Ex-Baltimore Cop Convicted In Mistress' Murder Granted Retrial 20 Years Later
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- New trial ordered. Maryland's highest court grants an ex-Baltimore police sergeant a new trial in the murder of his young mistress.
Rochelle Ritchie has more on the impact of this decision.
The defendant in this case has not been convicted once, but twice for the murder of his mistress. It's a case that dates back more than two decades
It's a murder case dating back to 1993. Former Baltimore City police sergeant James Kulbicki spoke to WJZ from prison after being convicted of shooting his mistress, Gina Nueslein, and dumping her body in a state park.
"I've said since the beginning that I was innocent of the crime, and I still maintain my innocence," he said. "I feel that, if I get another trial, I will be able to prove myself innocent."
Kulbicki did try to prove that innocence twice and failed. The appeals waned heavy on Nueslein's family.
"I'll take it to my grave. It's very painful. And I have to look at him again today, it just gets to me," the victim's mother, Geraldine Nueslein, said in 2007.
Twenty-one years later, Kulbicki is back on his mission of innocence again. According to Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger, he's been given a third trial.
"He alleged that his attorney was incompetent for not either keeping out or attacking a certain piece of scientific evidence. It's called comparative bullet analysis, which consequently, years later, the FBI determined that that was not really good science," Shellenberger said.
According to prosecutors, Kulbicki and the murder victim were lovers and had a child together. Nueslein was suing Kulbicki for child support. The two were set to face off in court just a week before she was killed.
"We convicted him twice, and 24 jurors found him guilty. We'll just have to find 12 more and make it 36," said Shellenberger.
Kulbicki can be given a new trial until he either dies or is released from prison.
The Baltimore County state's attorney says because it's been so long since the murder, witnesses could have a hard time recalling what they knew about the case in the first place.
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