Despite a lackluster prosecution, and the specter of both the prosecution and defense proposing lesser charges at the closing, some damning testimony was allowed to be heard.

Diallo, a 22-year-old Black worker from Guinea, was returning home to his apartment when four white New York cops gunned him down in a hail of 41 bullets. He was unarmed. His killing sparked massive street protests, including daily actions at police headquarters where some 1,200 people were arrested in acts of civil disobedience over the course of several months. There have been daily demonstrations outside the courtroom during the trial.

Of the 10 witnesses called, not one heard any of the undercover cops identify themselves before they opened fire on Diallo. The one eyewitness called by the defense testified that not only did the cops not identify who they were, but they kept firing even after Diallo had fallen to the ground mortally wounded. She was then declared a hostile witness by the defense.

The cops, in rehearsed testimony, blamed Diallo for acting suspiciously. Sean Carroll said Diallo would "peek out" of the apartment building then "slink back" in, saying the he may have been a lookout for robbers. Carroll claimed Diallo "just didn't want to listen" to the officers' polite requests to talk. When Diallo pulled his wallet from his pocket, Carroll claimed, "All I could see was the top slide of a black gun."

The killer cried on the stand, claiming he held Diallo, saying, "Don't die." Carroll was one of two cops who fired 16 shots.

Kenneth Boss, who fired five of the 41 shots, told the jury that Diallo was in a "combat stance" and that he, the cop, said to himself, "Oh, my God, I'm going to die."

Edward McMellon testified that as he approached Diallo before the shooting he said, "Sir, please, New York police. We need a word with you." Other cops repeated similar language that many--from lawyers, court officers, Diallo's neighbors on Wheeling Avenue, and other working people--found hard to believe.

After the cops finished telling their stories to the jury, the prosecution carried out a lackluster cross examination. They also chose not to cross examine the defense's last witness--a so-called police tactical expert who claimed that the shooting of Diallo was in accordance with police training.

One particularly glaring omission in the Bronx district attorney's prosecution was not raising the issue of race, a key factor in the entire incident. When the defense rested its case, the prosecutors asked that the jury be given the option of convicting the four cops on lesser charges than murder, including manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide. This means that if found guilty the cops may spend little or no time in jail.

In a further blow to the fight for justice for Diallo, Judge Joseph Teresi ruled that he will instruct the jury that the law allows on-duty police to use deadly physical force if they think their lives are in danger. He has also said that he will tell the jury that cops making an arrest have less of a duty to try to retreat before resorting to lethal violence than ordinary people do.

The four cops were members of the Street Crime Unit set up by the city government here. This unit is composed overwhelmingly of white plainclothes officers, who in the words of the New York Times, would "roam in unmarked cars searching for crimes and suspected robbers, rapists, and gunmen." In a concession to the earlier protests, the police agreed to add minorities to the squad and made the unit wear uniforms. The Times noted the unit "has been widely accused of stopping an inordinate number of Black and Hispanic citizens, many of whom tell of abuses by officers who might be mistaken for street toughs."

Glova Scott is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. Mike Galati is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers.  
 
 
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