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Michigan v. Budzyn
Second Trial of Michigan's "Rodney King Case" Begins
(DETROIT, MICHIGAN - Feb. 18) Prosecutor Douglas Baker began his opening
statement in the second trial of convicted police officer Walter Budzyn by asking
jurors to imagine that they had been invisible observers on the evening of November
5, 1992. Describing the scene, Baker noted that each juror would have seen a 1984
red Mercury Topaz being stopped in front of 3710 West Warren Street by Detroit
police officers Budzyn and his partner, Larry Nevers. "It's being driven by
Malice Green," Baker told the jury. "He'll be dead in about thirty minutes."
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The prosecution presenting their opening statement |
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According to the prosecutor, Green originally complied with the officers
when he was asked to show his driver's license. But Baker charged that
what appeared to be a normal interrogation turned tragic when Budzyn
noticed that the suspect appeared to have something clenched in his fist.
"The people around him [Green] assume it's some sort of cocaine or drug,
because of the focus on him by the officers. Budzyn grabs that clenched
hand, and in an instant he's inside the car, and in another instant he's
striking him with the light, saying, 'Open your hand, open your hand.'
And the beating has started right there . . . it all happened very quickly."
Baker told the jurors that Budzyn jumped on top of the suspect,
straddling him and striking him with his flashlight. At the same time,
he claimed that Officer Nevers began to hit Green with Nevers' flashlight,
despite the fact that the suspect was dangling out of the car saying things
like, "Wait a minute, don't." According to the prosecutor, "Nevers was
hitting him with a flashlight, saying 'open your hand' . . . and blood
is everywhere."
Two Detroit EMS vehicles happened by the scene, and Baker promised that
medical technicians will testify that Green was posing no threat at the
time he was being repeatedly hit. Ultimately, Green was arrested and
handcuffed. But Baker claimed that Green had a "pre-death seizure"
even before he could be loaded into one of the ambulances. Green's
vital signs began to fail en route to the hospital, and efforts to
resuscitate him proved fruitless.
"Within twenty minutes of the last blow, he's dead," Baker said.
"It's that fast."
Over a strong defense objection, Baker showed jurors some eight
photographs during the course of his opening -- including two
that graphically depicted numerous lacerations to Malice Green's head.
"Budzyn took the life of Malice Green, caused his death," said Baker.
"It's not our position that they [Budzyn and Nevers] intended to kill
him. But they intended him some serious harm, and he died. They repeatedly hit him in the head for no good reason. Maybe they didn't care . . . but he died as a result of their actions."
Baker ended his opening by suggesting to jurors that Malice Green died for nothing. "He wasn't running away, or being a threat, and there simply is no justification for what was done. What this case will show you is that the enforcers of the law were not restrained by the law, but acted above it. They said 'you're going to obey us,' but they obeyed nothing. He [Green] lost the protection of the law that night and therefore lost his life."
Defense attorney Carole Stanyar painted a very different picture of Budzyn's actions on the night of the incident. She began by focusing on what she believes are the pivotal issues at the heart of this case.
"What we are going to be debating about is two key questions," Stanyar told the jury. "The first: Did Walter Budzyn kill Malice Green? And the answer is 'no.' The second: Did he hold down Green so Larry Nevers could kill him? That answer to that is also a resounding 'no'. We believe that Walter Budzyn is an innocent man."
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Defense attorney Carole Stanyar presenting the defences opening statement |
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Stanyar spent some time describing Budzyn, a man she claimed was once selected "Officer of the Year" at Detroit's Third Precinct. "He is a quiet person, not articulate in terms of his manner of speaking ," Stanyar said. "He is a person who is serious; he's a good person, an honest person, and when he had the privilege to serve, he was a very dedicated police officer."
As Stanyar explained it, the decision by Officers Budzyn and Nevers to pull over Malice Green's car was a perfectly logical one, especially since the automobile resembled one that had earlier been reported stolen, and the area in question was known to be rife with prostitution and drug abuse. And Stanyar charged that Green's suspicious movements after he had been asked to produce his driver's license were the catalyst of the entire incident.
"Malice Green reached with a closed fist, clenched," Stanyar said. "He did that because he had cocaine in his hand. There's cocaine at that scene, and all of the lay witnesses believe that's what he had in that hand . That's why it was clenched that way , and Malice Green refuses to open his hand."
According to Stanyar, Budzyn did not jump on Green; rather he fell on the suspect after Green kicked him in the shin. "That's a crucial factor, because that's an assault on a police officer," Stanyar said. "It's what causes Budzyn to lose his balance. Budzyn will tell you that, yes, he did use force against Green, that he tried to pry open his hand. But he will deny that he ever beat Green with his flashlight."
Instead, Stanyar pointed her finger directly at Officer Larry Nevers as the one who used any excessive force that night. "You'll hear that Nevers did use some force, used a flashlight to the knee of Green, some force to the hands. Budzyn can hear them struggling; he hears one thump, maybe two thumps, and then he hears sirens," the defense attorney said.
"When he looked across, he saw Larry Nevers, with his flashlight in his hand, swing it and land the flashlight on the head of Malice Green. He saw that Malice Green was indeed bloody, that his face and head were bloody. But he'll also tell you that he heard nothing that would have clued him in to the fact that a man was being beaten about to death; nothing clued him in to that fact . These officers did not know that Malice Green was about to die."
His attorney claimed Budzyn's version of his actions that night were corroborated by both the physical evidence and the EMS technicians who arrived at the scene. "You'll hear from them that they see Nevers inflicting the blows. They see the blows that caused the bruising to the back of the brain, which caused death, numerous hits by Larry Nevers," Stanyar said. "And either they didn't see Budzyn at all, or they saw a shadowy figure on the passenger side of the car."
Stanyar ridiculed other versions of Budzyn's role in the beating, pointing out the credibility problems of many of the prosecution's witnesses, suggesting that several have varied their stories over time. "Remember, there's witnesses here almost immediately, and they see that Budzyn has no blood on his clothes, on his hair, on his face, on his flashlight." In fact, claimed Stanyar, an analysis of the blood spatter pattern left at the scene indicates that blows to Green's head were coming only from the direction that would be consistent with Nevers having administered them. "Nevers has blood on his hands, his clothing, his flashlight."
Right now, it is not known whether Budzyn will take the stand. Stanyar hedged her bets, stating only that her client "may very well testify." But repeated references to what she told the jurors that they would hear during the case seemed to indicate that Budzyn is likely to tell his side of the story -- unless, of course, the defense decides that the risks involved in his doing so are simply unnecessary.
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