Breaking: Jail officer cleared of beating inmate

A federal jury has cleared former Metropolitan Detention Center corrections officer Kevin James Casaus  of the most serious charge against him in an indictment stemming from an inmate beating at the jail on Dec. 21, 2011.

Casaus, 24, was accused of beating inmate Christopher Shields in the shower area of MDC. Shields, during the booking process, had gotten into a loud disagreement with another officer over whether or not he had to be photographed.

The other former corrections officer, Demetrio Gonzales, 40, admitted striking and choking Shields in a blind rage, and has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison.

The assault charge against Casaus was that he had picked up where Gonzales left off, violating his civil rights by hitting him on the back of the head after Gonzales left the shower room. But the defense said no one really knew what happened in the shower room, and that Shields, who had been arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge, was not a reliable witness.

Jurors did convict Casaus of the lesser charges of lying to Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office detectives investigating the incident and of making false statements in his incident report about what happened during the assault of Shields.

Trial began Monday before U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson.

Casaus was allowed to continue his conditions of release. Had he been convicted of the first count, a crime of violence, he would have been immediately taken into custody, and federal marshals were in the courtroom in the event of a conviction on that charge.