George's jury deliberating in U-Md. beating trial On Thursday, prosecutors and the officers" attorneys made their final pitch to jurors about whether a video of the incident, taken by another student, shows police abuse of power. In his closing argument, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Ruddy painted the officers as corrupt men who first tried to hide their misdeeds, then tried to rationalize them once they learned they had been seen on video. The video, Ruddy told jurors, was "the most important evidence in this case, because it's the independent witness." And what it showed, Ruddy said, contradicted nearly everything Baker and Harrison said on the witness stand. "They came up with justifications and reasons, most of which made no sense, most of which defy what you see," Ruddy said. William Brennan, an attorney for Baker, said jurors need to judge the case based on the officers" perspective that night, not a video scrutinized years later. Although he said Baker's testimony was consistent with what the video showed, he added that the footage did not accurately capture what Baker saw that night as he tried to control a fist-swinging man emerging from a raucous crowd of U-Md. students. "I'll show you the view that Officer Baker had," Brennan said, donning a police riot helmet as he addressed jurors. When he was out there, Officer Baker had four seconds to figure this out, and they want to make him a criminal - a criminal - over this. David Simpson, an attorney for Harrison, echoed that argument and placed blame for the incident on McKenna, whom he termed a "criminal" because he unlawfully approached a police line. We're not here because of the police officers. We're here because of McKenna," Simpson said. The attorneys zeroed in on when McKenna was on the ground - which a prosecution expert testified was when the alleged excessive force occurred. Stepping slowly through a frame-by-frame capture of the incident, Ruddy highlighted the officers" individual blows to McKenna as he lay with his hands above his head. Ruddy said the video shows that the officers never yelled commands at McKenna, as they claimed, and that the unarmed student took no swings. Harrison had testified that McKenna threw a punch at Baker and that he worried about something McKenna had in his clenched fist (it turned out to be a cellphone). Ruddy disputed that McKenna was carrying a phone. "The image, it speaks for itself," Ruddy said. No commands. No "Show your hands." That's a straight beating of a young man for no reason. Brennan and Simpson countered that even if the officers had made a mistake in using slightly too much force, it was not criminal. Brennan noted that the prosecution's expert testified he would have been allowed to use chemical agents, only one step below batons on police's use-of-force continuum. It was unfair, Brennan said, to judge the officer criminally for that. "Heaven forbid that four seconds in the middle of a riot, you get it wrong," Brennan said, saying he believed the evidence showed that Baker acted properly. Brennan said police could demote or retrain Baker but told jurors, "Don't make him a criminal." Ruddy highlighted the facts that the officers failed to fill out a use-of-force report and that Harrison initially lied to an investigator about his role in the incident. He said that had a video not captured the beating, the officers likely would have evaded detection. "That's why they did not report it: because that's not justified," Ruddy said. Without that video, we would not have known how John McKenna was beaten. Brennan and Simpson said the officers did not fill out the report because a sergeant was on the scene of the incident and already knew about the use of the baton. Simpson acknowledged that Harrison initially lied to an investigator but said he came forward the next day and turned himself in. He said that Harrison had been worried because he saw the police chief on TV, threatening to fire those involved in the incident. "He totally panicked," Simpson said. Jurors began deliberating about 3 p.m.