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GREENSBORO - The city's release of a recorded conversation between former Deputy p olice Chief Randall Brady and Detective Scott Sanders should not overturn Brady's legal victory, his attorney argued Friday in federal court filings.

Brady won a lawsuit in federal court last month to recover the portion of his pension the city has been withholding.

A few days later the city released audio tapes of Brady and Sanders talking about how to handle a problem David Wray, police chief at the time, was having with a neighbor whom Brady called "nuts."

The city also asked U.S. District Court Judge N. Carlton Tilley to reconsider his decision in light of the tapes, which it argued could not have been filed with the court prior to the State Bureau of Investigation clearing them.

In his response Friday, Brady's attorney Seth Cohen argued that the evidence was not newly discovered, so a rule allowing decisions to be revisited in light of new evidence should not apply.

The tapes had been in the city's possession for some time and it could have previously asked the court to review the recordings in private, Cohen said.

Cohen also argued the city never addressed the underlying principal that Tilley cited when he ruled in Brady's favor last month: The city does not have a policy in place that prohibits former employees it might have fired from receiving benefits.

The city had withheld a portion of Brady's pension, stating that it would have fired him had he not resigned abruptly. The remainder of his pension is controlled by the state .

Contact Jonathan Jones at 373-7077, or jjones@news-record.com