"Heinekens, get your free Heinekens here!!"
Posted on 04/25/2008 6:22:46 AM PDT by Dallas
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.)
Hillary made a major faux pas with the police union when she said NYC cops had "murdered" Amadou Diallo back in 1999...
THE REAL HILLARY CLINTON - Hillary Calls the Police Murderers (from 1999 re Diallo shooting).
The NYPD officers who killed Diallo were also acquitted - by a jury that included black jurors in Albany (trial had to be moved to different venue due to pretrial publicity).
Especially when all you do is suck off the sensationalism titles and not know the reason WHY they shot at him! 2 charges of attempted vehicular manslaughter of a police officer. Still want to talk about equality?
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2006-12-04hm.html
The allegation that last weekend’s shooting was racially motivated is preposterous. A group of undercover officers working in a gun- and drug-plagued strip joint in Queens had good reason to believe that a party leaving the club was armed and about to shoot an adversary. When one of the undercovers identified himself as an officer, the car holding the party TWICE tried to run him down. The officer started firing while yelling to the car’s occupants: “Let me see your hands.” His colleagues, believing they were under attack, fired as well, eventually shooting off 50 rounds and killing the driver, Sean Bell. No gun was found in the car, but witnesses and video footage confirm that a fourth man in the party fled the scene once the altercation began. Bell and the other men with him all had been arrested for illegal possession of guns in the past; one of Bell’s companions that night, Joseph Guzman, had spent considerable time in prison, including for an armed robbery in which he shot at his victim.
"Heinekens, get your free Heinekens here!!"
“Huh ? Al acting like a Reverend ?”
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.
Your post is full of sensationalism. You convince me of nothing. Cops kill citizens. Cops do have more rights than I have. Period.
Would he have said the same thing, had all three cops been white?
Probably not. I'm sure that's why the judge gave the cops a total pass.
Nothing going on in Manhattan that I can see.
bump for later
Is that a serious question?
I have my fair share of gripes about some cops, but that is WAY over the top.
Yes. I’m sure that Judge isn’t good friends with the police union.
These are the types of comments jackholes make.
The state wins almost every time. Agents of the state, same dept of justice, done.
That very true observation has made my day. ROTFLOL!
We shall. I hope and pray that there will be no trouble, but I know better.
“No Justice, No Peace!” will be the rallying cry of Al Sharpton and others...and maybe here, they are right? These cops DID seem awful trigger-happy, and the NYC police force DOES have a history of similar atrocities. These killer cops - are they all with Waco-wannabees? Even if the victims DID have a gun - what makes the police think that they would have used it against them, first? Why are they so fearful of armed ciizens?
OK. You are saying that you are seriously inquiring as to how there could have been no jury in this case.
I will give you some background:
This case took place in the United States of America, which is governed by a document called the Constitution.
The Constitution includes a number of amendments, the first ten of which are called the Bill Of Rights.
The sixth amendment in this Bill Of Rights guarantees a defendant in a criminal case the right to decide whether he will be tried by a judge or by a jury of his peers.
The defendants in this case chose a trial by judge.
The only other alternative to this system in one in which the prosecution - and not the defendant - gets to choose whether the defendant will be tried by a judge or by a jury.
Would you prefer that alternative?
I’m sure that Judge isn’t good friends with the police union.
If you are accusing the judge of corruption, then by all means produce some evidence. That's a pretty serious accusation, and it would be immoral to make it without having solid grounds for it.
The defendants had a choice - a judge, or a jury drawn from a community that was crying for their blood.
Which would you choose, if you were accused of a crime?
This whole discussion, of course, takes place in the context of your almost complete ignorance of both the facts of the case and of the legal system under which the case was tried.
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