of Detroit for his
law firm, Lippitt, O’Keefe, Gornbein
PLLC on Aug. 9. An extensive inter-
view about his experiences defend-
ing the police officers charged in the
Algiers Motel incident is available
at detroit1967.detroithistorical.org/
items/show/440.
While three white police officers
and the African American security
guard were charged criminally for
alleged offenses that night, some
cases were dropped and the defen-
dants were acquitted in others.
Lippitt was able to have the murder
trial moved from Detroit to Mason,
Mich.; all of the jury members were
white. •
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Actor Laz Alonso plays Rep. John Conyers in Detroit.
Hysell [one of the motel guests]
and Larry Reed, the Elgee Smith
character, and connected them
with the screenwriters.
Only one of the police officers,
David Sinak, is still alive. All of
the cops were very young and the
people in the motel were teenag-
ers. The police officers claimed
that two of the young men who
were killed were trying to grab
their guns. After the incident, the
two white girls in the motel were
protected by Nate Conyers, John
Conyers’ brother, as they were
thought to be in danger as poten-
tial witnesses against the police.
JN: Did you interact with Kathryn
Bigelow and Mark Boal?
DZ: We met with Mark Boal who
had a lot of questions. He was
interested in the music angle with
Larry Reed.
JN: Why wasn’t the movie filmed in
Detroit?
DZ: Michigan no longer offered
incentives for movies to be pro-
duced here and Massachusetts
had film credits. Also, the set
people couldn’t find the build-
ings they wanted in Detroit.
[The Algiers Motel and its annex
had been leveled.] The scene at
Motown [a recording tryout for the
Dramatics] was filmed here. I was
invited to bring my daughter, Leah,
to that scene and met Bigelow
there. •
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August 17 • 2017
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