The reputed crackhouse in front of which Green parked his car.

According to several people outside the house -- including Green's friend Fletcher -- Budzyn then began to hit Green on the hand with a flashlight to get him to open his hand. Then, they said, Budzyn straddled Green, who offered little resistance, and struck Green repeatedly on the head with the flashlight. As Budzyn attacked Green, they said Nevers went around to the driver's side of Green's car, opened the door, and began to strike Green on the head with his own flashlight.

The two officers told different stories at their original trials. Budzyn said that as Green clutched the unknown item from the glove compartment, he grabbed Green's arm and Green kicked him in the legs. That caused him to fall backwards into the car and drop his flashlight. He held Green's hands because he thought he had crack in them and said he saw a few rocks of crack fall from Green's hands. He also said he heard hits from the driver's side of the car, where Nevers was -- but couldn't see because his back was to Nevers and Green.

Scene of the Green's alleged fatal beating.

Nevers, meanwhile, said he helped Budzyn -- on the passenger side -- once Green refused to open his hand. Green brought his knees up to stop Nevers from prying his hand open, and Nevers hit Green on the knees. He then went to the driver's side and hit Green in the head because, he said, Green was grabbing for his gun; he said he stopped hitting Green when Green let go of the gun.

But other witnesses were on the scene. Four EMS technicians arrived after Nevers called them. All four testified that Green was covered in blood and hanging from the driver's side door when they arrived, a pool of blood under his head. They said Nevers hit Green repeatedly on the head, though Green did not appear to resist. The technicians also said that Officer Robert Lessnau, who arrived later in a marked police cruiser, pulled Green from the car and beat him with his hands.

They also said that Green finally opened his hands, which contained his car keys and a piece of white paper. Green was handcuffed and placed in the ambulance. He suffered a seizure and died on the way to the hospital, despite attempts of the EMS workers to save him.

Green's case led to public protests against alleged police brutality against blacks in Detroit.

The next day, seven officers on the scene were suspended without pay. Ten days later, on November 16, 1992, prosecutors charged four of the officers: Budzyn, Nevers, Lessnau, and Sgt. Freddie Williams, the only black officer on the scene. (Williams was originally charged with manslaughter. That was dropped, but he was eventually convicted of willful neglect of duty. He received one year of probation.)

Only six months earlier, Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of beating black motorist Rodney King. Because Green was black, the officers white, and the crimes apparently similar, the racial tensions in Detroit drew even tighter.

The City of Detroit also settled a civil suit with the Green family shortly after Green died. The settlement was held up in federal court, but most of the money eventually went to Rose Green, Malice's widow.

Walter Budzyn

The three officers were tried together in the summer of 1993, though Budzyn and Nevers had seperate juries and Lessnau waived his right to a jury. In mostly black Detroit, Budzyn's jury had 11 blacks and 1 white; Nevers' jury had 10 blacks and 2 whites.

Larry Nevers

Prosecutors Kym Worthy (now a Circuit Court judge) and Douglas Baker (currently prosecuting Budzyn in his retrial) presented evidence that was far more incriminating to Nevers than Budzyn. None of their witnesses clearly stated that they saw Budzyn strike Green on the head -- after a medical expert for the state testified that Green died because of blunt trauma to the head.

The defense's medical testimony said otherwise: that Green died because the cocaine and alcohol in his system caused his fatal seizure.

In late August 1993, Nevers and Budzyn were both convicted of second degree murder. Lessnau was acquitted of assault.

However, on August 5 and 6, both juries were required to come to court, though no testimony was presented. To keep them occupied, the court provided videos for them to watch, including a tape of the Spike Lee film Malcolm X, which opens with footage of the Rodney King beating. Most jurors saw some or all of the film during those two days. When the defense found out, they immediately called for a mistrial. Judge George Crockett III passed the motion to another judge, Vera Massey Jones, who denied it. (Jones, now a chief Circuit Court judge, selected Judge Thomas Jackson to oversee the retrial.)

In 1997, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned Budzyn's 1995 conviction.

In 1995, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the convictions, but two years later, the state's Supreme Court overturned Budzyn's conviction -- though they upheld Nevers'. (Nevers' conviction was later thrown out by a federal court, which argued that he was denied his constitutional right to a fair trial. His retrial will come at a future date.)

The Michigan high court argued that the jurors in the original trial were prejudiced by viewing Malcolm X, which "invited the juries to view the instant crime as a part of a pattern of police brutality." It also pointed to affidavits from jurors who said that Budzyn's jury discussed the fact that Detroit was preparing for riots in the event of an acquittal, and to discussion among jurors that both Nevers and Budzyn were members of Detroit's notorious STRESS (Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets) force, a police unit disbanded in the 1970s that reportedly caused 20 deaths -- with 17 of the victims black -- before it was ended by former Detroit mayor Coleman Young.

In fact, Budzyn was never a member of STRESS -- though Nevers was. No evidence during the first trial was presented about either one's participation in the infamous unit.

Racially, Detroit is much calmer now than it was over four years ago. The city courts were merged with the Wayne County courts in October of 1997, so the jury pool has been chosen from the entire county instead of the city alone.

Detroit is over 80 percent black, but Wayne County -- which includes middle- and upper-class suburbs to the north and west of the city -- is only about 30% black. The jury for Budzyn's retrial is composed of 3 blacks this time, compared to 11 last time.

Judge Jackson, who is black, is known for his no-nonsense demeanor and for running a very tight courtroom. Budzyn is being tried this time without his co-defendants.

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Prosecutors Douglas Baker (from the original trial) and Robert Donaldson tried to get a certain type of manslaughter as a charge that would have allowed them to find proof only that Budzyn was negligent in his duty to insure that Green was treated properly and that he failed to stop Nevers. Their request was denied. They may try and argue their case on the premise that Budzyn aided Nevers in the killing of Green, but was not directly responsible.

The defense will maintain that Budzyn did not hit Green with a flashlight, that he could not see what Nevers was doing and that any force he used was reasonable.

In addition, over five years have passed since the original incident at the corner of 23rd and Warren that added to the racial tensions that divided Detroit, and what happened to Malice Green is not as fresh in the minds of the city's residents -- though hardly forgotten.