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The court, without comment, turned away Kenneth Conley's argument that a grand juror who heard his secret testimony was wrongly called to testify at his trial.

Conley was one of many officers who gave chase when several shooting suspects fled a Boston restaurant in January 1995. The suspects' car stopped and one man got out and began running.

Plainclothes officer Michael Cox, who like the suspect is black, chased the suspect to a fence. The suspect got over the fence, and as Cox tried to climb it he was struck on the back of the head and then kicked repeatedly by several different people until someone yelled, "Stop, he's a cop."

After the beating stopped, no one came to Cox's aid.

A federal grand jury investigated the beating. After being granted immunity from prosecution so long as his testimony was truthful, Conley testified that he chased and caught the suspect. He said he saw no one else between him and the suspect, and that he had not seen Cox get beaten.

The suspect testified that he saw several police officers beat Cox, and that the officer who eventually caught the suspect was standing nearby.

No charges were filed in connection with Cox's beating, but Conley was charged with two counts of perjury and one of obstructing the grand jury investigation.

A member of the grand jury testified at Conley's trial to support the prosecution's argument that the officer's testimony was relevant to the investigation.

Conley was convicted of obstruction and of lying when he said he did not see Cox chase the suspect. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

Conley was suspended from his job without pay during the court proceedings.

In the appeal acted on today, his lawyers said that calling the grand juror as a witness unfairly prejudiced the case against him and violated trial evidence rules.

Justice Department lawyers said the grand juror's testimony was proper because it did not involve the grand jury's deliberations.

The case is Conley vs. U.S., 99-837.