Unger found guilty again in Hagerstown police officer's 1975 murder

Talbot County (Md.) Circuit Judge Broughton Earnest announced his verdict Tuesday in the retrial of 63-year-old Merle Unger Jr.

Earnest also found Unger guilty of armed robbery and a handgun offense in the 1975 slaying of Officer Donald Kline.

The original trial and the retrial were held in Easton.


Kline, who came upon the armed robbery of the store on Mulberry Street in Hagerstown, pursued Unger into an alley, where there was an exchange of gunfire.

After Kline was shot, Unger was tracked to a house, where he was found on the basement floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound.



Earnest reconsidered the case based on the transcript from the original trial, according to court documents.


Daniel Ginsburg, Unger’s attorney, said during the May 28 hearing that Unger agreed to certain conditions in his new trial to preserve his right to a direct appeal to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

Under the stipulations, the prosecution waived its opportunity to seek more than a life sentence for Unger if he was convicted of felony murder. At the same time, Unger’s attorney has the right to seek less than a life sentence if his client were convicted.

Earnest previously ruled that statements Unger made to police almost four decades ago about the killing of Kline could be used in the new trial. But Earnest said the prosecution could not introduce evidence of two escapes Unger made after the shooting because that could be prejudicial.

 Unger escaped in 1976 before his trial and again in 1981 from the Patuxent Institution in Jessup, Md.

 Staff Writer Dave McMillion contributed to this story.