After refusing to let go, Nevers struck Green in the head with his flashlight approximately 7 to 14 times[2] during the struggle, which, according to the official autopsy, resulted in his death.
The incident occurred only months after the Los Angeles riots of 1992, which protested the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King (Green was also a Black man).
Unlike in Los Angeles, Detroit Police Department's Chief Stanley Knox suspended the seven officers present at the scene of the crime within 24 hours of Malice Green's death.
[3] Sergeant Freddie Douglas, the only Black officer on the scene of Green's death, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to intervene.
Officers Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn, partners, were charged with 2nd degree murder for Green's death.
Larry Nevers was a former member of the Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets (STRESS) unit in Detroit, which was disbanded in 1974 after 20 Black men were shot by its police over a 3-year period.
Jiraki testified in Budzyn and Nevers' trial that the damage was done by "fourteen blunt force trauma blows to the head."
He stated that his boss, Dr. Bader Cassin, agreed that Green's drug consumption was as "insignificant as the color of his eyes" in relation to the cause of death.
The coroner's officer later alleged during the civil trial that Jiraki was fired for supposed mental instability and absenteeism.
After the trial, Baden allegedly told a pathologists' conference that he came to his conclusion based on information surrounding the circumstances of Green's death and the facts in the exam.
Budzyn and Nevers' defense presented three experts, one of whom stipulated that they identified eleven blunt-force injuries to Green's head.
It was their opinion that Green died as a result of cocaine and alcohol abuse, combined with his physical struggle with police as he resisted arrest, and the minor head injuries.
Lee Hardy, one of the responding EMTs, testified during the separate assault trial for Robert Lessnau that he witnessed the former officer kicking Green in the head while he lay prone on the street.
However, Nevers was successful on his appeal to a federal court, with United States District Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff overturning the verdict and ordering his release on December 30, 1997.
[3] Zatkoff cited the showing of Malcolm X and its footage of the Rodney King beating video as creating a "harmful effect" on their verdict decision and thus counted as justification for not only overturning his conviction, but also granting him a writ of habeas corpus.
[10] The appeals court argued that at least one juror in the case was influenced by the perception that a not guilty verdict would lead to riots, threatening the jury's impartiality.
[citation needed] In 2007, Larry Nevers wrote a self-published book titled Good Cops, Bad Verdict.