Tag: Sean Bell
Posted on Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 09:16:42 AM EST
Tags: Sean Bell (all tags)
On his wedding day in Manhattan, Sean Bell was gunned down by 50 police bullets. Three New York police officers have been on trial for the past 8 weeks for manslaughter. Today, the judge acquitted them of all charges.
[Michael]Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and [Gescard]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.
[Marc]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.
The case was tried before Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman who decided the state didn't prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
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."
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