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Jury clears officer in airport assault case but deadlocks on two charges

A federal jury on Monday cleared a former Las Vegas police officer of assaulting National Guard Sgt. Mark England during a 2007 altercation at McCarran International Airport.

The jury was deadlocked on a battery charge against the former officer, Gary Clark, and an excessive force charge against another police officer, Jason Jennings.

The jury’s decision followed a four-day trial and roughly 12 hours of deliberations.

Senior U.S. District Judge Philip Pro said he would set a new trial date on those two charges, but he urged both sides to attempt to settle the case.

In dismissing the jury, Pro said the case “had its complications” and “credibility issues.”

The two officers and England, who now lives in Arkansas, were not present in court when the jury returned its verdict.

England had filed a civil rights suit against the two officers.

“It was an appropriate case to be tried,” his Las Vegas lawyer Brent Bryson said outside the courtroom. “The jury deliberated very diligently.”

Attorney Craig Anderson, who represents the two officers, declined comment.

Clark, who now lives in Georgia, was one of three police officers hit with a $2.1 million civil judgment in 2011 in another excessive force case, which stemmed from a 2001 confrontation between the officers and Charles Barnard.

During the trial Bryson described England’s arrest and confrontation with the officers as an “old-fashioned beat down.”

But Anderson argued that England escalated the conflict and resisted arrest.

A surveillance camera recorded England’s arrest from a distance, and the video was played repeatedly for the jury during the trial.

England, 44, who lived in Southern California at the time, had come to Las Vegas to spend time with a friend before an expected deployment overseas.

He was heading home on March 10, 2007, when he purchased a hot dog and a soda at the airport. An argument ensued after a Transportation Security Administration agent refused to let England take the soda past the C Gate’s security checkpoint.

England asked to speak to the agent’s supervisor, who later summoned Jennings to the scene.

After investigating, Jennings allowed England to leave, but England arrived at the C Gate to find that he had missed his flight and would not be able to catch another for three hours. He decided to return to the security checkpoint.

As the confrontation continued, Anderson argued, Jennings attempted to handcuff “an unruly, belligerent person” and used the least amount of force needed to do so.

Jennings testified that he struck England three times while he resisted arrest.

Clark then used an electroshock weapon at least three times on England, who fell after the first shock and hit his head on a doorjamb.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter @JGermanRJ.

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