3 Baltimore Officers Face Kidnapping Trial
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Three Baltimore police officers will be tried together on charges of kidnapping two teenagers and abandoning them.
A Baltimore Circuit Court judge on Thursday heard defense attorneys' arguments in favor of breaking up the cases, but ruled that the three officers must face trial together.
The officers are charged with kidnapping the teens in 2009 in separate incidents. Authorities say the officers picked up the 15-year-olds in a police van in West Baltimore and drove one to East Baltimore and the other to Howard County.
The judge will take up the issue of whether the two separate alleged kidnappings should be tried separately on Friday.
The trial could start next week.
Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein is trying the case, his first time in the courtroom since taking office.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
