William Green

William Green, 43, was shot six times and killed by Prince George's County, Maryland Police Corporal Michael Owen Jr. while handcuffed in the front seat of Owen's patrol car on January 27, 2020. Owen had found Green asleep in his own vehicle after a series of traffic crashes, apparently under the influence of an unknown substance, handcuffed him, and placed him in the cruiser's passenger seat. Owen, who was not wearing a body camera, testified Green body-slammed him and grabbed for his gun during a struggle inside the car; prosecutors argued there was no evidence Green ever touched the weapon. Owen was fired and charged with second-degree murder within days, becoming the first officer in county history charged with murder for an on-duty killing. After nearly four years of delay, a jury acquitted him of all four charges in December 2023 following roughly two hours of deliberation. No one has ever been convicted in Green's death.

Landover, MD · Prince George's County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic crash response, the handcuffing, and the shooting inside Owen's cruiser, per trial testimony and the Prince George's County Police Department's own account.
• Owen was not wearing a body camera during the encounter; his account of Green body-slamming him and reaching for his gun was corroborated only by his own testimony and a fellow officer who recalled Owen telling him afterward that Green had gone for the weapon.
• Owen was fired and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, voluntary manslaughter, and misconduct in office within days of the shooting.
• The trial was delayed nearly four years; the presiding judge rejected a proposed plea deal that would have reduced the charge to voluntary manslaughter and publicly rebuked prosecutors for failing to exchange required evidence with the defense in time for the original trial date.
• A Prince George's County jury deliberated less than two hours before acquitting Owen of all four charges on December 6, 2023; Owen remained suspended without pay pending an internal administrative review, per the department's own statement.
• Prince George's County settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Green's family for $20 million in September 2020, months after the shooting and years before the criminal trial concluded, reported as the highest such payout on record at the time.
• State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy stated after the verdict that she did not personally believe Owen's account, calling his testimony “outrageous and certainly implausible,” but acknowledged the jury could still find reasonable doubt in it.

• Whether Green in fact grabbed for Owen's gun during the struggle, as Owen testified, or whether no such struggle over the weapon occurred, as prosecutors argued citing an absence of corroborating evidence, was the central dispute at trial and was resolved only by the jury's acquittal, not by any independent finding of fact.
• Why Owen was not equipped with a body camera at the time, despite the department having equipment available to at least some officers, has not been fully explained in public reporting.
• The specific evidence-exchange failures that led the judge to reject the proposed plea deal and delay the original trial date have not been detailed beyond the judge's public rebuke of the prosecutor's office.

• The Washington Post — “Prince George's officer acquitted in fatal shooting of handcuffed man”
• WUSA9 — “Jury verdict trial former Prince George's County police officer charged murder Michael Owen Jr. William Green”
• AFRO American Newspapers — “Prince George's Police Officer acquitted after shooting death of William Green”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs