01:00 AM EDT on Friday, June 23, 2006

BY KATIE MULVANEY
Journal Staff Writer

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- A Superior Court judge yesterday denied a new trial for a suspended state trooper convicted of beating a man in the custody of South Kingstown police and then lying about it.

Judge Edward C. Clifton rejected defense lawyer Kevin Bristow's claim that the evidence presented at trial did not sufficiently prove that Jeffrey L. Clark had committed felony assault.

The court, as the 13th juror, was not persuaded, Clifton said. "The court does not find issue with the jury's verdict."

On June 1, a Washington County Superior Court jury found Jeffrey L. Clark, 34, of 254 Laurel Lane, guilty of assaulting then 22-year-old William Skwirz Jr. as he was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser on Labor Day weekend 2004.

Skwirz, of Narragansett, had been celebrating his stepbrother's return from Iraq at his father's house at 274 Laurel Lane early Sept. 5 when Clark returned home from a wedding and began yelling about a barking dog.

An argument ensued and punches were thrown. Witnesses testified during the trial that Clark threw the first punch. Clark, who was off-duty at the time, said he acted in self-defense.

Clark moved to press charges against Skwirz. South Kingstown Patrolman Robert F. Costantino II responded. Skwirz and Costantino, and others, told jurors that Clark repeatedly punched Skwirz as he sat handcuffed in the back of the cruiser. Clark testified he did not know how Skwirz had suffered a gash to the back of his head that required eight staples.

Clark then tried to enlist South Kingstown officers to cover the incident up, prosecutors said -- a claim Clark denied.

The jury found him guilty of felony assault, misdemeanor assault and filing a false report.

Bristow argued yesterday that the state's case did not rise to felony assault because evidence had not shown that Skwirz suffered permanent disfigurement. He stressed inconsistencies in testimony about timing, location and Skwirz's description of the assault to friends.

Regardless of inconsistencies, one thing remained constant throughout the trial, said Assistant Attorney General Scott Erickson. "There was no wavering that the person responsible was the defendant," he said. "All point in one direction and that direction was at Jeffrey Clark."

He dismissed Clark's testimony as "flat-out lies."

Clifton concluded that Skwirz endured dangerous or potentially dangerous consequences. The judge was incredulous that Clark did not concede on the stand that he had gotten the timing wrong on a visit he made to Costantino's house on Sept. 5. Prosecutors produced a state police day log that showed him at a call on Route 95 at that time.

On the force since 1994, Clark has been suspended without pay from the state police since he was arrested Feb. 9, 2005. State police Maj. Stephen O'Donnell said after the trial that the department would move to fire him if a new trial was not granted. O'Donnell could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Clark faces up to 20 years in prison for felony assault. His sentencing is set for Sept. 14 before Judge Clifton.