Ear-Biting by Agent Not Battery, Jury Decides
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A Superior Court jury ruled that an off-duty U.S. Secret Service agent did not commit battery when he bit off part of another man’s ear outside an Encinitas bar in 2002.
The jury this week ruled in favor of Special Agent Kelly Ward in the civil trial.
Ward was part of Vice President Dick Cheney’s protection detail when he got into a fight with Zachary Elson, then 21, outside the Daley Double Cocktail Lounge.
Jury forewoman Teri Goode said most of the jurors believed Ward had been “ambushed” by Elson.
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