WASHINGTON — Prosecutors in Prince George’s County have filed a motion to seek the maximum punishment for the man accused of killing a Bowie State University student.
A motion, filed by the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s office, notifies the court and the defense team for 22-year-old Sean Urbanski that the state plans to seek life without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of first-degree murder.
“This was an unprovoked, violent attack, the victim in this case had done nothing at all to interact with Mr. Urbanski,” said State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman John Erzen.
Urbanski, a University of Maryland student from Severna Park, is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Army Lt. Richard Collins III on May 20. According to court documents, prosecutors claim that Collins was stabbed in the chest by Urbanski while Collins was waiting for an Uber on the University of Maryland Campus in College Park.
Both the state’s attorney’s office and the FBI are conducting separate hate crime investigations into Urbanski, who is white. Collins was African-American.
Erzen said the state’s attorney’s office is taking its time with it’s hate crime investigation.
“It’s very complex, because of the digital devices we’re dealing with and the time that it takes to go through those and really analyze all of that data,” Erzen said. The findings of that investigation could be released in the coming weeks, he said.
The University of Maryland requested FBI involvement after it appeared that Urbanski was involved with a Facebook group that posts racist messages and information. The FBI investigation could result in a federal hate crime case against Urbanski.
Urbanski’s murder trial is set to begin January 2018.
