(March 4) The second trial of former Detroit police officer Walter Budzyn cannot help being vastly different from the first. For Budzyn, who was convicted in 1993 for the beating death of black motorist Malice Green, there are mostly new lawyers and a new judge. And with last year's merger of Detroit's city court with the county circuit court, the very complexion of the jury has changed.
But as this white-on black alleged police brutality trial reaches its third week, there has been a noticeable calm blanketing Detroit. Unlike the first Budzyn trial, there have been few protests. No one has been on a megaphone chanting, "Justice for Malice Green!" If Budzyn is acquitted of the beating death of Green, don't expect rioting in the streets of Detroit. Don't expect any organized marches. The racial fire of the case that has been called "Detroit's Rodney King" appears to have been largely extinguished --- not only by the change in the jury makeup but also a change in the very people who protested so passionately for Green during the first trial.
The overturning of the convictions of Budzyn and his partner Larry Nevers demoralized Detroit blacks who had had similar encounters with white police officers. Blacks who had felt vindicated by the original verdicts lost what little faith they had in the criminal justice system.
"When Budzyn and Nevers were first convicted, it represented a major victory to black people here," said Adolph Mongo, a Detroit political and media consultant. "There had always been police brutality on blacks but the police were never punished. Then, to see the conviction overturned and Budzyn and Nevers set free...it took the fight out of people. Black people just resigned themselves to the fact that there would be no justice."
From Fervor to Apathy
On November 5, 1992, Malice Green allegedly was beaten to death by officer Budzyn and his partner Larry Nevers. Budzyn and Nevers pulled up behind Green because he was parked in front of a reputed crack house. A scuffle ensued when Green refused to unclench his fist and show the officers what he was holding in his hand. (Some witnesses thought he was holding keys, while others believe he was hiding crack.) Bashed repeatedly in the head with a flashlight, Green died from his injuries.
Green's death, which came about six months after Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, ignited wide-ranging public protests against police brutality on blacks in Detroit. The similarities of the two cases were undeniable, and racial tensions in Detroit, already high, escalated further.
Budzyn and Nevers were tried together by two different juries in predominantly black Detroit. In August 1993, they were convicted of second-degree murder. However, in July 1997, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned Budzyn's conviction after it was revealed that the jury watched the Spike Lee film Malcolm X, which opens with the videotaped beating of Rodney King, and therefore was prejudiced against Budzyn. (A federal court later threw out Nevers's conviction, stating that he had been denied his constitutional right to a fair trial. A date for Nevers's retrial has not been set.)
Adolph Mongo noted that the restructuring of the court system in Detroit has also caused despair among blacks. In October 1997, Detroit's Recorder's Court merged with Wayne County Circuit Court. This consolidation changed the makeup of the jury pool for Budzyn's retrial. In the first trial, the jury pool came solely from Detroit, which is 80 percent black. The jury that came from this pool (and ultimately convicted Budzyn and Nevers) consisted of 11 blacks and one white. Wayne County (which includes middle and upper class suburbs to the north and west of Detroit) is more racially diverse and only 30 percent black. As a result of the union of the two courts, only three black jurors are seated in Budzyn's retrial. Mongo believes that this jury will not convict Budzyn -- and that blacks do not have any confidence in these merged courts.
"The second trial is less racially-charged because black people have resigned themselves to the fact that Malice Green will not and cannot receive true justice, especially with the newly organized counties and the predominantly white jury pool," said Mongo. "They have resigned themselves to the fact that people have fixed the trial so that he won't get justice. There's no way he can receive justice with the current jury pool. The only way Malice Green could receive justice outside of a second guilty verdict for Budzyn is if a hung jury comes out of the trial."
The Desensitization to Police Brutality
But one critic feels that the lack of media attention---as well as the incident's lost shock value--to Budzyn's second trial has suffocated public outrage.
"The racial overtone hasn't disappeared. I think the air of publicity [that surrounded the first trial] has disappeared," said Detroit political analyst Mario Morrow. "The level of media attention, the air of publicity, is less than it was in the first trial. It's [the Malice Green case] not a shock to people anymore. I think people are less shocked over a case like Malice Green's and are more aware today of problems with law enforcement officers and brutality on blacks. And the first trial came right after Rodney King, and people were still shocked and outraged over that."
The first trial of Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers captured nationwide attention, with newspapers such as USA Today and The New York Times providing coverage. Those papers are ignoring the second trial. As expected, The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press are covering the trial, but even in Detroit, Budzyn's retrial is not front-page news. Time seems to have beaten the life out of the Green case. Six years of legal wrangling and the frequency of various incidents involving police brutality on blacks nationwide appears to have helped desensitize Detroit's blacks and apparently, the media.
"I think the first time around the press was very anxious to rush to judgment," said Morrow. "This time around, they have been very conscious of reporting just the factual aspects of the case and not concentrating on the emotional."
Marrow also attributed the apathy towards Budzyn's retrial to the changing of the mayoral guard in Detroit. Long-time mayor Coleman Young died after the first trial. Young, a prominent voice against police brutality on blacks, condemned the beating of Malice Green. During the 1970s, he made combating police brutality a priority and had disbanded the STRESS (Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets), a police force responsible for 20 deaths among suspects, 17 of whom were black. Young's death silenced Detroit blacks' powerful voice against police brutality. Apparently, no one, not even his successor David Archer, has carried on the cause. And Morrow expects this inaction to continue, even if Budzyn is acquitted.
"People will be more apathetic, whether there's an acquittal, guilty verdict or a hung jury," Morrow said. "I also think that a lot of people are satisfied that Budzyn and Nevers have served some time for Malice Green's death, that their livelihood has been affected. They are satisfied knowing that they and their families have suffered, though not to the degree that Malice Green's family has suffered."
Political consultant Adolph Mongo agrees. "People just won't be surprised. I think an acquittal would only push the racial divide and make it even wider," he said.
The Question of Character
Opinions vary whether the character of victim Malice Green has contributed to the apathy problem. Green was not a baby-faced model citizen. His family admits that he had a drug problem, and he had a record of convictions in Illinois for drunk driving, marijuana possession, and domestic battery. And Green's friends in Detroit were crack addicts. Green was not a Jeffrey Dahmer, but, as his record indicates, he was no Ennis Cosby, either.
"It [Green's character] shouldn't be [a factor], but it is," said Morrow. "This is reality. If Malice Green was a white collar worker, there would be a different kind of protest, a different level of protest."
Mongo thought the character issue was irrelevant. Racism is the real problem. "It doesn't matter," Mongo said. "Whether you're a junkie or a college student, a black person's life is not worth 10 cents in Detroit."
And, apparently to many of Detroit's blacks, neither is the criminal justice system.
top of page
