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Michigan v. Budzyn
Conflicts Surface as Testimony Gets Underway
(DETROIT, MICHIGAN - Feb. 19) Prosecutors received medical testimony to back their claim that Malice Green was beaten
to death. But an eyewitness to the beating later took away some prosecution momentum by testifying that he never saw former
police officer Walter Budzyn hit Green anywhere except on the hands.
Although Ralph Fletcher said that he did not see Budzyn hit Green, he claimed that the defendant straddled the victim as his partner, Larry Nevers, repeatedly hit him in the head with a flashlight. Fletcher ran a reputed crack house at the time of Green's death but insisted that he never personally sold drugs. Nonetheless, he made space available for those who chose to use them---for a fee. Fletcher told the court that he had known Malice Green since they were kids, and the two saw each other two or three times a week since the summer before Green's death.
Fletcher said that on November 5, 1992 he first saw Green in the early afternoon, when the latter came to his house and the two drank some beer. Later, according to Fletcher, Green returned, and again they shared some alcohol. Finally, shortly after 10:00 that night, Green allegedly offered the witness a ride home after seeing him emerge from a nearby liquor store.
As Fletcher and Green pulled up in front of Fletcher's residence, they were stopped officers Nevers and Budzyn. As far as he could tell, Fletcher said, Green had done nothing wrong. Nevers asked Green for his driver's license; Green then sat down in the passenger seat, with his back facing the driver's side.
"Officer Budzyn looked in, and asked Malice what did have in his hand? I didn't see anything ," Fletcher said. "He [Green] had his hand clenched; I believe it was his right hand. Budzyn gets in then, straddles Malice, and starts hitting his hand with a flashlight. He said, 'Open your hand,' and Malice wouldn't open his hand, so he just started beating on him."
Fletcher claimed he urged Green to comply and asked Nevers why he did not tell Budzyn to stop abusing the suspect. But Nevers' alleged only response was to tell Fletcher and Robert Knox, who was standing near the witness, to leave.
Fletcher's most incriminating testimony recounted what he and Knox allegedly saw when they looked back a moment later. "We saw Larry Nevers take the flashlight and hit him [Green] in the head . Budzyn was hitting his hand," Fletcher said. When asked by prosecutor Doug Baker if Malice Green was saying anything, Fletcher responded, "He never said a word. He was laying there, and every time he got hit he would flinch." The witness also said that Green never swore at the officers.
But when asked if he had ever seen Budzyn strike Green in the head, Fletcher conceded that he had not. Fletcher also admitted that he never saw Nevers administer any more than two blows to Green's head. Ordered once again to leave the scene, Fletcher returned later to find the victim "laying on the street, going through a seizure . . . and there was blood everywhere. There was blood everywhere."
During cross-examination, defense attorney Carole Stanyar repeatedly cast doubt on Fletcher's credibility. In the nearly five-and-a-half years since Green's death, Fletcher has given numerous inconsistent statements. For example, Stanyar focused on the fact that Fletcher now claims that Budzyn "straddled" Green, when in earlier statements he said only that the officer was "sitting" on the victim. Stanyar suggested that prosecutorial influence has shaped the witness' testimony over the years.
But Fletcher insisted that the word itself was of no importance. "'Straddling,' 'sitting' -- he beat the man's hand," Fletcher said. In addition, Fletcher said that he was familiar with both officers prior to the incident. (However, Fletcher failed to identify Budzyn in a line-up of potential suspects only three days after the beating.)
Other major testimony came from Dr. Bader Cassin, the former Wayne County Chief Medical Examiner. Cassin technically supervised Malice Green's autopsy but did not perform it himself. He testified that, in his opinion, "Malice Green died of blunt force trauma to the head" and was the victim of a homicide.
Dr. Cassin identified a series of photographs depicting the various injuries apparent on Green's body. In addition to the severe multiple lacerations seen on the victim's face and head, there were scrapes and bruises on his hands, knees, elbows, and hip. Some of the lacerations, said Cassin, could have been the result of more than one blow. His best guess is that a total of nine to 12 blows with a blunt object would have been necessary to cause the head injuries he observed. (Cassin also testified that Green's injuries could have been inflicted by a flashlight used as a club).
During his direct examination, Dr. Cassin told prosecutor Baker that a post-mortem toxicology analysis revealed the presence of cocaine in Malice Green's blood and urine, consumed no more than three or four hours before his death. In addition, faint traces of alcohol in the urine and of an alcohol by-product in the blood indicated that Green had probably been drinking in the 12 hours before he died.
Defense attorney Stanyar followed up on this testimony during her cross-examination by asking Dr. Cassin about cocaine's potential effect on a user's behavior. According to the witness, the drug may tend to make people act in a more aggressive, violent, or belligerent manner -- as can the presence of alcohol or adrenaline in the bloodstream. Cassin told the court that a combination of cocaine and alcohol could have increased this type of behavior in Green even more than either drug would have done on its own. According to the doctor, cocaine is known to increase the amount of adrenaline in the blood, upping the stakes in what was already a potentially explosive situation with Officers Nevers and Budzyn.
The first day of testimony also saw Patricia Green, the victim's mother, testify only briefly about her deceased son. Ralph Fletcher will return to the stand for redirect examination by the prosecution when proceedings resume in the morning.
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