January 8, 2008
Sean Bell Shooting Cops Want Trial Out of Queens
The three police officers facing trial for the November 2006 shooting of an unarmed man are requesting to their trial moved from Queens. Lawyers for Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper claim they won't be able to get a fair trial in Queens, blaming media attention for "incurably poison[ing]" any potential jury pool.
On November 25, 2006, Sean Bell was having a bachelor party with friends on the eve of his wedding. When he and two friends left Club Kalua, a strip club in Queens - where police happened to be conducting an undercover operation - they were followed by police. Chaos ensued (police say they identified themselves, Bell's friends say they didn't know they were police) and fifty shots were fired, killing Bell and wounding his friends. The incident raised questions about police shooting guidelines, undercover operations, and police-community relations.
Last March, Oliver and Isnora were indicted on manslaughter charges; Cooper faces reckless endangerment charges. Defense lawyers pointed to a poll they commissioned, which "shows that 83% of black potential jurors think the shooting was unjustified," leading one of the lawyers to say, "Many have already decided that there is nothing more to consider and that the police are necessarily guilty of some crime." The head of the Detectives Endowment Association Michael Palladino said,"The negative publicity and the antics of Al Sharpton and others have created a situation where the right to a fair trial is in jeopardy."
The motion was filed with the Appellate Court, which had previously moved the Amadous Diallo shooting trial from the Bronx. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said he wants the trial in his borough, "Nothing contained in the defendants' motion papers changes my belief that a fair and impartial jury can be found among the 2.3 million residents of Queens County." The Reverend Al Sharpton also said the attempt to move the trial was "outrageous."
Photograph from a March 2007 rally by Justin T. Shockley on Flickr
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For the record:
Sean Bell had been arrested three times, twice for crack cocaine drug dealing (both times to undercover cops) and once for illegal firearms possession.
Joseph Guzman has been arrested nine times for drugs and firearms.
Trent Benefield was arrested three times before the shooting for drugs and illegal firearm possession. And then twice last summer (2007) for being involved in a gambling ring and beating his girlfriend...
All of this will brought up at the trial especially if Guzman and Benefield testify, which they will.
As a person of color that has dutifully respected the law throughout his life, yet still had to deal with harassment from the police for no good reason time and time again..they should have to stay in Queens.
Oh did I mention I'm a son of law enforcement too?
You reap what you sow.
blah blah blah, if the jury pool is tainted, move the trial.
This thing has to be moved out of Queens. There's no two ways about it.
The officers were only indicted to prevent riots, they will be exonerated (but only outside of Queens).
Besides, it's very common to move high-profile, highly publicized cases to another location, no matter what the circumstances of the case are.
EdEx, What was the criminal history of the bystander in the AirTran terminal ducking for cover to avoid being hit by one of 50 9mm rounds fired that morning ????
JMZ: well, did he get hit?
I agree this trial must be moved to another venue outside of NYC. The pedigree of the victims of the shooting is irrelevant. It boils down to whether the cops were justified. The media coverage of the incident was excessive to my tastes, and some, not all, elements of the media come off as biased against the cops. Further, the rallies by Sharpton and others only serve to inflame, and they have tainted the community pool, so that the perception is that the cops are some sort of kill squad. A total fallacy propoagated by total frauds who enrich themselves under the banner of social justice. I recommend to the defense team the Albany Hilton; it is a nice hotel.