A retired police sergeant has been cleared of murdering four unarmed guards in a holdup at a bank where he once worked.
James King, 55, could have received the death penalty if convicted."I'm just glad to get home, and I'm a little angry with the system," King, who had been held without bail for 11 months, said after the verdict Wednesday. The jury deliberated more than eight days.
King was accused of being the masked gunman who broke into the United Bank of Denver last year, shot four guards at close range, locked up five tellers and left with about $196,000, removing the videotapes from surveillance cameras. Neither the weapon nor the money was recovered.
Authorities said the robber appeared to have inside knowledge of the bank because he slipped through a complex security system to reach a basement room where about $1 million in weekend receipts were being tallied.
King, who retired from the Police Department in 1986, worked as a part-time guard at the bank for about a year, until 1990. He testified that he was looking for a chess game at a community center at the time of the slayings.
Five tellers said King was the man who robbed them. But they picked him out of a photo lineup only on a second viewing, after authorities drew a hat and glasses on the photos so they would more closely resemble the holdup man.