suedanim
04-25-2008, 02:53 PM
This judgement is an outrage, even if it was done within the law. Officers shouldn't have the freedom to shoot to kill, with reckless abandon, wounding others in the process. I hope relatives of the dead Sean Bell and the survivors wounded by this incident sue the city for millions. Hit them in the pocketbook now.... Sorry, but if they can't get justice criminally, get it in civil court.
3 NYPD detectives cleared in groom's 50-shot death (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&pwst=1&resnum=0&um=1&tab=wn&q=New+York+police+officers+acquitted&btnG=Search+News)
By TOM HAYS – 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Three NYPD detectives have been acquitted of all counts in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day.
Michael Oliver and Gescard (ZHEHS'-kahrd) Isnora and Marc Cooper were cleared in the 2006 slaying of Sean Bell.
Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including the victim's fiance and parents. The ruling brings an end to a nearly two-month trial.
The officers complained that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, so they opted to have the veteran judge decide the case rather than jurors.
Bell was killed outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 as he was leaving his bachelor party.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) — The fiancee of a man killed in a hail of 50 police bullets on his wedding day arrived at a courthouse Friday to hear a judge decide whether the officers who fired the shots committed a crime.
Justice Arthur Cooperman was to deliver a verdict Friday morning in the closely watched case of Sean Bell, who was gunned down outside a Queens strip club where he was having a bachelor party. Three undercover detectives charged in the shooting chose to have the judge decide, rather than a jury.
If convicted of manslaughter and other charges, detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver face up to 25 years in prison. Detective Marc Cooper, charged only with reckless endangerment, faces up to one year behind bars.
Bell, 23, was killed and two friends were seriously wounded early on the morning of Nov. 25, 2006 — Bell's wedding day. The shooting sparked protests and raised questions about police firepower and undercover tactics.
Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, accompanied by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has led many of the protests, arrived at the courthouse Friday morning with a crowd of supporters.
They threaded their way past a phalanx of police and news cameras into a courthouse ringed by metal barricades and police officers.
A crowd of about 200 people gathered outside the building, waiting for news of a verdict. Some wore buttons with Bell's picture or held signs saying "Justice for Sean Bell."
Paultre Bell, who legally took her intended's name after his death, wore a black suit, with a button bearing Bell's face on her jacket.
Defense attorneys painted the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors sought to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business and that the officers were inept, trigger-happy aggressors.
"This F-Troop of a unit caused the death of an innocent man and caused the injury of two others," prosecutor Charles Testagrossa said, referring to the classic TV sitcom. "This was a slipshod operation, with no real planning."
Bell's fiancee, parents and their supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, have demanded that the officers be held accountable. Sharpton said he has sought to temper outrage over the shooting of three unarmed black men and let the trial take its course. Two of the three officers are black.
"We gave the city an opportunity to show that we would be a new city of fairness," he told reporters at City Hall earlier this week.
Even with an acquittal, authorities predict calm will prevail.
"We certainly don't expect violence," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The defendants, who were investigating reports of prostitution at the Kalua Cabaret, say they became alarmed when they heard Bell and his friends trade insults around the 4 a.m. closing time with another patron who appeared to be armed. In grand jury testimony, Isnora claimed that he overheard one of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, say, "Yo, go get my gun."
Isnora responded by trailing Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield to Bell's car. He insisted that he ordered the men to halt and that he and other officers began shooting only after Bell bumped him with his car and slammed into an unmarked police van while trying to flee.
Guzman and Benefield both played down the dispute outside the club. They also testified that they were unaware police were watching them and that the gunfire erupted without warning.
3 NYPD detectives cleared in groom's 50-shot death (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&pwst=1&resnum=0&um=1&tab=wn&q=New+York+police+officers+acquitted&btnG=Search+News)
By TOM HAYS – 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Three NYPD detectives have been acquitted of all counts in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day.
Michael Oliver and Gescard (ZHEHS'-kahrd) Isnora and Marc Cooper were cleared in the 2006 slaying of Sean Bell.
Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including the victim's fiance and parents. The ruling brings an end to a nearly two-month trial.
The officers complained that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, so they opted to have the veteran judge decide the case rather than jurors.
Bell was killed outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 as he was leaving his bachelor party.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) — The fiancee of a man killed in a hail of 50 police bullets on his wedding day arrived at a courthouse Friday to hear a judge decide whether the officers who fired the shots committed a crime.
Justice Arthur Cooperman was to deliver a verdict Friday morning in the closely watched case of Sean Bell, who was gunned down outside a Queens strip club where he was having a bachelor party. Three undercover detectives charged in the shooting chose to have the judge decide, rather than a jury.
If convicted of manslaughter and other charges, detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver face up to 25 years in prison. Detective Marc Cooper, charged only with reckless endangerment, faces up to one year behind bars.
Bell, 23, was killed and two friends were seriously wounded early on the morning of Nov. 25, 2006 — Bell's wedding day. The shooting sparked protests and raised questions about police firepower and undercover tactics.
Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, accompanied by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has led many of the protests, arrived at the courthouse Friday morning with a crowd of supporters.
They threaded their way past a phalanx of police and news cameras into a courthouse ringed by metal barricades and police officers.
A crowd of about 200 people gathered outside the building, waiting for news of a verdict. Some wore buttons with Bell's picture or held signs saying "Justice for Sean Bell."
Paultre Bell, who legally took her intended's name after his death, wore a black suit, with a button bearing Bell's face on her jacket.
Defense attorneys painted the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors sought to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business and that the officers were inept, trigger-happy aggressors.
"This F-Troop of a unit caused the death of an innocent man and caused the injury of two others," prosecutor Charles Testagrossa said, referring to the classic TV sitcom. "This was a slipshod operation, with no real planning."
Bell's fiancee, parents and their supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, have demanded that the officers be held accountable. Sharpton said he has sought to temper outrage over the shooting of three unarmed black men and let the trial take its course. Two of the three officers are black.
"We gave the city an opportunity to show that we would be a new city of fairness," he told reporters at City Hall earlier this week.
Even with an acquittal, authorities predict calm will prevail.
"We certainly don't expect violence," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The defendants, who were investigating reports of prostitution at the Kalua Cabaret, say they became alarmed when they heard Bell and his friends trade insults around the 4 a.m. closing time with another patron who appeared to be armed. In grand jury testimony, Isnora claimed that he overheard one of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, say, "Yo, go get my gun."
Isnora responded by trailing Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield to Bell's car. He insisted that he ordered the men to halt and that he and other officers began shooting only after Bell bumped him with his car and slammed into an unmarked police van while trying to flee.
Guzman and Benefield both played down the dispute outside the club. They also testified that they were unaware police were watching them and that the gunfire erupted without warning.