Third Police Detective Acquitted In Kidnapping Case
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A Baltimore judge has acquitted a city police detective accused of kidnapping two 15-year-olds in a police van in 2009.
Detective Greg Hellen was cleared of all charges, including kidnapping and misconduct, on Tuesday. A day earlier, a jury found two other detectives guilty of misconduct, but cleared them of kidnapping and other charges.
Prosecutors claimed the detectives picked up the teens in West Baltimore in separate incidents and then drove one to East Baltimore and the other to Howard County.
Judge Timothy Doory says the case was mischarged. Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein, who tried the case — his first prosecution since taking office — says he disagrees with Doory's analysis that a police officer cannot be guilty of kidnapping or false imprisonment because it is inherent in the job.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
