Update: Prince George’s County police officer Michael Owen was acquitted of all charges — second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, use of a handgun, and misconduct in office — by a jury on Wednesday. Owen was on trial for shooting William Green six times in January of 2020 while Green was handcuffed in a police cruiser.

According to multiple news outlets present for the trial, Owen testified in his own defense, arguing he fired his gun in self defense and feared for his own life. Owen claimed that Green attacked him and grabbed his gun while he was handcuffed, while prosecutors argued there was no evidence that Green touched Owen’s gun.

After the verdict, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy told reporters that she didn’t believe Owen’s version of the story, and that his testimony was “outrageous and certainly implausible.” But “if the jury found that it could be plausible,” she added, “they could say that there was some doubt as to his guilt.”

“We knew that this case was going to be a challenging case,” Braveboy added. “It was not a slam dunk.”

Prince George’s County previously reached a $20 million settlement with Green’s family — one of the largest known settlements for a police brutality case, the Washington Post reported.

Original:

The Prince George’s County police officer Corporal Michael Owen is going to trial for second-degree murder on Monday, according to State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. Owen shot William Green six times in January 2020 while he was handcuffed in the front seat of a police cruiser.

The Washington Post reported that county prosecutors offered Owen a plea deal. The deal could reduce Officer Owen’s charges from second-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter. Nikki Owens, Green’s cousin, says that the deal includes 20 years in jail, a 10 year suspension, and parole eligibility after five years.

Outside of the District Court of Maryland in Upper Marlboro on Friday, Green’s family held a press conference decrying the plea deal and demanding that Owen should be on trial for second-degree murder.

“We want the judge to throw out the plea, and we want a jury trial,” Owens says. “We want the details of this case to be public.”

Braveboy says that a plea deal is not being executed and that the case will be brought before a jury. But Braveboy’s office was unable to confirm if a plea deal was actually offered in the first place or was seriously being considered.

On Jan. 27, 2020, officers responded to a 911 call about a driver who had struck several vehicles. Green was apprehended, handcuffed, and wearing a seat belt in the front passenger’s seat of the police car when Owen fired his weapon. Officers on the scene attempted “life-saving measures” on Green before he died at a local hospital. Owen was not wearing a body camera during the incident, so there was no video evidence.

Owen has been investigated multiple times for use-of-force incidents and is facing another brutality lawsuit with numerous allegations of excessive force.

“Ten years worth of incidents, ten years,” Owens says. “So he has been terrorizing people since he’s been on the force.”

The family was awarded a $20 million settlement from Prince George’s County, but Owens says that the settlement shouldn’t stop the case from being prosecuted.

“They tried to sweep my cousin’s case under the rug and I guess they thought we were going to silently let them do it,” Owens says. “You’re not going to pay us $20 million for somebody who did not do it.”

Three years ago Braveboy told The Washington Post that a grand jury would be convened for this case, but Owens says that just last year the potential for a plea deal was also offered.

“We’ve been asking for three years for a trial. Last year they tried to tell us that they were gonna offer him a plea deal as well,” Owens says. “And then we told them that we do not want a plea deal, we want a trial, and they postponed the trial a year.”

Owen has been in jail for the past three years as the case is pending. Braveboy says they are prepared to go to trial and will start the jury selection process on Monday.

Previously: 

Settlement Reached In Prince George’s Officer Shooting Case Of A Handcuffed Man In His Cruiser

Prince George’s County Reaches $20 Million Settlement With Family Of Man Killed By Police