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Police ask judge to dismiss charges in taped scuffle

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Lawyers for two Southern California police officers charged with abusing a teen-age suspect said Thursday evidence that might have cleared the officers was withheld by prosecutors from a grand jury.

Inglewood, California, police officers Jeremy Morse and Bijan Darvish face charges in connection with the videotaped arrest of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson at a suburban Los Angeles gas station in July.

Their lawyers asked Superior Court Judge William Hollingsworth to dismiss the charges Thursday, arguing that prosecutors should have presented exculpatory evidence to a grand jury considering the case.

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Morse, who was videotaped slamming the handcuffed Jackson against the trunk of a police car, is charged with assault; Darvish, his partner, is charged with filing a false police report.

John Barnett, Morse's lawyer, said surveillance tapes from the gas station showed Jackson resisting arrest and "fighting with the police officers." He said prosecutors should have shown those tapes to the grand jury that indicted Morse and Darvish.

Lawyers for the two officers also asked the district attorney's office to outline the charges against the two officers in more detail. But they said they would not seek a change of venue in the case.

"We feel we can get a fair trial here," Barnett said.

-- CNN Producer Tony Frassrand contributed to this report.