Officers Involved in Sean Bell Shooting Go Free
Since…I don’t like getting political,
I try to keep the Manifesto as light and fluffy as possible,
and…I get vertigo from standing on a soap box…I’ll refrain from editorializing this post. I did, however, think that it was necessary to at least put the information out there. If you would like to comment, please feel free my friends. I'm curious to see how you feel about this.
Here’s what the newsies are saying:
NY Daily News
The three cops who killed Sean Bell on his wedding day in a 50-bullet barrage were cleared of all charges Friday - sparking tears inside the courtroom and anger on the streets outside. “The defendants are not guilty of all charges,” Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman declared. “The burden was on the people to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each defendant was assumed to be innocent.” Cooperman said justification was used as a defense, he had to consider the “mindset of the defendants, not the victims. What the victims did, was more important to resolve the issues at hand than what was in their minds.”
Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault and reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. None of the detectives testified, although their grand jury testimony was read out loud at the trial. Sean Bell’s father, William, said he would call on the feds to try the cops for violating his son’s civil rights if they were acquitted.
Bell, a 23-year-old father of two, was killed on Nov. 25, 2006 near the Queens strip club where he’d just had his bachelor bash. His friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were badly wounded when the cops opened fire on Bell’s car.
NY Times:
Several supporters of Mr. Bell stormed out of the courtroom, and a few small scuffles followed outside the courthouse. By midafternoon, there were no suggestions of any broader unrest around the city. Mr. Bell’s family and fiancée left without making any comments and drove to visit his grave at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery and Memorial Park in Port Washington.
The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married.
It was delivered in a packed courtroom. Mr. Bell’s family sat silently as Justice Cooperman spoke from the bench. Behind them, a woman was heard to ask, “Did he just say, ‘Not guilty?’ ” Detective Oliver and the two other defendants, Detectives Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper, were escorted out a side doorway as court adjourned.
NY Post:
The detectives, who did not testify on their own behalf during the trial, could still face departmental charges, as could Lt. Gary Napoli, the supervisor in charge of the undercover unit the night of the shooting
NY Daily News
The three cops who killed Sean Bell on his wedding day in a 50-bullet barrage were cleared of all charges Friday - sparking tears inside the courtroom and anger on the streets outside. “The defendants are not guilty of all charges,” Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman declared. “The burden was on the people to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each defendant was assumed to be innocent.” Cooperman said justification was used as a defense, he had to consider the “mindset of the defendants, not the victims. What the victims did, was more important to resolve the issues at hand than what was in their minds.”
Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault and reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. None of the detectives testified, although their grand jury testimony was read out loud at the trial. Sean Bell’s father, William, said he would call on the feds to try the cops for violating his son’s civil rights if they were acquitted.
Bell, a 23-year-old father of two, was killed on Nov. 25, 2006 near the Queens strip club where he’d just had his bachelor bash. His friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were badly wounded when the cops opened fire on Bell’s car.
NY Times:
Several supporters of Mr. Bell stormed out of the courtroom, and a few small scuffles followed outside the courthouse. By midafternoon, there were no suggestions of any broader unrest around the city. Mr. Bell’s family and fiancée left without making any comments and drove to visit his grave at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery and Memorial Park in Port Washington.
The verdict comes 17 months to the day since the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting of Mr. Bell, 23, and his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, outside the Club Kalua in Jamaica, Queens, hours before Mr. Bell was to be married.
It was delivered in a packed courtroom. Mr. Bell’s family sat silently as Justice Cooperman spoke from the bench. Behind them, a woman was heard to ask, “Did he just say, ‘Not guilty?’ ” Detective Oliver and the two other defendants, Detectives Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper, were escorted out a side doorway as court adjourned.
NY Post:
The detectives, who did not testify on their own behalf during the trial, could still face departmental charges, as could Lt. Gary Napoli, the supervisor in charge of the undercover unit the night of the shooting
Gescar Disnora
Michael Oliver
Marc CooperLabels: Court Date, No Justice No Peace, Sean Bell
posted by Lo at
11:19 AM
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