Killer of Bowie State student convicted but judge drops hate crime charges

Sean Urbanski was convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of Richard Collins III, but a judge said prosecutors did not prove it was a hate crime

Dec 18, 2019
Richard Collins III (L), and Sean Urbanski. (U.S. Army, University of Maryland Police Department via AP, File)

A Maryland judge has dropped the hate crime charge against Sean Urbanski, the former University of Maryland College Park student who was on trial for the May 2017 murder of a Black Bowie State University student.

Lt. Richard Collins III, 23, who had just been commissioned into the U.S. Army under the rank, was killed at a bus stop at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus just days before he was set to graduate from Bowie.

Police and prosecutors said Urbanski, 24, a member of the Facebook white supremacist group, “Alt-Reich Nation,” which was found on his phone, launched an unprovoked attack against him, caught on camera.  Collins had been visiting the campus and was awaiting a ride home.

READ MORE: Alt-right student charged with hate crime for death of Black Army lieutenant

Urbanski was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder, but Prince Georges County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Hill Jr., ruled that prosecutors did not satisfy that the crime met the legal standards for a hate crime.

Prosecutors tried to prove that a hate crime did take place. “He dehumanized blacks by poisoning his mind,” prosecutor Johnathon Church said. “He dehumanized them and made them lesser than himself, which made it easy to drive that knife into Collins’ chest.”

But defense attorney John McKenna countered: “The poison wasn’t hatred. It was alcohol,” he said, arguing for a second-degree murder conviction. “He committed a crime he could barely remember and that he regrets. …Not a single person took the stand and said this was a crime based on race.”

According to CBS Baltimore, following the announcement of the decision the grieving mother of the victim broke down in tears. 

READ MORE: Slain Maryland student honored during graduation ceremony

“The mother collapsed,” said Dr. L. E. Gomez who was present in the packed courtroom to provide moral support for the Collins family. “What message does this send?” Dr. Gomez asked outside the Prince George’s County courthouse.

 

“I’ll be honest with you. I’m kind of disgusted,” said Charles James, Sr., who was amongst the busload of supporters and members of the Caucus of African American Leaders, who showed up to observe the proceedings.

“This was a targeted attack on Lt. Collins because he was African American,” saidChurch, echoing the sentiments of the prosecutor who slammed the Alt Reich Nation for being a “white supremacist group no different than the KKK” while the defense noted the group’s self-description as “controversial humor.”

READ MORE: U.S. Army has yet to officially honor murdered Black ROTC student

But Urbanski’s acquaintance Akshay Lingayat who was with him shortly before the murder also said it was alcohol not hate that led to the tragic series of events.

“I saw him punching a light post. I believe he was blackout drunk,” Lingayat testified. “He was mentally checked out, stressed out, annoyed, upset.”

“We believe there’s no evidence of a race-based killing. …He did not single out Richard Collins as the state indicated,”  McKenna informed the judge, arguing that Urbanski was too drunk to form the intent required for first degree murder.

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