The family of a Black man fatally shot six times by a Maryland police officer prepares for a jury trial after the prosecutors failed to secure him a plea deal.
Former Corporal Michael Owen Jr. faces a murder charge after being accused of killing William Green.
“I don’t think there is a word that can truly describe how I feel,” Green’s cousin Nikki Owens told WJLA-TV.
Corporal Michael Owen was charged with second-degree murder in 2020, after shooting Green, 43, who was unarmed while handcuffed inside a police vehicle on Jan. 27, 2020. Owen was the first police officer in Prince George County who was charged with murder for killing someone in the line of duty, according to Reuters.
Prince George County state’s attorney Aisha Braveboy offered Owen a plea deal, but the office would not provide a comment on specific details of the deal with Atlanta Black Star.
The Washington Post reported prosecutors offered Owen the plea deal that would reduce the charges from second-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter after “the discovery of new evidence including Owen’s testimony.”
In Maryland, manslaughter convictions come with a maximum prison sentence of 19 years but time behind bars could be much less. Green’s family told The Washington Post they are “concerned the lesser charge” could make Owen “eligible for parole within a few years.”
“Michael Owen should spend as much time in prison as possible. He’s a danger to society,” Owens said.
The night of the incident, Green was pulled over because he was “suspected of driving under the influence after hitting several cars,” as reported by The New York Times.
When officers approached Green’s car, they reportedly smelled PCP, a mind-altering illegal street drug usually in a white powder. He was handcuffed and placed in the front seat of a police car, a standard protocol for Prince George County police, Atlanta Black Star previously reported.
Owen was…
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