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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A school police officer will try to return to work following his acquittal on federal charges that he deprived a student and a staff member of their rights during a fight at a North Las Vegas high school for teens with behavior problems and tried to cover it up, his defense lawyer said Monday.
However, Officer James Lescinsky still faces undisclosed internal affairs findings stemming from the May 2015 incident, attorney Jack Campbell said.
In earlier court filings, Campbell attacked the credibility of the Clark County School District police internal affairs investigator who helped the FBI bring federal charges against Lescinsky.
Lescinsky, 45, could have faced decades in prison if found guilty. But U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey found him not guilty Friday of deprivation of rights under color of law, tampering with a witness and falsifying a document charges.
Lescinsky and his lawyer chose not to have the case heard by a jury.
Dorsey heard three days of testimony last week and cited conflicts between what witnesses said and what surveillance tapes showed, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/2aUr39m).
"The cloud is gone. His good name has been restored," Campbell said Monday.
Tarika Rushing, a maintenance worker, testified that her finger was broken when Lescinsky struck her with a baton after she had helped pull a student away from a fight with another girl.
Campbell maintained that prosecutors misunderstand what happened after Lescinsky raced to the lunchroom to break up the fight.
The attorney told the judge that three supervisors found Lescinsky's actions were reasonable under department policy.
Lescinsky has been a school district police officer for four years. He was assigned to non-police duties pending the outcome of the case.
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