Jury acquits officer in Maryland county's first police murder charge in shooting handcuffed man
ABOVE MARLBORO, Md. — A Maryland police officer was acquitted by a jury Wednesday of murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of a handcuffed man.
The jury spoke to Michael Owen Jr. free of all four charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree assault, voluntary manslaughter and misconduct in office. It took the jury less than two hours of deliberation to reach a not guilty verdict.
Owen had served 10 years on the force when he became the first officer in the county's history to be charged with on-duty murder.
Owen fatally shot 43-year-old William Green as the handcuffed man sat in the front seat of the officer's police cruiser in 2020. Owen's lawyers argued at trial that he acted in self-defense during a struggle in which Green tried to grab his gun. After the gun went off, he shot Green six times.
In opening statements, prosecutors and defense agreed on certain basic facts: that Owen fatally shot Green while the handcuffed man sat in the front seat of the officer's police car. But the two sides disputed other aspects of the case, including whether a struggle preceded the shooting and whether Owen acted in self-defense.
Just months after Green's death, in September 2020, county officials announced a $20 million settlement with his family.
The fatal shooting occurred in Prince George's County, which has a population of nearly 1 million and is Maryland's fourth-largest law enforcement agency, with more than 1,500 officers covering much of the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Owen had handcuffed Green behind his back after responding to a traffic accident and finding him asleep in his car, apparently under the influence of an unknown substance, according to a police report. Owen then placed Green in the front passenger seat of the patrol car.
Owen was not wearing a body camera during the deadly encounter.
His lead attorney, Thomas Mooney, argued that the shooting was self-defense. He said the jury would see evidence of damage to the inside of Owen's vehicle and hear from another officer who remembered Owen and told him Green went to get his gun.
Mooney also raised questions about the weaknesses and inconsistencies in the initial police investigation into the shooting, asking how Owen could be charged with murder if key pieces of evidence conflicted.