Severna Park man, 25, gets life in prison for murder

He stabbed to death Black Bowie State student in 2017

A 25-year-old Severna Park man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the murder of Army 1st Lt. Richard Collins III, who was stabbed at a bus stop at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2017.

A Prince George’s County jury convicted Sean Urbanski of first-degree murder in December 2019 after two hours of deliberation. Urbanski, who was 22 when he killed Collins, was charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime, a charge that was later tossed out during trial for failing to meet the burden of proof.

Collins’ parents, Dawn and Richard Jr., lobbied alongside Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy to successfully expand the Maryland hate crime statute in Richard Collins III’s name.

Braveboy said in a news conference that Urbanski’s life in prison punishment for the state’s highest conviction is a defining moment in her tenure as State’s Attorney. Braveboy said his case signals “hate, bigotry and racism will not be tolerated.”

“And we will prosecute it to the fullest extend of the law. And we will seek severe penalties,” Braveboy said.

County prosecutors sought a life sentence without the possibility of parole for Urbanski. Prince George’s Circuit Judge Lawrence Hill Jr. left open the possibility for parole while Urbanski serves his life sentence at Patuxent Institution in Jessup, a decision he called “fair and just.” Urbanski will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

Urbanski was convicted for killing Collins, who is Black, while he was waiting for an Uber with his friend Blake Bender, a white man, and Amanda Lee, an Asian woman. Prosecutors argued Urbanski targeted Collins because he was Black.

Collins, 23, was at the University of Maryland bus stop after a night out celebrating his upcoming graduation from Bowie State University. Urbanski, who is white and had racist images on his phone at the time of the attack, left the bus stop and then returned, drunkenly approached the group and stabbed Collins in the chest with a threeinch switchblade.

Before handing down the sentence, Hill described how Collins’ and Urbanski’s families are linked by the tragedy involving their college-age sons. “Both their lives ended that night,” he said.

Urbanski addressed the court and apologized to Collins’ parents by phone from Howard County Detention Center during the virtual sentencing.

“I am so sorry to take your son away from you. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t thought about what I’ve done to you. I am sincerely sorry for the horrible pain I’ve caused you and your family,” Urbanski said.

The sentencing took place by phone or Zoom video call because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hill video called from his chambers, at one point removing a Collins family member who kept asking that he sentence Urbanski to death. Hill said before his ruling that Urbanski’s case isn’t an incident that solely contributed to being racist or drunk.

Hill threw out the hate crime charge during the trial, saying prosecutors failed to prove the killing was solely motivated by hate, as required by law.

Urbanski’s defense attorneys argued he was drunk and incoherent at the time of the attack. The jury was shown a jail cell video of Urbanski singing and babbling to himself hours after the murder, seemingly unable to understand what happened.

Defense attorney John McKenna said Thursday that Urbanski has no memory of committing the crime, suggesting he was blackout drunk.

“If you take the alcohol out of this equation, the crime doesn’t occur,” McKenna said. “He is not a hate-filled, right-wing nut.”

Despite the dismissal of the hate crime charge, prosecutors, Braveboy and Collins’ parents insisted the murder was motivated by hate and racism.

Urbanski, a University of Maryland student at the time of the murder, belonged to a racist Facebook group called “Alt-Reich: Nation” and had several racist images, or memes, saved on his phone. He stabbed Collins after warning: “Step left, step left, if you know what’s best for you.” Collins replied “No.”

Deputy State’s Attorney Jason Abbott said Thursday the images saved to Urbanski’s phone referencing violence against Black people devalue Black lives and would only be funny to a racist.

“Personally, I have to forever speak out about the demon of racism,” Dawn Collins said in an emotional testimony Thursday. “In my opinion, my son’s greatest crime was that he said ‘No’ to a white man.”

Collins was killed just two days after being commissioned as an Army officer and a few days away from graduation at Bowie State University. He was passionate about starting his service in the Army with a goal of one day becoming a general, his family and friends testified Thursday.

Following their son’s death, Dawn and Richard Collins Jr. have been outspoken advocates of his legacy, creating a statefunded $1 million scholarship in his honor for Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at historically black universities and colleges in Maryland. The couple also successfully changed their son’s Army rank from 2nd lieutenant to 1st lieutenant. The Secretary of the Army posthumously promoted Collins in September.

In October, a state law named for 1st Lt. Richard Collins III went into effect, allowing prosecutors to pursue hate crime charges for acts motivated “in whole or in part” by hate. When the law changed, the University of Maryland and Bowie State University announced a partnership dedicated to researching and implementing social justice principles together and between campuses.

The “BSU-UMD Social Justice Alliance” creates opportunities for communities to address concepts such as “hate and bias in society, economic inequality and white nationalism,” according to the University of Maryland.