8 11-04-88 08:41 pes Abductors of Unification Church member acquitted of kidnapping By

   8  11-04-88  08:41  pes Abductors of Unification Church member
acquitted of kidnapping By BRAD SMITH

   DENVER (UPI) _ Two men who admitted abducting a woman  at  her
parents' request to get her away from the Unification Church were
acquitted by a jury Friday of kidnapping and conspiracy charges.

   The  jury  of  eight  women and four men deliberated more than
eight hours over two days before finding Dennis  Whelan,  52,  of
Omaha,   Neb.,  and  Robert  Brandyberry,  41,  of  Brice,  Ohio,
innocent.  If convicted, they would have faced maximum  sentences
of eight years in prison.

   Whelan,  who  has  helped scores of families abduct loved ones
from the church for "deprogramming", said the  verdict  "sends  a
clear  message to cult members that parents will strike back when
their children are lured into cults."

   Whelan  and  Brandyberry  were  charged   with   second-degree
kidnapping  and  conspiracy  for  abducting Britta Adolfsson, 31,
from a Denver street May 26, 1987.  The two  had  been  hired  by
Adolfsson's Swedish  parents.  Adolfsson escaped eight days later
from a house in Lyons, Kan.

   Defense attorneys admitted the  two  men  abducted  Adolfsson.
But  they argued the "rescue" was justified because the woman had
been brainwashed by the controversial church, whose  members  are
popularly  referred  to as "Moonies" after their leader, the Rev.
Sun Myung Moon.

   In closing arguments Thursday, defense  lawyers  characterized
the  church  as  a cult whose leaders deceive and control members
for their own aggrandizement,  and  said  forcible  abduction  of
members is necessary to save them from a life of servitude.

   Denver  District  Court  Judge  Robert  Hyatt  issued detailed
instructions  allowing  the  jury  to  consider   the   so-called
"choice-of-evils" defense, which permits commission of a crime to
prevent a  greater  offense.    He  said  in  order to acquit the
defendants, the jury must believe the kidnapping was necessary to
prevent harm to Adolfsson.

   Defense attorneys said Whelan, a private detective, has  taken
part in  about  100  "rescues."  They said Brandyberry has earned
his living as a  "deprogrammer"  since  leaving  the  Unification
Church in 1982.

   Attorneys  for  both  sides  agreed  the  issue  at  trial was
freedom.  Defense lawyers said members of the Unification  Church
have lost  their  free  will.  Prosecutors argued the church is a
religion and that Constitution guarantees everyone the  right  to
practice whatever faith they choose.

   Brandyberry  said  the  jury's  decision  means "the people of
Colorado don't appreciate the kind of coercion going  on  in  the
Unification Church.    Then,  breaking  into tears, he said, "I'm
just sorry I couldn't help her (Adolfsson)."

   Juror Jacqueline Smith said Whelan and Brandyberry  "did  what
they had to do."

   "They  were  trying  to  help  the  parents,"  she  said. "She
(Adolfsson) has the right to choose her religion.  But we  didn't
think she chose this religion.  She was sucked in there."

   Moses  Durst,  a  national  leader  of the Unification Church,
called the jury's verdict "obscene."

   "The practice of kidnapping members  of  religious  groups  to
deprogram  them  is nothing less than spiritual gang rape," Durst
said.

   Adolfsson faces deportation for lying to  federal  immigration
officials  three years ago that she was living with a husband she
had married during a mass wedding of 2,000 church members.   They
were  divorced after she received her green card, the immigration
document allowing her to remain in the U.S.

   Prosecutor Diane Balkin told jurors they should not base their
decision on their personal feelings about the Unification Church,
and should decide only if Whelan and Brandyberry broke  the  law.
She said  the  defendants  "aren't rescuers.  They're out-of-town
hired guns.  They're vigilantes."

   She said Adolfsson's parents, physicist Tord Adolfsson and his
wife, Edith, might have been well-intentioned, but did  not  have
the right to force their daughter to leave her chosen religion.

   Defense  attorney  Jeff Pagliuca told the jury the Unification
Church "is not a religious organization.  It  is  a  fund-raising
organization that uses people."

   He  said  church members are very restricted, and have no free
choice to decide where to live, how to spend most of  their  time
or whom to marry.

   Pagliuca  and  co-counsel  Jim  Davis  said Denver police knew
about the abduction three  days  before  it  occurred,  and  told
Whelan that he and Brandyberry probably would not be arrested.

   "This  was a rescue, not a kidnapping," Davis said. "If it was
a kidnapping, would you tell the police before?

   Pagliuca also said the trial was  "about  one  thing  _  love.
Love that  a parent harbors for a child."  He described Whelan as
a  "grandfather  with  a  heart  condition"   and   the   paunchy
Brandyberry as a "teddy bear who wouldn't hurt anyone."