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The Fairmount Heights mayor arrested in February for impersonating a police officer was cleared of the charges Thursday in Prince George's County Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro, according to the county state's attorney's office.

After more than three hours of deliberating, a jury found Nathaniel R. Mines Jr. not guilty on charges of impersonating a police officer and for transporting a handgun on a roadway. Circuit Court Judge Sean D. Wallace presided over the two-day trial that began Wednesday.

Prosecutors and the defense argued over whether Mines, the town's police commissioner, was representing himself as a police officer, which is not a capacity of his position as commissioner.

If found guilty, Mines could have faced up to three years in prison, said Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

"The jury has spoken, and we have to abide by their decision," Korionoff said Thursday.

Mines could not be reached for comment Friday.

The evening of Feb. 27 and early morning hours of Feb. 28, Mines, who was also a town councilman at the time, was working security at a party being held at the Byrne Manor Knights of Columbus Hall at 1501 Southern Ave. in Temple Hills, according to charging documents. One of Mines' defense attorneys, Darrell Robinson, said Mines operated a security business.

County police were dispatched to Byrne Manor on Feb. 27 because the previous weekend there had been a shooting in Washington, D.C., that was the result of a dispute that originated at Byrne Manor, county police officer Lt. Jason Bogue testified Wednesday.

When Bogue and about 10 county officers arrived at Byrne Manor at about 6 p.m., Mines exited his black Cadillac Escalade and asked if he could help them, Bogue said. Mines told him that he was working part-time security at Byrne Manor for a party that would start around 10 p.m. and that he was the police commissioner of Fairmount Heights, a position Bogue said he was unfamiliar with. Mines was sworn in as Fairmount Heights' police commissioner on Nov. 19, 2003, according to town meeting minutes.

"The hair stood on the back of my neck," Bogue said. "Something wasn't right here."

Both Mines' defense attorneys, Rosalyn Pugh and Robinson, and assistant state's attorneys Jonathan Church and Saman Danai agreed that Mines was not a police officer. However, Danai said Mines told officers who arrived at the Knights of Columbus that he had the powers to arrest. It was never Mines' intent to present himself as a police officer, Robinson said.

"A police commissioner does not have the right to make an arrest," Danai said. "The police commissioner does not have the right to enforce the law."

Bogue made some phone calls and finally reached Fairmount Heights Police Chief Wendell Brantley. Brantley told Bogue that Mines was not a police officer with the town, Brantley said during his testimony Wednesday. He added that the only police commissioner position he knew of in Maryland was in the Baltimore City Police Department. The Baltimore city department has a commissioner instead of a chief, according to the city's police department Web site.

Brantley defined a police commissioner as a liaison between the town council and the police department.

"I told [Bogue] he was not a police officer and that if he was holding himself out there as such he should be placed under arrest," Brantley said.

Bogue returned to the Knights of Columbus Hall between 9 and 9:30 p.m., where Mines returned between 10 and 10:30 p.m.after leaving earlier in the night, the same time Mines said the party was about to start, he said.

Cpl. Frank Perrus, a second officer on the scene, testified Wednesday that Mines was asked if he was armed, but faltered when answering and said he was unsure, but that if he did have a gun it was in the center console of his Escalade. Mines gave consent for the officers to search his vehicle, Perrus said.

Among the items found in his vehicle were a 9 mm handgun — which Robinson said was registered to Mines — an orange vest that said "Police Officer" in black letters, red and blue police lights, a siren, radio, a Fairmount Heights police badge and a police commissioner identification card, all of which were laid out before the jury. Mines was subsequently arrested, Perrus said.

Brantley said he never issued Mines any police property since Brantley became chief in January 2008.

Jeanne Allen of the District testified Thursday that she worked security for Mines' company at Byrne Manor and said Mines, a supervisor, was not working security that evening but was instead there to give her and other security employees their paychecks for their services. Mines asked her to return a bag that evening that included his handgun, a task she did between 10:30 and 10:45 p.m. Feb. 27, Allen said. Allen declined to comment after testimony to what she needed the gun for.

Mines was contracted often to work security for Byrne Manor but was not granted permission to carry a weapon onsite, Byrne Manor council president Reginald Stewart said Thursday.

Robinson's defense suggested that there was a power struggle between Brantley and Mines after Mines sent a Feb. 10 memorandum to former mayor Madeline Richardson, acting town administrator and current District Heights Mayor James Walls Jr. and Brantley challenging whether or not Brantley was officially voted in as the new chief in 2008. Other concerns included an alleged private use of police vehicles by Fairmount Heights officers, Robinson said.

Robinson reiterated that both Fairmount Heights' former Police Chief David G. Rice and former Acting Police Chief John Morris admitted in testimony they reported to Mines. Rice, who was chief from 2003 to 2005, is currently the New Carrollton police chief. Morris was acting chief from 2007 until January 2008 and is still a town police officer, Morris said.

Robinson also suggested that Brantley and Bogue were friends from when they worked on the same squad in police District 3 in Palmer Park, which Brantley denied.

The situation between Brantley and Mines was "about power," Robinson said. "It's about power and politics."

Mines was first elected in 2001 to the Fairmount Heights Town Council. He ran against challengers Councilwoman Carolyn Boston and former treasurer Daisy Capers and incumbent Richardson to win the mayor's seat in the Sept. 21 election. The election was a redo of the May 4 election because of the town's Board of Elections Supervisors' alleged mishandling of absentee ballots and write-in votes.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.