'Do your time': Family opposes convicted cop killer Merle Unger's latest bid for freedom
Merle Unger says he is a good person who would contribute to society if his latest request to be released from a life sentence for the 1975 killing of Hagerstown Police Officer Donald Ralph “Barney” Kline is granted.
“Do your time and stop bothering me,” Kline’s daughter, Vienna Kline-Moon said to Unger during a hearing on his motion Tuesday.
“Sir, can you make him do that?” she asked Talbot County Circuit Court Judge Broughton M. Earnest, who is hearing the case.
Earnest didn't immediately rule on the motion from Unger to be released, and said at the end of the nearly three-hour hearing that he would need time to reflect on the testimony and other information.
Kline-Moon was joined in the Washington County Courthouse by her father’s descendants and friends who packed the courtroom, including active and retired Hagerstown Police officers, cadets and members of the Fraternal Order of Police Thomas Pangborn Lodge No. 88. The group was linked via video to Unger in the maximum security North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Md., the judge in Talbot County and Unger’s attorney, witnesses and supporters in other locations.
Unger, now 72, has escaped from custody at least eight times over the years and has a criminal record dating to 1966, when he was a juvenile.
“This is just his latest attempt at escape right here,” retired Hagerstown Police Officer Richard Moats said before the hearing started.
Moats, who had loaded Kline in the ambulance after he was shot, distributed miniature police badges he commissioned in memory of his fallen comrade. Most everyone in the courtroom wore one.
“It’s to honor Barney,” Moats said.
Retired Detective Sgt. Ben Ruland, who processed the shooting scene and was with Kline in the hospital, related before the hearing started that he grabbed his gun, badge and flashlight and ran out the door when he got the news that an officer was down.
“I was at home watching TV,” he recalled. “They said get to Five Corners right away.”
How is Unger able to ask for release from prison?
Kline was off duty when he was shot while attempting to thwart a robbery there at Kim’s Korner store. He chased Unger into an alley, where the two exchanged gunfire. Unger was found in the basement of a nearby house, bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Earlier: Remembering those lost: Law officers who died in the line of duty honored at service
Another case: Hagerstown man convicted in 1977 slaying threatens driver with fake gun
More from court: Hines sentenced to life in prison after probation violation
Hearing: Convicted Hagerstown rapist sent back to prison for probation violation
News clippings from The Herald-Mail archives and court records show that Unger’s murder case was transferred because of pre-trial publicity to Talbot County Circuit Court, where he was convicted of murder, armed robbery and two gun charges Dec. 2, 1976, and sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years.
Unger appealed his murder conviction and received a new trial in 2013.
His original trial resulted in a change in Maryland rules regarding jury instructions.
At the time, judges routinely told jurors that a judge’s instructions on the law were advisory, not mandatory.
In May 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier judgment by former Washington County Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley vacating Unger’s 1976 conviction.
While many convicted before the early 1980s were granted new trials or released as a result of the “Unger Rule,” Unger again was found guilty in his 2013 retrial and sentenced to life by a Talbot County judge.
In an April 17, 2020, filing opposing Unger’s motion for an expedited hearing on his sentence-modification request, former Deputy State’s Attorney Joseph Michael noted that Unger’s record of offenses in Pennsylvania included prison breach, attempted arson, theft and escape.
The document lists Unger's two escapes from Maryland prisons following Kline’s murder and charges while he was on the lam in Florida, including grand theft, possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated assault on a police officer and armed burglary of a business.
What did Unger say during testimony?
During Tuesday's hearing, Unger apologized to Kline's family.
He said he was sorry for the pain he caused and repeatedly indicated that Kline's slaying does not define him as a person.
"I made a terrible mistake that night," he said. "I reacted out of fear and I'm terribly sorry."
Unger said he didn't know that Kline, who was not in uniform, was a police officer, and said that he acted out of desperation and fear.
"I thought he was trying to kill me," he said. "I'm doing everything I can to make amends for it."
He repeatedly said that he is a good person who helps others.
Unger testified that he has invented products that "people could use and need," but declined to give specifics, saying his ideas had not been patented.
"I have no doubt I'm going to make a lot of money," he said.
Court filings show that Unger is an artist who teaches fellow inmates, and that he sends cards and poems to police departments and families of those lost in the line of duty. A forensic psychiatrist who interviewed him before his sentencing in 2013 found him as a low risk for re-offending or engaging in violent behavior.
When asked how Unger would fare if released, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Rebecca Bowman-Rivas testified at the hearing that Unger has a good prison record in recent years and that he has maintained family ties and made efforts to make amends.
She had noted earlier that the recidivism rate for offenders declines as they age.
"Freedom is not something he would take for granted at this point in his life," she said. "He would not want to jeopardize it."
Who testified on Unger's behalf?
Testimony at the hearing revealed that, if Unger is released, he would have family support including employment, a place to live, a car and cash to restart his life.
Siblings and friends, including retired Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Paul Weachter, testified via video that Unger is a changed man who would be a law-abiding citizen.
"Please give him a chance," Unger's sister, Roberta Unger Stambaugh, said. "He swore he would never do anything to hurt anybody again."
"He has, I feel, more than paid a fair price for what he has done," sister Virginia Unger Piper testified.
Bowman-Rivas testified that Unger grew up in an impoverished and violent home where he shared a bed with five siblings. He left home at age 16, became homeless and desperate and found himself in prison at age 17.
Under cross-examination by Washington County State's Attorney Gina Cirincion, Bowman-Rivas acknowledged that none of Unger's siblings became involved in crime and that the psychiatrist who said he was at a low risk for re-offending had also diagnosed him with a personality disorder.
Unger said that while his childhood was not an excuse for his behavior, it helps explain who he is.
"I ask you to believe in me so I can show you and those who doubt me who I really am," he told the judge.
What happened to Kline's loved ones?
Kline-Moon testified that her father's murder shattered her childhood, led to her drug and alcohol abuse and time in prison herself.
She said her path of desperation was different than Unger's.
"I got desperate and I left home at 14," she said. "I got a job and I didn't steal from anybody."
Her life would have been different, she said, had she been allowed to finish her childhood.
"I wasn't a good parent," she said. "I was too busy trying not to feel anything."
Unger testified that he couldn't get closure until Kline's family does.
"I'll get closure when my eyes close for the last time," Kline-Moon said.
Kline's grandson, Stuart Broussard, testified that he never knew his grandfather and that he also had a rough childhood that included hunger while living in a home with vermin and a father who beat and shamed him.
"But I did not rob or murder when my brother and I were eating cottage cheese we found in the church parking lot," Broussard said.
Broussard said the issue isn't the person Unger has become.
"He is sorry, I recognize that, but he should be," Broussard said. "It's not about who he is now, it's about justice for what he cannot return to us."
He noted that Unger's prison time has included travel, marriage and children.
"Now he is before us asking for more, but I cannot allow it," Broussard said.
Defense attorney Judith B. Jones asked the judge to re-sentence Unger to life in prison and suspend all but the time he has already served.
She cited six examples of offenders who had killed police officers being released under the "Unger Rule" after serving 30 to 50 years, and said that none of them were rearrested.
"I'm not trying to diminish the hurt," she said. "But today we were asking the court to focus on rehabilitation and redemption."
'27 years is not justice for Officer Kline'
Cirincion noted that in addition to his eight escapes, Unger has also been caught with saw blades hidden in his artwork.
She said that every time Unger is on the run, he commits other violent crimes, some of which have not been prosecuted because he is an escape risk.
Cirincion also pointed out that in at least three cases locally, offenders released under the "Unger Rule" have committed crimes including robbery and assault.
In asking the judge to deny Unger's release, Cirincion noted that, because Unger served time for crimes in Florida while he was on the lam from Maryland, he has served only 27 years of his life sentence.
"Twenty-seven years is not justice for Officer Kline or for this community," she said.
Hagerstown Police Chief Paul Kifer testified that Kline put his life on the line for his city.
"He made a sacrifice that I hope we never have to deal with again in this community," he said.
Kifer told the judge that Kline's slaying affected the entire city as well as his police department.
"I implore the court to allow Mr. Unger to continue to serve his sentence and accept that punishment," he said.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Officers turn out to oppose convicted cop killer's bid for freedom
