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Judge Acquits Detectives in 50-Shot Killing of Bell
NY Times ^ | April 26, 2008 | MICHAEL WILSON

Posted on 04/26/2008 10:45:20 AM PDT by neverdem

A Queens judge on Friday acquitted three detectives charged in the shooting of Sean Bell, who died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets. He said that prosecutors had failed to prove their case and that wounded friends of the slain man had given testimony that he did not believe.

The top-to-bottom acquittals of Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper were delivered by Justice Arthur J. Cooperman in an essay form bearing little resemblance to a standard jury verdict, and were met momentarily with silence in court as spectators looked at one another to be sure they had grasped what he was saying.

The detectives, all but obscured behind a human wall of courthouse officers, finally seemed to exhale deeply, even crumple, with relief. Detective Oliver — who reloaded his gun to fire a total of 31 shots and helped catapult the shooting from tragic mistake to a symbol, for many, of police abuse of force and poor training — closed his eyes and cried.

Except for a few scuffles outside the Queens Criminal Court building and shouted displays of disbelief and outrage, the day passed peacefully amid calls for calm delivered by the mayor, the police commissioner and other officials. Still, the Rev. Al Sharpton, a spokesman for the Bell family, called for street protests and said people should get themselves arrested, “whether it is on Wall Street, the judge’s house or at 1 Police Plaza.”

Legal hurdles remain for the officers: federal authorities said they would now investigate the case, and the Police Department is mulling internal charges. A $50 million lawsuit against the city, filed last year by Mr. Bell’s fiancée, who had two children with him, and the two men wounded in the shooting, may now begin moving forward...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bell; seanbell
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To: 2harddrive
Well, the defendants, as was their RIGHT, chose a trial by judge who listened to all of the evidence, apparently including evidence that this guy was informed of who they were, and they were aquitted.

So, as I said ealrier, if, this guy deliberately tried to run down these officers down, then he deserved exactly what he got.

Apparently that is exactly the conclusion that the trial led to.

21 posted on 04/27/2008 6:51:05 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: neverdem
I just wonder, had the shooting victim been a white male, if anyone would have bothered...

This is a mixture of badness: trigger happiness and race baiting. It's radioactive.

22 posted on 04/27/2008 2:58:00 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (media is now a double-edged sword; it's no longer a billy-club in the hands of the big goons.)
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To: org.whodat
Then the drunk POS should have enough balls to get on the witness stand. Neither of the three did.

Both drunk "pos" took the stand. The other drunk "pos" is was shot dead the morning of his wedding at his bachelor party and was unavailable for comment.

23 posted on 04/27/2008 5:31:38 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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