Trial begun on the 25TH
NEW YORK — The Police Department undercover operation that culminated with the 50-shot barrage that killed an unarmed bridegroom was "haphazard at best," a prosecutor said Monday as three officers went on trial.
The hail of gunshots outside a strip club killed Sean Bell, who had been at a bachelor party on the night before his wedding, and wounded two of his friends. The shooting has sparked protests and debate over excessive force and police conduct in New York City.
Assistant District Attorney Charles Testagrossa said in his opening statement that one of the three undercover officers failed to display his badge and wait for backup before confronting the three men, and gave contradictory orders to Bell and his friends.
Testagrossa was referring to Detective Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 of the shots during the Nov. 25, 2006, incident.
The detectives waived their right to a jury trial after an appeals court turned down a defense bid to move the case out of New York City. State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman is hearing the case by himself.
Defense attorney James Culleton said in his opening: "While clearly this was a tragedy, no crime was committed."
Isnora and Detective Michael Oliver have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter; Detective Mark Cooper has pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment. Oliver fired 31 shots, including the one that killed Bell, and Cooper fired four times.
Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre-Bell, joined shooting victim Joseph Guzman and activist minister Al Sharpton in stopping to pray outside the courthouse.
Paultre-Bell was expected to be the first witness at the trial, and she has said she plans to be in court every day.
"I feel like I need to know. I need to know why this happened," said Paultre-Bell, who had her maiden name legally changed after her fiance's death. "I wake up one day and my world is turned upside down. I have to know why this happened; my family deserves to know."
Bell, 23, was killed Nov. 25, 2006, hours before he was to marry the mother of his two children. He and his friends were confronted by undercover officers investigating reports of drugs and prostitution.
Police union officials and defense lawyers have said the detectives believed Bell and his friends were going to get a gun, though no weapon was found. The officers opened fire after the car the three men were in lurched forward, bumped Isnora and slammed into an unmarked police minivan, authorities said.
Oliver and Isnora face up to 25 years in prison if convicted; Cooper faces up to a year on the lesser endangerment count.
The trial isn't expected to cause the kind of widespread outrage that occurred after the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant hit by 19 of the 41 shots fired by police. Many New Yorkers, especially blacks, felt then-Mayor Rudy Giulani wasn't compassionate enough about the Diallo case, and said the shooting spotlighted racist police practices. Thousands marched in protest after the white officers were acquitted.
In contrast, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in the days after Bell's death that he felt the shooting was "excessive." He was praised by residents but criticized by law enforcement for speaking out before the facts were in.
"The thing that's missing in this case is that level of vitriol for City Hall," said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The mayor and the police commissioner have credibility in the city, specifically in the black community."
Plus, while Bell and his friends were black, the officers involved are Hispanic, black and white.
"The police department is way more diverse now," O'Donnell said. "The old story of a bunch of white cops in an all-white department completely insensitive to the city is not true today."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
NEW YORK — The Police Department undercover operation that culminated with the 50-shot barrage that killed an unarmed bridegroom was "haphazard at best," a prosecutor said Monday as three officers went on trial.
The hail of gunshots outside a strip club killed Sean Bell, who had been at a bachelor party on the night before his wedding, and wounded two of his friends. The shooting has sparked protests and debate over excessive force and police conduct in New York City.
Assistant District Attorney Charles Testagrossa said in his opening statement that one of the three undercover officers failed to display his badge and wait for backup before confronting the three men, and gave contradictory orders to Bell and his friends.
Testagrossa was referring to Detective Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 of the shots during the Nov. 25, 2006, incident.
The detectives waived their right to a jury trial after an appeals court turned down a defense bid to move the case out of New York City. State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman is hearing the case by himself.
Defense attorney James Culleton said in his opening: "While clearly this was a tragedy, no crime was committed."
Isnora and Detective Michael Oliver have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter; Detective Mark Cooper has pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment. Oliver fired 31 shots, including the one that killed Bell, and Cooper fired four times.
Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre-Bell, joined shooting victim Joseph Guzman and activist minister Al Sharpton in stopping to pray outside the courthouse.
Paultre-Bell was expected to be the first witness at the trial, and she has said she plans to be in court every day.
"I feel like I need to know. I need to know why this happened," said Paultre-Bell, who had her maiden name legally changed after her fiance's death. "I wake up one day and my world is turned upside down. I have to know why this happened; my family deserves to know."
Bell, 23, was killed Nov. 25, 2006, hours before he was to marry the mother of his two children. He and his friends were confronted by undercover officers investigating reports of drugs and prostitution.
Police union officials and defense lawyers have said the detectives believed Bell and his friends were going to get a gun, though no weapon was found. The officers opened fire after the car the three men were in lurched forward, bumped Isnora and slammed into an unmarked police minivan, authorities said.
Oliver and Isnora face up to 25 years in prison if convicted; Cooper faces up to a year on the lesser endangerment count.
The trial isn't expected to cause the kind of widespread outrage that occurred after the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant hit by 19 of the 41 shots fired by police. Many New Yorkers, especially blacks, felt then-Mayor Rudy Giulani wasn't compassionate enough about the Diallo case, and said the shooting spotlighted racist police practices. Thousands marched in protest after the white officers were acquitted.
In contrast, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in the days after Bell's death that he felt the shooting was "excessive." He was praised by residents but criticized by law enforcement for speaking out before the facts were in.
"The thing that's missing in this case is that level of vitriol for City Hall," said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The mayor and the police commissioner have credibility in the city, specifically in the black community."
Plus, while Bell and his friends were black, the officers involved are Hispanic, black and white.
"The police department is way more diverse now," O'Donnell said. "The old story of a bunch of white cops in an all-white department completely insensitive to the city is not true today."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.