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.  attorneys  admitted  the  two  men
abducted Adolfsson.  But they arge "rescue" was justified because
the  woman  had  been  brainwas  the  controversial church, whose
members are popularly red to as "Moonies" after their leader, the
Rev.  Sun Myung Moonn closing arguments Thursday, defense lawyers
characterized the church as a cultose leaders deceive and control
members for the aggrandizement, and said  forcible  abduction  of
members is neceso save them from a life of servitude.

   Denver   District   Court   Juoert   Hyatt   issued   detailed
instructiing    the    jury    to    consider    the    so-called
"choice-of-evilfense,  which permits commission of a crime to pra
greater offense.  He said in order to acquit  the  defendants,ury
must  believe  the  kidnapping  was  necessary to prevent harm to
Adolfsson.

   Dnse attorneys said Whelan, a private detective, ken part  int
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
whathad to do."

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

   Moses  Durst,  a  national  leader  the  Unification   Church,
callejury's verdict "obscene."

   "The  practice  of  kidnapping  members  of  religious  grs to
deprthem  is  nothing  less  than  spiritual  gang  rape,"  Durst
said.dolfsson  faces deportation for lying to federal immigration
officials three yeargo that she was living with a husband  she  h
during a  mass  wedding  of  2,000  church  members.    They were
divorced  after  she  reced  her  green  card,  the   immigration
documeowing her to remain in the U.S.

   Prosecutor Diane Balkin told jurors they shounot base their on
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 whoo marry.

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

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

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