PATHOLOGIST SAYS NEVERS DIED OF COCAINE-INDUCED HEART ATTACK

DETROIT (AP) -- A Philadelphia pathologist, testifying for a former police
officer charged with beating a man to death, said the man died because of a
heart attack caused by a cocaine overdose.

Lucy Rorke, a neuropathologist with the Philadelphia medical examiner's
office, testified that Malice Green's death was not due to blunt-force trauma.

Green died after a curbside confrontation on Nov. 5, 1992, after he was
pulled over by Larry Nevers and then-partner Walter Budzyn outside a
suspected Detroit drug house.

A struggle with the white officers ensued after Green, who is black,
refused to open his hand. Prosecutors say Green was struck in the head more
than a dozen times with a heavy metal flashlight.

Nevers is being re-tried on a charge of second-degree murder after a
previous conviction was overturned.

Under cross-examination Monday by assistant Wayne County prosecutor Doug
Baker, Rorke conceded that the beating "may have caused some stress."

"So it's your testimony that if he had been sitting home, watching TV with
his mother, that he would have had a heart attack at 10:40 p.m. anyway,"
Baker said.

"Yes," Rorke responded.

Nevers and Budzyn were convicted of second-degree murder in 1993. Budzyn
was sentenced to eight to 18 years, Nevers to 12 to 25 years. Their
convictions were overturned five months apart in 1997.

Budzyn was retried and convicted in 1998 of involuntary manslaughter and
freed after the judge sentenced him to time served.

At their separate trials, Budzyn denied striking Green, and Nevers
testified he never saw his partner hit the victim. Nevers admitted hitting
Green on the head with his flashlight, but said he did so when Green tried
to grab his gun and continued resisting.

In other testimony Monday, a Waukeegan, Ill., police officer testified that
Green had a reputation for fighting with the police.

Officer Michael Donnenwirth, a 19-year veteran of the force, testified that
Green kicked a car door into his leg during a misdemeanor arrest. Green was
never convicted of a felony, and officials couldn't say if he was ever
convicted of a lesser charge.

For nearly two weeks, prosecution witnesses have testified that Nevers and
Budzyn had Green under control. Prosecution witnesses have said Green was
dazed and bleeding profusely throughout the incident.

Monday was the second day of defense testimony, and Nevers could testify as
early as Wednesday, The Detroit News reported Tuesday. Closing arguments
could begin Thursday, depending on how many rebuttal witnesses testify for
the prosecution, Baker said.