ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993                   TAG: 9308240281
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Medium

EX-OFFICERS GUILTY IN FATAL BEATING

Separate juries convicted two white former police officers of second-degree murder Monday in the beating death of a black man last year. A third white defendant, also a former police officer, was acquitted of a lesser criminal charge by the black judge who presided at the three simultaneous trials.

The overwhelmingly black juries found veteran Detroit police officers Larry Nevers, 52, and Walter Budzyn, 47, guilty of murder in the death Nov. 5 of Malice Green, 34, an unemployed steelworker who was beaten on the head and face with heavy, metal flashlights. Nevers and Budzyn each face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The third defendant, Robert Lessnau, 33, was found not guilty by Detroit Recorder's Court Judge George W. Crockett III of a charge of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm.

The verdicts climaxed an eight-week trial that was the focus of intense interest in part because of the parallels between the case and the 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police. King's beating led to the worst rioting this century in a U.S. city when four officers were acquitted by a state jury in April 1992.

Nevers and Budzyn were released on bond and their sentencings were set for Oct. 12. Lawyers for both defendants said they would appeal the convictions in part on the basis that during the trial both juries were given an opportunity to see the movie "Malcolm X," which begins with an excerpt from the celebrated videotape of the King beating.

"It's a sad day when a jury is shown a movie with such violent subject matter and it's a sad day when a court shows a jury such a movie," said Budzyn's lawyer, Michael Batchelor, who is black. Batchelor added, "I think the court, in its own negligence, projected race" into the trial. The jury verdicts - reached in separate deliberations that began Aug. 13 - were announced early Monday afternoon in a jammed courtroom.

Budzyn sat impassively as his jury - which reached its verdict Saturday but had to wait to announce it until the Nevers jury made its decision Monday - returned the guilty finding. In contrast, Nevers was visibly shaken by the verdict. He put his head on a table and then covered his face with his hands and appeared to be choking back sobs.

Finally, Crockett announced his judgment of Lessnau, which he made and sealed minutes after listening to final arguments in that case. He said police officers "occasionally must use force" and that he was not convinced by testimony that Lessnau had "gratuitously kicked" the defenseless Green after the beating by Nevers and Budzyn.

On Saturday, when Crockett polled the Budzyn jury, the only white member of the panel appeared to hesitate before saying he agreed with the sealed verdict. Monday, that juror, Karl Keefer, said he disagreed with the finding and that he had accepted it under "duress." 


 by CNB