Photograph of Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver by Dima Gavrysh/AP Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper, who were acquitted of all charges in the Sean Bell shooting trial, spoke at a press conference this afternoon. Detectives Oliver and Isnora thanked Judge Cooperman for his "fair" decision (Isnora also, per City Room, "thanked God, his family, his lawyers"). Detective Cooper, who was only charged with reckless endangerment, said, "I'd like......

Detective Michael Oliver, the undercover cop who fired 31 times at Sean Bell in the fatal November 2006 shooting, told a grand jury last year, "I didn't want to die. I reloaded the gun, and I continued to fire." The 14-year NYPD veteran's testimony was entered into evidence in the trial where he and fellow detective Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges; detective Marc Cooper faces reckless endangerment. Bell, who was to be married hours later,......

A police detective detailed photographing the aftermath of the Sean Bell shooting as prosecutors entered 80 photographs into evidence. The Post called the photos "horrific" and "grisly," as many showed blood on the car's seats and police-fired bullets riddled in the side of the car. They caused Bell's mother Valerie Bell to look away while Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultrie Bell "showed no emotion, but occasionally shook her head." One of now-retired detective Dave Rivera's photographs......

Undercover detective Hispolito Sanchez testified for a second day, with prosecutors playing the 911 call he made on November 25, 2006, the night police fatally fired at Sean Bell 50 times. Sanchez's colleagues detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard face manslaughter charges while detective Marc Cooper faces reckless endangerment charges in the bench trial at the Queens courthouse. Sanchez, who did not fire any of the 50 shots at Sean Bell or his friends, heard but......

Photograph of protesters outside the Sean Bell shooting trial in Queens by Gary He/AP; the protesters are holding signs counting down the 50 shots fired Under intense scrutiny from the community and media, the trial of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man started today. Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges while Detective Mark Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment in the 2006 death of Sean Bell,......

Above, from left, Detectives Marc Cooper, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora; below, photograph of Bell, Paultre-Bell and one of their daughters The three undercover police detectives facing trial in the death of Sean Bell waived their right to a jury trial, after unsuccessfully attempting to move the trial out of Queens. Bell was killed early on the morning of his wedding, as he left the Kalua stripclub in Queens with friends. They had been......

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......

Beginning at 10:30PM last night and through 5AM this morning, family, friend and other supporters gathered in Queens to remember Sean Bell, the 25-year-old man who was shot by undercover police the night before his wedding a year ago. Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre-Bell, told the crowd, "I want justice, but no matter what happens, it won't bring Sean back." The Reverend Al Sharpton, who also attended the overnight vigil, said, "This time a year ago,......

Lawyers for the detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, the three police officers indicted in the fatal November shooting of Sean Bell, demanded that prosecutors turn over evidence in the case. The NY Times reports their lawyers feel that the prosecutors are withholding evidence:“It’s like having the fox guarding the chicken coop,” [Karasyk] said. Late in April, prosecutors handed over 2,100 pages of evidence in Mr. Bell’s shooting, as well as videotapes and......

The three police officers indicted in the shooting death of unarmed Queens resident Sean Bell will be headed to the Queen County courthouse today, and police presence will be increased. The lawyers for the three detectives, Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, will be discussing issues such as change of venue, but a number of threats against the trio, including what WABC 7 describes as a "high ranking gang member" threatening to "have an......

Det. Marc Cooper is being accused of and sued for beating a man as he arrested him in another club the month before the Sean Bell shooting. Cooper has already been indicted on reckless endangerment charges related to the four shots he fired out of fifty total in the Bell incident. The latest complaint alleges that Cooper manhandled Michael Blakey and Earnest Ellison as he arrested them for selling marijuana in Queens' Club Amazura in......

The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been representing the family of police shooting victim Sean Bell, weighed in about the taxi driver who Bell shooting cop Michael Oliver allegedly assaulted 12 years ago. Sharpton held a press conference, where he said that revelations about Oliver show that's he's "inappropriate at best, and biased and racist at worst." Oliver allegedly told immigrant Moussa Ndiyae "I don't know what you're doing here. I'm going to send you......

The Daily News has an exclusive story in today's paper about '31-Shot Cop' Michael Oliver that spared no manpower digging into the indicted detective's past and present. Six(!) staff writers contributed to a story that paints an unflattering portrait of its subject, including details of a then-rookie Oliver assaulting a black cab driver, insinuations that he parties too much, and the possibility that he may be in violation of a state-residency rule for NYPD cops.......

The NY Post reveals what many people were wondering in the Sean Bell shooting: Who fired the shots that actually killed Bell and hit his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield. It turns out Detective Michael Oliver fired the shots. Oliver fired the most shots, 31, of the detectives and was charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter last week. The other detective charged with manslaughter, Gescard Isnora, fired 11 times, but didn't hit anything. However,......

With three police detectives indicted and lawyers getting ready for a trial in the Sean Bell shooting, here are some related stories: Detective Marc Cooper, who was indicted on two counts of reckless endangerment, may ask for a separate trial. Cooper fired four shots, many fewer than the 31 and 11 from Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, respectively. His lawyer tells the Daily News, "Severing the case is something we will consider." A lawyer......

Three detectives were charged in the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell outside a Queens nightclub, and all three pleaded not guilty. Two of the police officers, Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, face serious charges that include first-degree and second-degree manslaughter (it was originally thought they would only face second-degree manslaughter), while Detective Marc Cooper faces charges of reckless endangerment. When asked how he would plea, Isnora's lawyer Philip Karasyk said, "Not guilty......

At 7AM, the three detectives indicted in the shooting of Sean Bell last November turned themselves. WNBC reports that Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper will be fingerprinted and processed before their arraignment this afternoon. The grand jury came to a decision last Friday, but said it would wait until today to make the official announcement. However, news of the indictments got out when defense lawyers for the cops involved found out whether their......

Yesterday afternoon, demonstrators protested the Queens grand jury indictments of three police officers in the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell. Marchers, who walked from Union Square to 1 Police Plaza, were upset that only three of the five officers who shot at Bell and his two friends, all of them unarmed, were indicted. And there's a little dissonance between the coverage in the Daily News and Post about Detective Michael Oliver, who fired 31......

Yesterday, a grand jury decided to indict three detectives in the shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man who had been celebrating the night before his wedding day at a Queens nightclub. The charges were manslaughter for Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver and reckless endangerment for Marc Cooper. Isnora fired the first shot, one of 11 he eventually fired, while Oliver fired the most, 31 rounds. Cooper fired 4 times; in total, the......

Update: The NYPD will have to be on alert on Monday now? Earlier, WNBC reported that the grand jury investigating the fatal police shooting of Sean Bell has reached a verdict but will wait until Monday to release it. But now a defense lawyer says the jury voted to indict three of the detectives involved: Michael Oliver who fired 31 shots, Gescard F. Isnora who fired the first of 11 shots, and Marc Cooper.......

Yesterday, Detective Michael Oliver was the final police officer to testify in front of a Queens grand jury. The jury will determine whether criminal charges should be brought against the NYPD for firing 50 shots at three unarmed men, killing Sean Bell on the day before his wedding. Oliver, who had been undercover at the same Queens strip club Bell was celebrating his bachelor party, fired 31 of the 50 shots (which means he......

The NYPD released photographs of four of the five police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell last November. The NY Times says the photos were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request (the photograph of the fifth officer, the one who fired the first shot, was not released, due to his undercover status). This gave Detectives' Endowment Association president Michael J. Palladino opportunity to say, "The photos of......

The NYPD released its preliminary report about the shooting on November 25 which left Sean Bell dead and Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield injured. The NY Times got a copy of the report and has an in-depth article about the report and we found these points from the story intriguing and/or crazy:- [The report] includes no meaningful discussion of a fourth man, a mysterious figure who some in the Police Department have suggested may......

Ever since the Saturday police shooting outside a Queens club that killed one man and injured two others, there has been talk of a fourth man in the group. Police have claimed that the undercover officers shot at them because they feared the men were armed, but no weapons were found on the men or in their car. The officers on the scene have insisted a fourth man in a beige jacket was near......

As the Queens DA investigates a confrontation between undercover police officers and three unarmed men that led to one of the men's deaths, the story from the officers seems to be that they did identify themselves as police. A lawyer for the detective who opened fire at the men's car spoke to the Daily News. Philip Karasyck said, "This cop screamed, 'Police!' and he had his shield out." The car clipped the officer, and then......