Cops Acquitted In Sean Bell Shooting Death

WCBSTV.com ^

[Dallas]

Cops Acquitted In Sean Bell Shooting Death

Judge Clears Three NYPD Detectives Of All Charges In Nov. 2006 Incident

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

A judge has acquitted three NYPD detectives of all charges in the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Bell on Friday. Bell was gunned down in a hail of 50 bullets outside a Queens strip club on what would have been his wedding day in November 2006.

The highly anticipated verdict, which many see as holding far-reaching social ramifications for New York City and its police force, comes after seven weeks worth of testimony without a jury.

Detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, faced up to 25 years behind bars for manslaughter charges, while Det. Marc Cooper faced a year in jail on reckless endangerment charges.

The detectives, who were responding to complaints about prostitution at the club, have claimed they fired their guns only after Isnora identified himself as a police officer and Bell's car nearly ran him over.

Oliver fired 31 shots in the incident, Isnora fired 11, and Cooper fired four times.

Defense attorneys had said there was evidence that Bell was drunk and "out of control" when he left the club. Witnesses overheard Bell exchange curses with another patron, and heard one of the passengers in the car, Joseph Guzman, who was also shot, say to someone, "Go get my gat," slang for gun. They had also argued Bell had tried to run over Isnora with his car.

Investigators found no gun at the scene.

Prosecutors argued that Oliver would have found there was no threat if he had "paused to reassess" while firing the 31 shots. They said that Cooper fired wildly, with one of his shots even hitting an elevated airport train station. And they alleged that Isnora failed to display his badge in a clearly visible manner and wait for backup, and gave contradictory orders to Bell and his friends.

Bell was supposed to be married at Community Baptist Church in Jamaica the same day of the shooting. On Thursday night, that hallowed ground became the site of a spiritual rally of sorts as an entire city waited for a verdict that had been anticipated for months.

Inspirational words were uttered by the Rev. Al Sharpton for the community and Sean's family.

"We have no hate. We have no malice. We seek no revenge. We put in God's hands. And in God's own time this city will deal with justice," Sharpton said.

Bell's fiancé and mother have been overwhelmed by the unwavering support they've received since his death.

"I want to start by thanking you all (for) sticking by my family – my other mother and my other father and me. And supporting us because God knows we need it," Nicole Paultre Bell said.

Outside the courtroom, the NYPD had preparing for any post-verdict scenario or protests.

"We certainly have no reason to expect violence," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday. "There's been many demonstrations, memorials, marches since the incident took place. We've done things that the public would expect us to do to prepare for any contingency."

Added Bishop Lester Williams: "How can you celebrate officers who are supposed to take care of you and are now going to jail, if that is the case? And then how can you celebrate if they don't go to jail. The loss that that family will [have to] endure [will last] forever, so there is no victory. We have to sit down and make sure this does not happen again."

Stay with wcbstv.com and CBS 2 for continuing coverage of this developing story.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

[Smogger]

When one of the undercovers identified himself as an officer, the car holding the party TWICE tried to run him down.

You mean when a plain clothes policeman CLAIMED that he overheard something about a gun and then opened fire after CLAIMING that someone tried to run him down instead of calling for uniformed partol officers to investigate.

Hey buddy. You wouldn't last five minutes in LA if you stopped for every clown in civilian clothes who whipped out a gun on you in the middle of the night claiming to be the police WHEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVEN'T COMMITTED ANY CRIME.

There is a reason police wear uniforms and drive MARKED patrol cars.

[b4its2late]

I can just imagine what the Reverend Sharpton is gearing up for now, rubbing his hands together with a huge smile on his face...........

[BJClinton]

More from AP via Yahoo!

Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a packed Queens courtroom. The officers, complaining that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, opted to have the judge decide the case rather than a jury.

Cooperman indicated that the police officers' version of events was more credible than the victims' version. "The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified" in firing, he said.

The nearly two-month trial was marked by deeply divergent accounts of the night.

The defense 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.

None of the officers took the witness stand in his own defense. Instead, Cooperman heard transcripts of the officers testifying before a grand jury, saying they believed they had good reason to use deadly force. The judge also heard testimony from Bell's two injured companions, who insisted the maelstrom erupted without warning.

Both sides were consistent on one point: The utter chaos surrounding the last moments of Bell's life.

"It happened so quick," Isnora said in his grand jury testimony. "It was like the last thing I ever wanted to do."

Bell's companions — Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman — also offered dramatic testimony about the episode. Benefield and Guzman were both wounded; Guzman still has four bullets lodged in his body.

Referring to Isnora, Guzman said, "This dude is shooting like he's crazy, like he's out of his mind."

The victims and shooters were set on a fateful collision course by a pair of innocuous decisions: Bell's to have a last-minute bachelor party at Kalua Cabaret, and the undercover detectives' to investigate reports of prostitution at the club.

As the club closed around 4 a.m., Sanchez and Isnora claimed they overheard Bell and his friends first flirt with women, then taunt a stranger who responded by putting his right hand in his pocket as if he had a gun. Guzman, they testified, said, "Yo, go get my gun" — something Bell's friends denied.

Isnora said he decided to arm himself, call for backup — "It's getting hot," he told his supervisor — and tail Bell, Guzman and Benefield as they went around the corner and got into Bell's car. He claimed that after warning the men to halt, Bell pulled away, bumped him and rammed an unmarked police van that converged on the scene with Oliver at the wheel.

The detective also alleged that Guzman made a sudden move as if he were reaching for a gun.

"I yelled 'Gun!' and fired," he said. "In my mind, I knew (Guzman) had a gun."

Benefield and Guzman testified that there were no orders. Instead, Guzman said, Isnora "appeared out of nowhere" with a gun drawn and shot him in the shoulder — the first of 16 shots to enter his body.

"That's all there was — gunfire," he said. "There wasn't nothing else."

With tires screeching, glass breaking and bullets flying, the officers claimed that they believed they were the ones under fire. Oliver responded by emptying his semiautomatic pistol, reloading, and emptying it again, as the supervisor sought cover.

The truth emerged when the smoke cleared: There was no weapon inside Bell's blood-splattered car.

[Smogger]

With tires screeching, glass breaking and bullets flying, the officers claimed that they believed they were the ones under fire.

Try using this as a defense fellow citizens:

"The sound of my own gun shots convinced me that I was under fire."

[Philly Nomad]

So it’s OK for a bunch of unannounced police officers to fire 50 bullets into a guy who goes to a strip club?

[wideawake]

So it’s OK for a bunch of unannounced police officers

They announced themselves.

The prosecution's inability to provide the slightest shred of credible evidence that they did not is a big reason for their acquittal.

to fire 50 bullets into a guy who goes to a strip club?

Only if he tries to run them over.

[sappy]

“No, he has just decided the money isn’t there at this particular juncture. He’ll be back pimping soon when the time is right.”

“..when the time is WHITE” That is the key to it all.

elmer fudd

[Philly Nomad]

1) So you say.

On Friday, the commanding officer of the undercover police unit that confronted Mr. Bell on Nov. 25, 2006, Lt. Gary Napoli, testified that he did not hear the detective who fired first, Gescard F. Isnora, yell, “Police!” Nor did he hear any of the other officers, including the other two on trial, Detectives Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, shout the word, he said.
2) You point a gun at me and I'm in a car, I'm going to try to run you down as well. Or are only white men allowed to defend themselves.

[verity]

"...as retarded as they are in Los Angeles ..."

ROTFLMAO.

[Smogger]

So it’s OK for a bunch of unannounced police officers to fire 50 bullets into a guy who goes to a strip club?

The founding fathers would be appalled.

[wideawake]

the commanding officer of the undercover police unit that confronted Mr. Bell on Nov. 25, 2006, Lt. Gary Napoli, testified that he did not hear the detective who fired first, Gescard F. Isnora, yell, “Police!” Nor did he hear any of the other officers, including the other two on trial, Detectives Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, shout the word, he said.

And where was Lt. Napoli at the time? How close was he?

I see you didn't include that in your selective reportage.

You point a gun at me and I'm in a car, I'm going to try to run you down as well.

Isnora had not drawn his weapon until after Bell first attempted to run him over.

Of course, Bell shouldn't have been behind the wheel in the first place, since he was drunk out of his mind.

Or are only white men allowed to defend themselves.

When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When both the facts and the law are against you, play the race card.

[wideawake]

The founding fathers would be appalled.

The Founding Fathers, not being fools, generally familiarized themselves with the facts of matters before they opined on them.

And the only thing that would appall them in this case would be fools attempting to champion Sean Bell.

[Philly Nomad]

So do you know who Lt. Gary Napoli is, or are you calling him a liar?

Let’s face it if you knew the facts of the case you wouldn’t be attacking Lt. Napoli’s character.

You sir are nothing more than a sycophant to the police state - when the FBI comes for your guns you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.

[Smogger]

Since when did assertions become “facts?”

So let me get this straight. It’s your conclusion that the victims in this case knew in fact that the gun weilding person person coming at them out of the darkness was a cop, and attempted to run him over when in fact (and these are the facts) they had committed no crime to that point. They had no weapons, no drugs, and hadn’t committed a DUI at this point? Or is it your conculusion that they SHOULD have known it was a cop based on what? Because he had a gun and said that he was?

[Smogger]

Is that so. Well this case has been discussed extensively on FR, paticularly when it first broke. No one is disputing the “facts” of the case. What we have here is a variety of assertions by the police who by any rational standard acted wrecklessly.

As for the founding fathers The Boston Massacre comes to mind.

[bluedressman]

this is the first post on here that i think even mentions anything close to some facts here.

i don’t know if i buy your conspiracy theory here, but i see no mention of the details of the case and regardless of his marital status present or future he made a threatening move and was met with deadly force.

3 a.m. a drunk is getting ready to mow you down in a car....what would you do? cops were more than justified. the one person who could have saved sean bell is sean bell.

[wideawake]

So do you know who Lt. Gary Napoli is, or are you calling him a liar?

Neither.

According to Napoli's own testimony, he was down the block and was in contact with Michael Carey by radio. He admitted that he was not necessarily within earshot of Detective Isnora.

Let’s face it if you knew the facts of the case you wouldn’t be attacking Lt. Napoli’s character.

I haven't attacked his character. What I have done is pointed out your selective representation of his testimony.

You sir are nothing more than a sycophant to the police state - when the FBI comes for your guns you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.

Feel free to call me all the names you like, it doesn't change the fact that a police officer is allowed to fire in self-defense when a drunk driver tries to run him over.

One doesn't need to be a police "sycophant" to acknowledge that a police officer has the same right to self-defense as any other citizen.

[GOYAKLA]

Congrats!! Yours is the best post/reply I have seen in along time. Well said!!!

[bluedressman]

If the cops are so crooked, why didn’t they wack everyone and put the throwdown in the car?

Your logical reasoning is at a pre K level.

[BJClinton]

Exactly. I’m not sure what the cops should be convicted of but they need to pay for this.

No question the taxpayers of NY will pay out the nose for the lawsuit.