Detroit Ex-Cop Gets 4 to 15 Years in Fatal 1992 Beating

DETROIT —  A former police officer whose second-degree murder conviction for a 1992 beating death was overturned was sentenced Friday to four to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

Walter Budzyn, who has already spent 4 1/2 years in prison for his first conviction, will be allowed to remain free until the judge decides how to credit the time that he has already served.

Budzyn, who was convicted March 19 after a retrial, said before he was sentenced: “I’m sorry for all the pain and suffering this case has caused for all involved.”

Before the sentencing, Rose Mary Green, widow of victim Malice Green, said he had “worked hard to provide love, financial and moral support” for his family.

“Malice Green was not rich or famous but indeed was a special man and was deeply loved,” she said.

Budzyn was convicted of second-degree murder in 1993 along with his partner, Larry Nevers, for the beating outside a Detroit crack house.

In overturning Budzyn’s conviction last year, the Michigan Supreme Court cited outside influences on the jury.

One of the influences cited was the panel’s viewing of “Malcolm X” during a break in deliberations.

The Spike Lee film opens with videotape of police beating Rodney King in Los Angeles, with a voice-over from Malcolm X charging that the white man is “the greatest murderer on Earth.”

Although race wasn’t cited as a factor in Green’s death, the Detroit case was compared with the King beating 20 months earlier because Budzyn and Nevers are white and Green was black.

A federal judge overturned Nevers’ conviction in December, and prosecutors are appealing.