Three detective were acquitted Friday morning for the shooting death trial of Sean Bell in November 2006. The trial verdict caused an emotional outburst inside and outside of the courtroom.
State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman ruled that detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper bore no criminal responsibility for Bell's death or the wounding of his two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
"The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified" in shooting the victims, Cooperman said. "At times the testimony just didn't make sense."
Two of the three New York Police Department detectives involved in the shooting death of the unarmed Bell, who was killed in a barrage of gunfire outside a Jamaica, NY club just hours before his wedding in 2006, had faced a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted.
The three undercover detectives charged in the case elected to have a judge decide their fate, rather than a jury.
The trial took seven weeks to determine the fate of the officers in the death of Bell, a 23-year-old African-American male, who was killed in a 50-bullet hail of gunfire outside the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica in the early morning of Nov. 25, 2006.
Bell, whose first name is often misspelled as Shaun or Shawn, was there with his friends to celebrate his bachelor party, just hours before he was to be married.
Guzman and Benefield were shot and injured during the ordeal.
Oliver, 36, fired at the car Bell was in 31 times. Isnora, 29, fired 11 times, Cooper, 40, fired four. Police have said that during their undercover investigation of the Queens strip club, the officers believed someone in the group with Bell had gone to the car to get a gun.
However, no gun was found, prompting a racially-charged environment surrounding the case.
This is not the first time that the New York Police Department has been charged with the shooting death of a minority man.
Amadou Diallo was shot and killed in 1999 by four police officers in the Bronx, who claimed he was reaching for a gun when he attempt to pick up his wallet. The officers fired 41 rounds at Diallo. The incident made national news.
Timothy Stansbury was shot and killed in 2004 after a police officer shot him one time in the chest. Stansbury opened a rooftop door of his Brooklyn projects while officers were patrolling, prompting a startled officer to open fire.
In all cases, the police officers were acquitted.
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