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The defense rested its case Tuesday in the misdemeanor trial of a San Francisco police officer accused of striking his girlfriend in the face at her Berkeley apartment and binding her hands with a nylon strap.  

The afternoon court session brought to a close three days of sometimes graphic testimony about sex, violence and an extramarital affair between the defendant, 52-year-old James McKeever, and his 36-year-old girlfriend, who testified McKeever broke a cap off one of her teeth before tying her up with the strap from a harness the pair had used during a sex act the day before. 

Closing statements are expected Wednesday morning in the courtroom of Judge Carlos G. Ynostroza in Oakland Superior Court. The case is being heard by a jury of eight women and six men, including two alternates.  

The sex harness, introduced as an exhibit on the first day of trial, has come to symbolize the prosecution’s account of a troubled five-year relationship which Deputy District Attorney Tara Desautels told the jury was “about control, absolute control” of the victim by McKeever.  

In an opening statement Friday, and in subsequent testimony, the defense argued that the roles were reversed, and that the alleged victim had been harassing and stalking McKeever in the months leading up to the Aug. 7 incident in an attempt to break up his marriage. McKeever said the woman, who has asked not to be identified, started the fight that led to his arrest last summer on battery and false imprisonment charges.  

The alleged victim took the witness stand Friday afternoon for questioning by the district attorney. She testified at length about her relationship with the defendant and the events leading up to the alleged attack. 

On the night of the incident she testified that she and McKeever argued at her apartment on Seventh Street in West Berkeley and that the defendant then struck her in the face, breaking off a crown on her tooth. “I felt a crunch and my jaw felt numb immediately,” she told the jury. “I thought maybe he had broken my jaw.” 

She testified McKeever then threw her to the floor. “The whole apartment vibrated like an earthquake,” she said. At this, a half-dozen McKeever supporters seated behind the defendant reacted disdainfully and had to be admonished by the bailiff.  

During testimony by the alleged victim McKeever sat back in his chair at the defense table and regarded the witness solemnly, passing occasional notes to his attorney.  

The woman testified that after McKeever bound her hands behind her back he then tried to tie her feet as well but the harness, which has a number of nylon straps and fittings, was not long enough. Deputy DA Desautels donned a rubber glove each time she handled the apparatus during the elaborate evidentiary rituals that took place each time the exhibit was presented to a witness.  

During cross examination, Defense Attorney Michael Cardoza sought to cast doubt on the alleged victim’s version of events by introducing a statement the woman made in connection with her application for a restraining order against McKeever. In the signed statement, she told an investigator that she struck McKeever first.  

But the alleged victim testified that the statement, along with a number of others in the report, was inaccurate. Still, her voice grew fainter as the cross-examination went on and she appeared flummoxed on several occasions. She eventually asked the judge if she could take a break.  

The trial began Friday with testimony by a neighbor of the alleged victim that she was awaken by screaming in an adjoining apartment and called police. Berkeley police officer Craig Lindenau testified that he responded to a call and upon entering the alleged victim’s apartment found her partially undressed with her hands tied tightly together. He said he had to cut the strap off her hands with a knife. Lindenau testified that she had bruises and abrasions on her neck, leg and wrists.  

Although the case has received scant attention in the press, Judge Ynostroza imposed a gag order on attorneys and jurors in the case, forbidding discussion with news media while the trial is taking place. The court file has been unavailable to the public during the trial and motions have been heard in the judge’s chambers.  

But it appeared the defense had won a motion to exclude from the trial evidence that McKeever was involved in a similar assault in Texas two weeks after the Berkeley incident. McKeever has been charged with felony injury to a child in connection with an alleged attack on his stepdaughter at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport Aug. 24. He is scheduled to appear for a hearing in Tarrant County, Texas superior court in April.  

Neither McKeever’s defense lawyer in Texas nor Tarrant County Deputy District Attorney Michelle Hartmann, who is prosecuting the felony case against McKeever, returned calls seeking comment. A witness to the incident at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport whose name appears on a police report also refused to comment Tuesday.  

McKeever testified during the trial that he gave the alleged victim money and helped her purchase a home in Berkeley. He said on the night of his arrest he was trapped in the apartment because the front door was locked from the inside and the alleged victim had hidden the keys.  

In a dramatic final note to the testimony phase of the trial, DA Desautels asked McKeever at the end of her cross-examination Tuesday why the defendant had not worn his wedding ring during the trial but had worn a watch given to him by the alleged victim.  

“I don’t wear a wedding ring,” he said. “And it’s a good watch. It tells the time.” 

If convicted, McKeever faces a possible jail term and fines. Even if he is not convicted of the criminal charges in Alameda County, McKeever could still face a hearing before the San Francisco Police Commission. According to a Police Department spokesman, McKeever could be suspended from the force or terminated. He is now on desk duty.