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Michigan v. Budzyn
Budzyn Takes the Stand and Changes Testimony from First Trial
(DETROIT, MICHIGAN - March 5) The highly anticipated testimony of Walter Budzyn began when he took the stand and denied knowing exactly how Malice Green was beaten to death after he was resisted arrest.
The defendant began his direct examination by describing for the jurors his background and experiences prior to the fateful night of November 5, 1992. Now 52, Budzyn is a Detroit native who joined the police force in 1973. For nearly twenty years, he served as a patrolman, first in a uniform and then later as a plainclothes officer. Working for most of his career out of the city's Third Precinct, he was chosen that station's "Officer of the Year" in 1990.
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Budzyn shows the jury how the altercation with Malice Green occurred. |
On the night in question, Budzyn said that he and partner Larry Nevers were working a 4:00 pm to midnight shift. Around 10:00 pm, the pair saw a red car pull up in front of 3410 West Warren - according to Budzyn, the car had several bullet holes in its side. Because Nevers remarked that the car resembled one involved in a recent carjacking, the officers pulled up behind the vehicle and parked.
At that point, said the Budzyn, his attention was drawn by someone running from the sidewalk toward the back of the house at 3410 West Warren. Although Budzyn did not know whether or not the man -- whom he later came to know was Robert Knox -- had been a passenger in the Topaz, the officer jumped out and took off after him. After catching up to Knox, Budzyn stopped him, patted him down, and asked him to return with him to the car. In addition, there were three civilians present at the scene, including Ralph Fletcher, whom Budzyn also patted down.
It was then that Walter Budzyn first saw Malice Green. He recalled the suspect walking around his car, holding his wallet and driver's license in his left hand. The defendant said he asked to see the license - but by that time, Green had already sat down in the car's passenger seat, with his feet outside of the car. Then Budzyn noticed Green's right hand.
"He had it clenched into a fist . . .it was down around his knee," Budzyn said. "I didn't want him opening that glove box; he wasn't patted down, and there were bullet holes in the car . . . He reached across, and he went to open the box, and when he turned his hand, a rock of crack cocaine fell out."
While holding his flashlight in his left hand, Budzyn reached into Green's car. Using his own lawyer James Howarth, Budzyn showed jurors how he grabbed Green and was positioned during the attempted arrest.
"I reached in, and I grabbed his right hand where the rock fell from . . . the arm area, about where the wrist would be," Budzyn said. "He was pulling back, he kicked me in the knee, and I fell backwards on top of him . . . As I fell into the vehicle, I dropped the flashlight, and I told him to give it up, to give up the dope."
According to Budzyn, Larry Nevers came around to the passenger's side door about this time. "Larry came into the car, and I told Larry he [Green] had more dope, and he [Nevers] started hitting him on the knuckles with his flashlight . . . two or three times," the defendant said. "Larry came back into the car, and he tried prying his little finger out, and a second rock of cocaine fell out . Larry tried to get the rest of the fingers open, but I was having trouble holding his [Green's] hand . . . and then Larry left."
Budzyn testified that he was lying on top of Green, face up, with his back to the suspect. "About this time, we were halfway across the seats, and he was pulling his arm away from me . . . and I lost the arm," he said. "I'd lost control of him; I couldn't handcuff him." Budzyn claimed that he was concerned that Green would be able to dispose of any additional crack he had concealed in his hand - either by throwing it away, or by ingesting it. In addition, said Budzyn, he was concerned that Green might attempt to grab the officer's gun. As the two men struggled, they moved across the car's bucket seats toward the driver's door. But through it all, Budzyn denied that he ever hit Green in any way.
Having no idea where his partner was, Budzyn attempted to call for assistance with his "prep radio," a portable radio attached by clip to his belt. He testified that he requested "back-up" but heard a dispatcher transform the request into an "officer in trouble" alert, a more serious call. "We needed a car, but nobody was injured . . . I gave another broadcast that we weren't in trouble, but that we needed another car right away," Budzyn told the court.
Budzyn then heard the driver's door open. Although he was not facing in that direction, he believed that Nevers was the one who opened it.
"I heard the door open, and noise coming into the vehicle . . . and there was scuffling going on by it," Budzyn said. "I heard a couple of thumps, and Malice was still moving and struggling underneath me."
Ultimately, the defendant was able to grab the car's dashboard and pull himself off of Green. He pulled himself out of the car and was not facing towards the direction of the scuffle behind him. But rather than turning to see what had happened behind him, Budzyn testified that he bent to retrieve his own flashlight, some cigarettes, and the cocaine.
Then, contrary to his first trial's testimony, he claimed he eventually saw Nevers holding Green by the hair, hitting him with his flashlight. (During the first trial, Budzyn denied ever seeing Nevers strike Green.)
"I bent down, and as I was bending down I saw the flashlight come down and land on Mr. Green's head and stay there," Budzyn said. "I looked through [the car] I saw the flashlight coming down, and Larry was holding him [Green] by his hair. It [the flashlight] came down, and it stopped . . . I don't know if you'd call it a hit, but it did make contact with the head."
But Budzyn testified that this one contact is the only blow he saw inflicted upon Green's head. "I stood up, and looked across the car, and there was an EMS unit and a marked police car parked there," he said. "I believe there were two EMS guys and two uniformed policemen standing behind Larry. They were standing there, and they had their hands in their pockets, so I thought the whole thing was over." Budzyn indicated that that was the end of his involvement in the incident; he said he played no role in Green's ultimate removal from the car or his handcuffing.
The defendant's first recognition that Green was injured came when he looked through the car and saw blood on both Green and Nevers. But Budzyn categorically denied that he had ever attacked Malice Green.
"Did you ever hit him with your flashlight," defense attorney James Howarth asked Budzyn.
Budzyn also denied that he had any blood on either his person or his flashlight -- and although he acknowledged he had asked EMT Scott Walsh for some hydrogen peroxide, he poured it only over Nevers's hands and flashlight, and insisted he had not personally used even one drop.
The defendant ended his direct examination by reiterating that he had no idea what was going on while he was struggling with Malice Green inside Green's car. He also went on to express remorse over Green's death.
Defense attorney Howarth asked Budzyn,"If I were to suggest to you that everything that you did on November 5, 1992 was absolutely perfect, the best police work that could have possibly been done, would you agree or disagree?"
"No, I would disagree," Budzyn replied. "Because a man died."
Prosecutor Douglas Baker's cross examination of the defendant was surprisingly brief, lasting only a total of about one hour and 15 minutes. He began by ridiculing Budzyn's assertion that he and Nevers had removed a plastic toy gun from another suspect shortly before the pair ran into Malice Green on November 5 (several witnesses have mentioned seeing Nevers playing with the gun after Green's beating).
But none of Budzyn's notes from that night reflect having taken such an item from any such suspect - and Baker clearly inferred that the toy was a "drop gun," carried around by officers so that it could be dropped at the scene of an unlawful police action to justify the use of deadly force. (The gun later mysteriously disappeared, and the prosecutor also suggested that it had been conveniently removed from the scene by Budzyn's supervisor, Sgt. Freddie Douglas, or another police union supervisor.)
Baker also used Budzyn's cross examination to attack the credibility of previous defense witness Karl Gunther. On Wednesday, Gunther - one of the police officers who reported to the crime scene - testified that Budzyn had shown him several rocks of crack cocaine at the scene. But Budzyn was inconclusive as to whether or not he had mentioned to Gunther that he had the crack, making it appear as if Gunther had simply manufactured his account in an effort to help the defendant, or that Budzyn had conveniently produced probable cause to justify the events of the evening.
The prosecutor's biggest scorn was reserved for Budzyn's account of his actions during the alleged assault itself. The defendant stuck to his story that he had spun around after being kicked by Malice Green, had fallen into the car on top of him, and had struggled to both control the suspect and to free himself. But Budzyn concede that, despite his earlier statement that he was being pulled into the automobile, he was the one holding Green, and not the other way around. Theoretically, this means that he could have let go of Green and extricated himself at any time.
Baker also noted that the defendant's version of events - with Budzyn facing away from the driver's side door - explains why he was conveniently unable to see the actions of his partner outside the car. In addition, Baker wanted an explanation of Budzyn's lack of momentum when he finally extricated himself from the car. Budzyn had admitted to hearing "thumps" that sounded "like somebody might have been being hit" when he was still in the vehicle. But when he emerged from the car, rather than looking up to see if his partner had been on the receiving end of those blows, Budzyn concentrated on recovering his flashlight, cigarettes, and the crack rocks.
"For all you know, the thumps you heard were Larry Nevers getting the heck beat out of him," Baker pointed out to Budzyn.
"I don't know what it was," claimed Budzyn.
"And you looked into the car to get your property?"
"I thought it was all over by that time."
"But you don't know if it's Larry Nevers that's going to be dead?"
"No, I don't."
The prosecutor also noted that it seemed suspicious that, given the amount of blood found in the car, he did not have any blood at all on his clothes, especially on the back of his shirt. Baker also found it questionable that Budzyn, a highly trained, observant police officer, did not realize, or was not sure that a struggle between his partner and Green was occurring. He also could not believe that the defendant, in hearing a possible struggle, would not have immediately turned around to see if his partner needed help. Then, in pointing out Budzyn's current claim that he saw Nevers hit Green, he implied that the defendant had been coached and purposely changed his testimony.
Budzyn ended his cross examination by once again insisting that he had no idea what was happening while he was laying on top of Malice Green in Green's car- although Baker clearly was not buying his story.
The day's proceedings ended with the testimony of two state experts. Lynne Helton, a crime technician at the Michigan State Crime Laboratory, said that, contrary to the prosecution's theory, the blood found in Green's car was not a cast-off pattern.
Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, an expert in forensic pathology, testified that the injuries suffered by Green could not have been inflicted by a flashlight-wielding man straddling the victim inside the car, as the prosecution has claimed.
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