A mistrial has been declared in the criminal court trial of former Red Bank Police Department patrolman Mark Kaylor for allegedly using improper and/or excessive force in 2014 while trying to subdue a suspect and take him into custody.
Late Friday afternoon, after the six-woman, six-man jury had deliberated nearly two full days, Judge Tom Greenholtz accepted its inability to reach a unanimous decision and declared a mistrial.
Attorney Lee Davis said, "I think it is significant that the jury reached agreement on and acquitted Mark Kaylor of aggravated assault. The lesser included charge or reckless assault is what they apparently hung up on. My quote reflecting that is as follows.
"I appreciate the jury's dedicated service in hearing the case this week. Mark Kaylor and I appreciate their unanimous acquittal on the charge of aggravated assault. We will meet with prosecutors next week to discuss how we will proceed from here."
The case had gone to the jury around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, immediately following prosecution and defense attorneys presenting the arguments supporting their respective positions on whether Kaylor’s decision to punch suspect Candido Medina-Resendiz seven times in the face with his closed fist violated established law enforcement protocol on when and how to use force.
Almost all of the actions that Kaylor and his fellow officers used to try to subdue and arrest Medina-Resendiz during an early morning traffic/DUI stop were proper, prosecutor Kevin Brown told the jury.
But there was no justification for Kaylor’s ultimate action – punching the struggling man repeatedly in the face with his closed fist – the prosecutor continued, contending that both of the suspect’s hands were already behind his back before the repeated blows were struck.
“And that matters,” the prosecutor said.
It’s true that Medina-Resendiz is a Mexican who is in the country illegally and has been arrested more that once for trying to sneak back into the United States after being deported back to his native country by immigration officials.
But that does not give police or anyone else the right to use improper, unlawful methods to subdue and take him into custody, he said.
Defense attorney Davis, however, told jurors that Medina-Resendiz’s illegal immigrant status did not influence Kaylor’s actions in 2014; “he didn’t even know about it.”
On the other hand, he said, it may have played a role in the suspect’s determined, protracted struggle to avoid being taken into custody. Medina-Resendiz had enough experience with law enforcement to know that the arrest probably would lead immigration and custom officials to return him to Mexico once again, Mr. Davis said.
Further, the defense attorney reminded jurors, the seven strikes to the face which prosecutors contend were improper were all inflicted during a period of three seconds, and occurred because Kaylor believed the suspect was trying to bite him.
The Red Bank patrolman simply didn’t have the time to weigh all the various options available to him during those three seconds, he argued, and the one he used was justified and is allowed under “use of force” protocols.