THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994              TAG: 9409090609
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: HAMPTON                            LENGTH: Short :   29 lines

17-YEAR-OLD IS FOUND GUILTY OF HAMPTON OFFICER'S MURDER

A jury took less than two hours Thursday to convict 17-year-old Eldred L. Acklin of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a Hampton police officer in February.

Acklin showed no emotion as the verdict was read, but the parents of slain Patrolman Kenny Wallace began to cry.

As the jury was deliberating, Wallace's mother, Evangeline Wallace, stopped to talk with Acklin's mother, Mary Acklin. The two women hugged, and Ms. Acklin kissed Ms. Wallace on the cheek.

When the jury's decision was read, Ms. Acklin showed no reaction. As she left the courtroom, she said she felt the charges against her son were too severe because he did not fire the shots that killed Wallace.

``I feel it was unfair justice. The (charge) they gave him was just too stiff for the part he played in it,'' she said.

KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL CONVICTION HAMPTON POLICE DEPARTMENT by CNB