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Sep. 10--SALEM -- A Peabody District Court jury yesterday cleared a Swampscott man of disorderly conduct charges stemming from his arrest in downtown Salem last October, after he was taken to the ground by a Salem police officer.

It was just one of a series of setbacks yesterday for prosecutors and the police, who received significant scrutiny after a video of Patrolman Lawrence Puleo taking Travis Markarian to the ground in what he called "a jaw-line takedown" appeared on the Internet.

Puleo was suspended for 15 days over the incident, in which Markarian was charged with disorderly conduct and failing to disperse during a riot.

Before the jury heard the case, Judge Robert Brennan had already decided to clear both Markarian, 21, of Swampscott and a second person, Thomas Matson, 25, who had recorded the arrest on video, of charges of failing to disperse during a riot.

Brennan found that prosecutors could not prove that there had been anything resembling the legal definition of a "riot" in the early morning hours of Oct. 17 as bars were letting out. He issued a directed verdict of "not guilty" before the trial got under way.

And earlier in the day, prosecutors decided to dismiss charges of assault and battery on two police officers filed against Markarian's friend, Michael Wermuth, 21, of Swampscott. Wermuth admitted that prosecutors had sufficient evidence against him on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Those charges were continued without a finding for three months, after which they will also be dismissed.

Much of the morning was taken up with legal wrangling over the issue of whether prosecutor Colleen Cashman could prove the elements of each charge against the men.

When the case finally got underway, Cashman urged the jury to convict Markarian of disorderly conduct, acknowledging that while Puleo was wrong, so was the defendant.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," Cashman told jurors. "It's a simple concept."

She said Puleo gave the group that originally included Markarian, Wermuth and another man, Christopher Burke, ample warning to leave the area.

He and fellow officer Kevin St. Pierre had already arrested Wermuth and Burke when Puleo spotted Markarian back in the area he'd been asked to leave, Cashman said.

Markarian was peppering Sgt. Kate Stephens with questions, Cashman said.

On the Matson video, Markarian is heard asking "What did you arrest them for?" and why his friend had bandages on his face.

"He will tell you he's out of gas, he's frustrated," Cashman acknowledged of Puleo, who told Markarian "Get the (expletive) out of here."

But that, she said, did not justify Markarian's actions, including interrupting Stephens and smirking at the officer instead of obeying him and leaving.

Markarian's lawyer, John Morris, argued to jurors that Markarian was already walking away, obeying the officer's order, and had done nothing to justify being arrested, particularly in such a dramatic way.

He called the case against his client an attempt by police to distract from the officer's own actions, comparing it to a situation in which an architect steers someone away from flaws in a project.

"A picture is worth 1,000 words," Morris told jurors, "but a video tells the story."

He played that YouTube video for the jurors, who would see it a total of three times during the trial.

The jurors, six women and a man, declined comment as they left the courthouse yesterday.

Markarian also declined comment. Morris said his client simply wants to get on with his life.

The fourth suspect, Burke, 21, of Swampscott, has not yet stood trial. He is facing charges of assaulting Puleo, as well. His attorney said Burke is ill and unavailable to stand trial.

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