Supreme Court Reinstates Former Officer's Murder Conviction

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The Supreme Court has reinstated the murder conviction of a former Baltimore police sergeant who killed his girlfriend in 1993.

The high court on Monday ruled that Maryland's highest court erred when it concluded James Kulbicki received ineffective counsel because his attorneys did not vigorously question technology used to analyze bullets from the slaying.

The state appealed to the Supreme Court.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh says the Supreme Court's ruling "sends a clear signal that the closure delivered to a family by a verdict should only be undone in exceptional circumstances," and this case "did not present those circumstances."

Kulbicki was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Gina Nueslein. Her body was discovered in 1993 in Gunpowder Falls State Park.