EX-OFFICER SENTENCED IN BLACK MOTORIST'S SLAYING

DETROIT--A former police officer convicted in the 1992 beating death
of black motorist Malice Green was sentenced to seven to 15 years in
prison Tuesday.

Larry Nevers was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month at
his second trial. His first conviction, for second-degree murder, was
thrown out in 1997 after a federal judge determined the jury had been
prejudiced.

Before Wayne County Circuit Judge Ulysses Boykin handed down the
sentence--with credit for time served of more than four years--Nevers
asked for leniency, saying he was a model officer during his 24-year
police career and encountered Green by mere fate.

"The remorse I feel about the death of Malice Green . . . deals with
the true enemy of the community: cocaine," Nevers said. "Whether
Malice Green's family believes it or not, I have great remorse that
Malice Green died on my shift."

Nevers and partner Walter Budzyn stopped Green, 35, outside a
suspected crack house in Detroit. Prosecutors say Nevers struck Green
in the head 14 times with a heavy flashlight.

Attorneys for the two officers argued force was necessary to subdue
Green, and said cocaine contributed to Green's death.

Although no testimony indicated race was a factor in Green's death,
the occurrence was compared with the Rodney G. King beating in Los
Angeles because Nevers and Budzyn are white and Green was black.

The federal judge who overturned Nevers' first conviction cited the
jury's exposure to media speculation that there could be rioting in
Detroit if the officers were acquitted, and the jury's viewing of the
movie "Malcolm X," which has footage of the King beating, during a
break in deliberations.

Budzyn, whose second-degree murder conviction was also overturned, was
convicted in 1998 of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to time
served, three years and eight months.

At Tuesday's sentencing, Sherry Green, Green's sister, read a
statement on behalf of their mother, Patricia. "I am amazed at the
defendant's complete disregard for the truth and the pursuit to clear
his name," she said.