James Kulbicki Articles

2009-05-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

This movie deals with the real life case of Sgt. James A. Kulbicki and Gina Marie Nueslein whose names were changed to John Dobrowski and Julia Newland.

Gina Marie Nueslein turned pale on Jan. 8 when she learned that the Baltimore City police sergeant she'd sued for child support was lurking in an alley outside, her relatives testified at the sergeant's murder trial. ``Gina was very frantic, worried, scared,'' said her mother, Geraldine Nueslein of the 3300 block of Ramona Ave. ``I've never seen my daughter act like that in my whole life."

On Saturday January 9, 1993 James Kulbicki murdered Gina Marie Nueslin. She disappeared while walking to work. The coroner ruled her death a homicide. She died of a gunshot wound to the head.

On Sunday morning, January 10, 1993 a park ranger found the partially clad body of Gina Marie Nueslein, 22, of the 3300 block of Ramona Ave. in Northeast Baltimore, was found in Gunpowder Falls State Park in Baltimore, Maryland. Kulbicki was questioned and suspended from duty pending the outcome of the investigation. On January 12. 1993 Kulbicki was charged with first-degree murder in her death. Gina was suing him over paternity of her son and who reportedly said that the Kulbicki was full of rage and appeared intent on killing her.

On January 14, 1993 Kulbicki's bail was set at $750,000 and later reduced to $50, 000 due to his familys constant appeals for his release from jail while he awaits trial, saying other inmates have made numerous death threats against him.``He's been getting death threats, he's had trash thrown on him, and he's been spit on. He's living in fear every day,'' said Connie Kulbicki, 36, the wife of Sgt. James A. Kulbicki. ``He's in jail with people that he helped put in there." James Kulbicki kept a blank stare constantly as reporters and cameramen were after him. The priest remembers seeing him in church often He attended church regularly attended Mass with his wife and two boys at St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church in East Baltimore. Forensics matched five areas of the genetic material to the blood on Kulbicki's jacket sleeve. Kulbicki's family defended him in court, Mrs. Kulbicki admitted learning of the affair on Christmas day 1990. As in the movie a cloud of suspicion was deliberatly cast over her son in an effort to get Kulbicki off, but to no avail. On October 21, 1993 it took the juryjury less than five hours to convict Baltimore police Sgt. James Allan Kulbicki of first-degree murder in the shooting death of the young woman who bore him a child during an adulterous, three-year affair. Upon receiving the verdict, Kulbicki stood stoicly, and then went back to hug his wife, Connie, their 9-year-old son, Allan, and his 18-year-old stepson, Darryl Marciszewski. James Kulbicki was sentenced to life without the possiblity of parole.

The Baltimore Sun

January 27, 1994, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 631 words

HEADLINE: Ex-officer gets life as killer

BYLINE: Sheridan Lyons, STAFF WRITER

BODY:

Calling James Allan Kulbicki a threat to society, a Baltimore County judge
yesterday sentenced the former Baltimore City police sergeant to life in
prison without the possibility of parole for killing a woman who bore him a
child during an adulterous, three-year affair.

Judge John Grason Turnbull II also blasted Kulbicki, 38, for "the
arrogance he has shown."

Kulbicki was convicted in October of the first-degree murder of Gina Marie
Nueslein, 22. He had been ordered to begin child-support payments after a
losing attempt to contest the paternity of his son, Michael, now 2 . Judge Turnbull II said Kulbicki killed Ms. Nueslein because she had begun
to break away from him. Kulbicki "lost the control of the victim that he
demanded -- and she paid for it with her life, leaving an innocent child
without a mother or a father," he said.

Ms. Nueslein disappeared sometime after 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 9, 1993, when
she left her home in the 3300 block of Ramona Ave. for the half-mile walk to
her job at a nearby Royal Farm store.

The next morning, a park employee found her body behind a trash can near
the archery building in Gunpowder State Park. She had been shot in the head
at point-blank range.

During a motion for a new trial yesterday, a new defense witness said he
saw a young man in a black pickup truck at the park, probably the day Ms.
Nueslein's body was discovered. Judge Turnbull ruled that the account was
unlikely to affect the verdict because the witness wasn't certain about the
date, varied his descriptions of the man and the truck, and had put off
contacting the police.

In asking for the no-parole sentence, Deputy State's Attorney Sue A.
Schenning said Kulbicki showed "absolute cold-bloodedness and no remorse,"
and in a presentence interview dismissed as "a sexual fling" his years with
Ms. Nueslein. Ms. Schenning wondered aloud what the Nuesleins will tell
Michael.

"When we look at that innocent little boy and think what the horror of
the truth will do to him, we are sick to the core," she said.

When his chance to speak came, Kulbicki shouted and pointed his finger in
the air as he flipped through a written statement. He critiqued the evidence
against him and claimed he was being discriminated against "because I'm a
cop."

He also turned to the Nuesleins, expressed sympathy for them and said: "I
have no problem looking at the victim's family today because I did not
commit that crime. . . . The truth is, if I wanted to commit a homicide, I'd
be smart enough not to use my truck. I'd be smart enough to hide the body."

Judge Turnbull also gave Kulbicki 20 years for using a handgun. That
sentence runs consecutive to the no-parole sentence. The judge also said he
would recommend protective custody for Kulbicki who, according to his
attorneys, has received death threats while in jail.

After the sentencing, Ms. Nueslein's father, Joseph C. Nueslein, said,
"I'm just glad it's over with." In response to Kulbicki's pleas, he said, "I
wondered whether Gina begged for her life like he begged for his."

The family has agreed to cooperate in the production of a television movie
or mini-series based on the case "for Michael's sake," he said. "They
guaranteed it would be a good story, for Gina's sake."

Defense attorney Henry L. Belsky said he would not let Kulbicki make any
statements in connection with the projected CBS mini-series.

"If they want to meet with him to get a feel of who he is, that's OK," he
said. "But we have an appeal pending, and I think it's a good appeal and
we're not about to say anything about the facts of the case. If we get a
retrial, it could be used against him."

LOAD-DATE: September 20, 1994

The Baltimore Sun
December 2, 1994, Friday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 548 words

HEADLINE: Court overturns officer's conviction in '93 slaying

BYLINE: Michael James, Sun Staff Writer

BODY:

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals reversed the murder conviction yesterday of a former Baltimore police officer charged with killing a woman who bore his child, paving the way for a new trial, authorities said last night.

Attorneys for James Allan Kulbicki, 38, who had been sentenced in January to life without possibility of parole, successfully argued that the former sergeant was improperly denied the right to rebut testimony at his trial, said Baltimore County Deputy State's Attorney Sue Schenning.

Ms. Schenning, who prosecuted the original case, said she is awaiting a ruling from the state attorney general's office on whether to appeal yesterday's ruling to the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. "We're going to urge the attorney general's office to consider taking it up to the Court of Appeals. It's such a serious case," Ms. Schenning said. "If that doesn't happen and we have to retry it, we will.

"We still have a very good case against him."

The Court of Special Appeals reversed the conviction due to Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Grason Turnbull II's decision not to allow Mr. Kulbicki to take the stand in response to the testimony of two women called by the state as rebuttal witnesses.

Both women had testified in response to testimony from Mr. Kulbicki's stepson, Darryl Marciszewski, a defense witness.

Byron L. Warnken, a University of Baltimore School of Law professor who represented Mr. Kulbicki in the appeal, said last night that he was "elated" at the court's finding. He said defense attorneys have not yet addressed whether they will seek Mr. Kulbicki's release on bail pending the new trial.

Mr. Kulbicki has been imprisoned at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. He has vehemently argued from prison that he did not commit the murder.

"He has assured me that he is innocent. When I read the record, I see that this is a circumstantial-evidence case. I think he's innocent," Mr. Warnken said.

"Now, 12 people in Baltimore County are going to have to determine if he is guilty or innocent."

Mr. Kulbicki was convicted of killing Gina Marie Nueslein, 22, with whom he had an adulterous three-year affair.

Ms. Nueslein, a resident of the 3300 block of Ramona Ave., Baltimore, disappeared on her way to work on Jan. 9, 1993 -- four days before a paternity hearing which was to have ordered Mr. Kulbicki to pay child support payments to her. She bore Mr. Kulbicki's child during the affair; the boy, Michael, was 2 at the time of the killing.

Ms. Nueslein was found dead the next morning of a gunshot wound in the head, her body dumped beside a trash can at the end of Grace's Quarter Road in Gunpowder State Park.

In arguing for a no-parole sentence at the time, Ms. Schenning said in court that Mr. Kulbicki showed "absolute cold-bloodedness and no remorse" in the slaying. Prosecutors focused their case on blood found on Mr. Kulbicki's jacket and blood stains found in his truck.

Henry L. Belsky, who was Mr. Kulbicki's lawyer at the trial, said last night that he was not surprised at the court's finding.

"I truly believed from the beginning there would be reversal of error that was created. I'm happy for Kulbicki and I'm happy for his wife and family," Mr. Belsky said.

November 13, 1995, Monday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 563 words

HEADLINE: Retrial of former police sergeant in 1993 slaying of mistress to begin; Defense attorney may ask for change of venue

BYLINE: Elaine Tassy, SUN STAFF

BODY:

James Allan Kulbicki, whose conviction in the killing of a woman with whom he had an adulterous affair was overturned, returns to Baltimore County Circuit Court today to stand trial a second time.

The former city police sergeant was convicted in October 1993 of first-degree murder in the death of Gina Marie Nueslein, 22, a Royal Farm Store worker who bore him a son during their three-year affair.

She disappeared on her way to work Jan. 9, 1993. Her body was found the next day in Gunpowder State Park. She had been shot in the head, a few days before a paternity hearing at which Mr. Kulbicki was to be ordered to make child-support payments to her. Prosecutors focused their case on blood found on Mr. Kulbicki's jacket and blood stains found in his truck. Mr. Kulbicki, 38, offered a list of errands he was doing at the time of the murder.

The Court of Special Appeals reversed the conviction in December because of Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Grason Turnbull II's decision not to allow Mr. Kulbicki to take the stand in response to the testimony of two women called by the state as rebuttal witnesses.

Mr. Kulbicki has been held at Baltimore County Detention Center.

Jury selection in the retrial begins today. Patricia Hall, Mr. Kulbicki's attorney, said she is concerned about whether an impartial jury can be found.

If not, she said, she will consider requesting a change of venue. Baltimore County Jury Commissioner Nancy Tilton said last week that 150 potential jurors -- more than usual -- will be available.

Baltimore County prosecutors will use new technology to present pictures, fingerprints and other evidence on a television screen in the courtroom, make quick copies and highlight exhibits.

The county bought four machines from a New York-based company, DOAR Communications, with $ 18,000 in drug-forfeiture money. They are:

* A wireless presenter, on which attorneys place evidence. An image of the evidence appears on a television screen, and can be split to compare signatures or fingerprints.

* An 18-inch-square, box-shaped printer which prints evidence in the form of a 5-by-7-inch color photograph.

* Studio-Vision, a remote control device that allows prosecutors to circle or underline displays on the presenter by tapping a hand-held control with a pointer from a distance.

* A disk partner, which stores photographs and other evidence so attorneys can play them instantly on the television screen and move swiftly through opening and closing arguments.

Most of the equipment will be used in the Kulbicki trial, which is expected to last a week, said Deputy State's Attorney Sue A. Schenning.

The equipment "will help us present our evidence better -- it's a visual aid to assist us to enhance in prosecution of the cases," she said.

Versions of DOAR equipment were used in the O. J. Simpson and Susan Smith trials. The equipment has been obtained by the Howard County state's attorney's office, and Anne Arundel courtrooms will be equipped similarly in 1998, officials said.

Assistant Baltimore County State's Attorney S. Ann Brobst, used the presenter in a recent murder trial. While it may have saved her minutes in her presentation, she said, "the greater benefit" is that jurors can see evidence "as a unified body, as opposed to having it passed along and each person viewing it individually."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, 1993 : SUN STAFF, Defendant: James Allan Kulbicki's conviction was overturned because a judge would not let him respond to two rebuttal witnesses.

The Baltimore Sun

November 15, 1995, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 3B, CITY/COUNTY DIGEST

LENGTH: 500 words

HEADLINE: Retrial in killing set to begin against former city officer

SOURCE: From staff and wire reports

BODY:

TOWSON -- Prosecutors in the retrial of James Allan Kulbicki said yesterday that they would link Gina Marie Nueslein's blood to his Ford truck, but his defense attorney said they could not link him to the park where her body was found.

Mr. Kulbicki, 39, a former Baltimore City police sergeant, is being retried in the fatal shooting of Ms. Nueslein, 22, a convenience store clerk who was killed days before she was to appear in court for a paternity hearing against Mr. Kulbicki.

Her body was found Jan. 10, 1993, in Gunpowder Falls State Park. The former police officer was convicted in the slaying in 1993, but the conviction was overturned on appeal because he was not allowed to rebut key testimony.

Highways personnel preparing for winter

COCKEYSVILLE -- With the season's first snowflakes already dusting the metropolitan area, the county administration is gearing up for the messes of winter.

County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III made his scheduled review of snow removal plans yesterday at the new "snow center" on Galloway Avenue. Highways chief C. Richard Moore said the county has 20,000 tons of salt, 188 trucks and up to 400 workers ready for wintry weather.

The public can report icy conditions and plowing problems on county roads by calling 887-3560, and on state-maintained roads (designated with state route numbers) at 321-3600.

Man charged in thefts of 6 books from 2 libraries

An East Baltimore man was arrested and charged with stealing four microbiology reference books worth about $ 800 from the main Enoch Pratt Free Library while city firefighters investigated a false fire alarm at the branch yesterday afternoon.

The theft allegedly occurred as about 300 employees and patrons who were evacuated from the building stood in the rain in the 400 block of Cathedral St. about 3:30 p.m. Ronald Walters, 36, of the 2100 block of Boone St. was charged with that theft and also with taking two books, valued at $ 115 each, from the Peabody Institute library on East Mount Vernon Place a short time earlier.

Police said a Central District plainclothes officer saw a man put four large books marked "Do Not Circulate" into a carrying bag.

Education officials miss City Council hearing

Education officials were no-shows yesterday at a hearing called by the City Council's education committee on the school system's plan for resolving its $ 32 million budget shortfall.

"The council and the public are asking questions about the school system's deficit and need answers," said an annoyed committee Chairman Carl Stokes after Superintendent Walter G. Amprey failed to appear or send a representative to the 3 p.m. hearing.

Mr. Stokes, whose term ends next month, had set the date after postponing the hearing several times because school officials were not ready to publicly discuss their plan. They have delayed announcing their plans several times in recent weeks, and Friday missed a deadline set by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

Copyright 1995 The Baltimore Sun Company
The Baltimore Sun

November 22, 1995, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 459 words

HEADLINE: Ex-officer, on retrial, denies role in slaying of girlfriend; Kulbicki says he ran errands on day of killing

BYLINE: Elaine Tassy, SUN STAFF

BODY:

In his retrial on murder charges, former Baltimore police Sgt. James Allan Kulbicki denied yesterday any role in the slaying of a Royal Farm Store employee with whom he had a three-year affair and a son.

Mr. Kulbicki, 39, testified in Baltimore County Circuit Court that he had a list of errands to run Jan. 9, 1993 -- the afternoon when prosecutors say he shot Gina Marie Nueslein, 22, at close range in his Ford pickup truck, then dumped her body in Gunpowder Falls State Park.

But the prosecution pointed out inconsistencies between Mr. Kulbicki's account and those of a half-dozen state witnesses, getting him to suggest that the others were "mistaken" in their recollection of events. Mr. Kulbicki also recited the list of errands two years ago, when his first trial resulted in conviction and a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The verdict was reversed on appeal because Mr. Kulbicki had not been allowed to rebut testimony.

Taking the stand again in his own defense about noon yesterday, in the second week of the retrial, Mr. Kulbicki answered questions for more than four hours.

His attorney, Patricia Hall, put a large map of South Baltimore on an easel, and Mr. Kulbicki used a marker to draw for the jury his route on the day of the killing. It included trips to a shoemaker, a dry cleaner, a hardware store and a property he had rented out.

That evening, he testified, he took his wife, Connie, and their son, Allan, now 11, to Eastpoint Mall for pizza and shopping.

Ms. Hall also asked Mr. Kulbicki who had access to his pickup truck, and he said the keys were kept in a desk in the house where his wife and stepson, Darryl Marciszewski, had access to them -- although the youth was not supposed to use the vehicle.

The defense lawyer's last question was, "Did you kill Gina Nueslein?"

"No," Mr. Kulbicki replied.

On cross-examination by Assistant State's Attorney James O'C. Gentry Jr., Mr. Kulbicki was momentarily at a loss for words when confronted with an apparent contradiction in his account of telling his wife sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1990 that he had gotten Ms. Nueslein pregnant.

Facing a paternity suit, he said, he thought it would be better to "get it out in the open" before Christmas.

When Mr. Gentry said, "But she didn't learn of her pregnancy until January," spectators in the courtroom stirred as Mr. Kulbicki searched for words. He later said he wasn't exactly sure when he told his wife.

Mr. Kulbicki's testimony clashed with that of the victim's sister, Jennifer Nueslein, who testified last week of seeing Mr. Kulbicki in his truck outside the Nueslein home Jan. 8, 1993. Mr. Kulbicki testified that he was at a birthday party that evening.

The Baltimore Sun

November 23, 1995, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 2B

LENGTH: 643 words

HEADLINE: Ex-policeman found guilty in murder of girlfriend; Trial was Kulbicki's second since 1993 slaying; he could get life term

BYLINE: Elaine Tassy, SUN STAFF

BODY:

James Allan Kulbicki, a former Baltimore police sergeant, was convicted of first-degree murder last night in the 1993 killing of 22-year-old Gina Marie Nueslein, with whom he had a three-year adulterous affair that bore a son.

In the retrial, a jury of nine men and three women took less than three hours to return its verdict, which included a conviction for handgun use in a felony. Kulbicki, who faces a life term without the possibility of parole, will be sentenced Dec. 18.

After the verdict was read, Jennifer Nueslein, the victim's 18-year-old sister, cried. Kulbicki shook his head slowly. Kulbicki had been convicted of murder in October 1993. But the Court of Special Appeals overturned that verdict because the judge had refused to let Kulbicki rebut key testimony.

In the retrial in Baltimore County Circuit Court, prosecutors said Kulbicki, 39, shot Ms. Nueslein in the head at close range in his Ford pickup and dumped her body at Gunpowder Falls State Park because he did not want to take responsibility for their son.

The slaying occurred Jan. 9, 1993, four days before Ms. Nueslein and Kulbicki were scheduled to attend a paternity hearing, prosecutors said.

"He committed a violent, vicious, senseless, homicidal execution because he's that cold," Assistant State's Attorney James O'C. Gentry Jr. said in closing statements yesterday.

During the trial, he and Deputy State's Attorney Sue A. Schenning called a witness who said emphatically that she saw Kulbicki in the park at 4:40 p.m. the day of the slaying. She recognized him later, when she saw him in handcuffs on television as the person charged with the crime.

Detectives and investigators testified that blood found in the truck was Ms. Nueslein's and that a skull fragment also found there was most likely hers. A DNA expert said there was a small chance the fragment could be from someone else.

Jennifer Nueslein testified that Kulbicki was outside watching the Nuesleins' house the night before the slaying, apparently angry that Gina had begun dating another police officer and that she was seeking to make Kulbicki pay to support her son, Michael.

"It don't get much better than this," Mr. Gentry said in a rebuttal closing statement, telling jurors: "There's more than enough evidence to convict this man."

But in her closing statement, defense attorney Patricia Hall offered what she called a "slew" of reasonable doubt to acquit Kulbicki.

A key witness had described Kulbicki as a white man in his thirties with dark hair -- which would fit half the men on the jury, the attorney said. She also argued that investigators did "a sloppy, stinking job" by looking for no other suspects or evidence that would link Kulbicki to the crime scene.

She said Kulbicki did not have a motive because he would have had to pay child support regardless. "These are important questions that need to be answered before you can convict someone of first-degree murder," she added.

During the trial, several witnesses said Kulbicki, who lived in the 3400 block of Toone St., was running errands to the hardware store, dry cleaners and gas station when the crime occurred. His wife, Connie, 38, testified that she was with him after the errands.

Mrs. Kulbicki, a dental assistant, said after the verdict that she has no plans to divorce her husband and believes in his innocence, adding, "I miss him a lot."

The verdict was announced to Judge Barbara Kerr Howe about 7:20 p.m. Immediately afterward, Kulbicki was led to the lockup, but turned and mouthed the words, "I love you" to his wife, and "Be good," to his son Allan, 11.

The Nueslein family was tearful and subdued outside the courtroom after the verdict. "I just thank God this is all over with and that I'll never have to go through that again," said Joseph Nueslein, the victim's father.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, KENNETH K. LAM : SUN STAFF, Victim's family: Gina Nueslein's parents, Geraldine and Joseph, and sister Jennifer (right), leave the courthouse after the guilty verdict.

LOAD-DATE: November 24, 1995

The Baltimore Sun

December 19, 1995, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL (NEWS), Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 424 words

HEADLINE: Ex-officer sentenced to life for murder; Former sergeant convicted 2nd time in woman's death

BYLINE: Elaine Tassy, SUN STAFF

BODY:

Calling him "evil," a Baltimore County Circuit judge sentenced James Allan Kulbicki to life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years for the murder of a Baltimore woman with whom he had a three-year adulterous affair.

Kulbicki, a former Baltimore police sergeant, was convicted last month in a retrial for the murder of Gina Marie Nueslein, 22, a Royal Farm Store employee who bore Kulbicki a son, Michael, now 4.

The sentence was the same as Kulbicki received nearly two years ago, after his first trial ended in a conviction. But that conviction was overturned by the state Court of Special Appeals, which cited an error by Circuit Judge John Grason Turnbull II for not allowing the defendant to rebut testimony. Ms. Nueslein was found dead from a gunshot wound in Gunpowder State Park on Jan. 10, 1993, three days before a paternity hearing through which she was seeking child support from Kulbicki. Blood and fragments of her skull were found in his truck.

During the trial, his family and several shopkeepers testified that when the murder was believed to have occurred, he was either running errands or with his wife and their son in a shopping mall.

Yesterday, before imposing a sentence, Circuit Judge Barbara Kerr Howe heard from Ms. Nueslein's sister, Jennifer Nueslein, 18:

"How do you explain to an innocent little boy what happened to his mother?" she said of Michael. "She was taken away. Our family's life will never be the same."

Deputy State's Attorney Sue A. Schenning, who prosecuted both trials, sought and won the maximum penalty. "I can't conceive of another case that is more tragic and senseless than this one," she said. "What compounds it is that Michael's own blood relative, his father, caused this to happen."

But Kulbicki, 39, and his family, maintained his innocence.

"Someplace, somebody is guilty of that crime, and I'm here for that person," Kulbicki said. "I don't know what else to do to prove my innocence."

He added: "I am glad on that Saturday, Jan. 9, I was with my son and my wife." Otherwise, he said, they would always have "had that doubt."

He asked that Judge Howe consider his past record that included volunteer work and no prior crime, and that she be lenient in her sentencing so he eventually could resume family life.

But Judge Howe said she had considered everything in the case, and evidence of his guilt was overwhelming. "Mr. Kulbicki is not all bad but I also believe he is an evil person, a manipulator, a controller, an adulterer," she said.

The Baltimore Sun

January 30, 1996, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: FEATURES, Pg. 4E

LENGTH: 788 words

HEADLINE: Principals unhappy with Baltimore case on TV

BYLINE: Elaine Tassy, SUN STAFF

BODY:

TV offers a double dose today of James Allan Kulbicki, a former Baltimore policeman convicted of murdering a woman who filed a paternity suit against him.

First, Kulbicki appears on "The Montel Williams Show" in a telephone interview from prison, where he is serving life without parole.

Then, CBS airs "Double Jeopardy," a movie based on his relationship with Gina Marie Nueslein, a 22-year-old Royal Farms Store employee with whom he had a son, Michael, now 4.

Ms. Nueslein's family and the prosecutor who tried the case say neither show does anything to help bring the tragedy to closure. Kulbicki was convicted in October 1993 of first-degree murder in the slaying of Ms. Nueslein, who was shot to death days before a paternity hearing. That conviction was overturned, but Kulbicki was found guilty again in a second trial held in November 1995. Now, he's serving time at the Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup.

That's where the "Montel" show caught up with Kulbicki, 39, last Thursday for a show scheduled to air at 4 p.m. today on WMAR-TV. Also appearing are his wife, Connie, his attorney, Patricia S. Hall, Ms. Nueslein's sister Jennifer, 18, and her mother Geraldine, 47.

The show includes "a heated argument" between Jennifer and Mrs. Kulbicki, who stands by her husband's story that he is innocent, said producer Felicia Miller.

Geraldine Nueslein said she agreed to be on the show to speak up for Gina, but found the whole experience harrowing. "I felt that real jittery feeling like when I went to court," she said of her nervousness before flying to New York last week for the taping.

The taping itself was no better. "I didn't like it," she said. "I'm sorry I went."

She added that Mrs. Kulbicki's unkind words about Gina and her insistence that her husband is innocent are maddening. "I'm so frustrated from this show that I feel like I could scream," she said.

Mrs. Kulbicki could not be reached by telephone yesterday.

Baltimore County Deputy State's Attorney Sue A. Schenning, a prosecutor in the case, said she is bothered that it is the focus of a daytime talk show.

"I see the motivation in going and wanting to get the accurate version of what took place across, but I don't see these shows ever doing that," said the prosecutor, who declined a request to appear on the show.

"Really, we view this as tabloid media and really just not worthy of anybody's consideration This kind of TV, to me, does not help people at all. It is incredibly harmful to society," she said.

The harm Kulbicki did to society is loosely documented in "Double Jeopardy," a two-hour movie written and directed by Deborah Dalton, who spent two years researching, writing and casting the film. Last week she was putting finishing touches on it. Reached by phone in Los Angeles, she said that during her research she developed a "close relationship" with the Nueslein family and met members of the Kulbicki family. However, Mrs. Nueslein said she met with Ms. Dalton only so that her daughter would be represented accurately.

And Ms. Hall, the lawyer who represents Kulbicki, said that from what she has seen and read about the movie, it paints an inaccurate picture, biased in favor of the Nueslein family. "They didn't talk to my client; they didn't talk to me," she said.

The film stars Joe Penny as Kulbicki, Teri Garr as his wife, and Brittany Murphy (the eclectic teen who arrives in Los Angeles from New York in "Clueless") as Ms. Nueslein.

It begins with Kulbicki meeting Ms. Nueslein, then a bubbly young waitress, in the restaurant where she worked. When the relationship progresses, Kulbicki deceives his wife about his affair and deceives Gina by telling her he is separated.

Scenes suggesting that Kulbicki's stepson might take responsibility for the murder justify the title, "Double Jeopardy."

The film ends with Kulbicki's first trial.

Narrated by the actress playing Gina ("Julia" in the movie, in which all the names are changed), it tries to capture some details of the case, but since it was filmed in Toronto, it misses a lot of Baltimore's nuances. The word "Hon" is only used once; no one has a distinctive Baltimore accent; narrow streets lined with rowhouses are absent. Mrs. Schenning, the prosecutor, said TV movies based on fact tend to trivialize the events and demean those involved.

"I don't think that benefits anybody by that kind of focus. I'm not real happy about this," she said, adding that she might watch it anyway, out of curiosity.

Mrs. Nueslein said she will not. "I don't really feel like I can at this moment," she said. "When I see the commercials, my heart just starts beating really fast. I don't think I'm ready to look at it."

Double Jeapordy aka Victim of the Night

James Kulbicki Articles