Drug Suspect Beaten in Cemetery : 2 Officers Acquitted of Assaulting Drug Suspect

A jury Friday acquitted a San Diego police officer and a former officer in the September beating of a handcuffed drug suspect in a cemetery.

Both officer Mark Keyser, 30, and former officer David Nellis, also 30, cried as a Superior Court clerk read the not-guilty verdicts. Both had been charged with assault under color of authority, a felony.

The men hugged each other several times, and members of their families also cried in relief after the one-week trial. It took the jury 2 hours, 45 minutes to make its decision.

Keith Beals, 19, testified a week ago that both officers struck him after a high-speed chase Sept. 18 that ended in a cemetery.

Two officers testified that they saw Keyser hit Beals in the abdomen.

But both Keyser and Nellis testified that two other officers, Danny Hollister and Toby Freestone, hit Beals, not them. Hollister and Freestone have not been charged.

“We thought that Mark Keyser’s testimony was very credible,” said jury foreman Steve Hollinger.

Hollinger said no jury member thought there was criminal intent on either officer’s part to harm or injure Beals.

“We just didn’t feel there was enough (evidence) beyond a reasonable doubt,” said the foreman. “To us, it was just insufficient.”

Hollinger said he thought every witness told the truth, but each person had different perceptions of what happened.

However, one unidentified juror said it was “a sad day” for the Police Department because he believed some of the officers who testified in the trial lied. He did not say which ones.

Hollinger disputed that accusation.

“Is it a lie or a misunderstanding of what one sees?” said the foreman.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Rooten said he could not comment on any future prosecutions of other officers in the same incident. He said it was “a possibility” that other officers might be charged.

Freestone testified about some parts of the incident but then invoked his 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself. Judge William Kennedy ordered his testimony to be disregarded by the jury.

Officer William Jeffers also invoked the 5th Amendment and was excused as a witness before testifying before the jury.

After the verdict, Keyser told a reporter he felt “great” but declined to comment further.

Everitt Bobbitt, Nellis’ lawyer, said Beals, who is now serving a one-year jail term for possession of cocaine in the same incident, “has no love for police officers, for the justice system or authority.”