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Vol. 72/No. 12      March 24, 2008

 
N.Y. cops begin trial
for killing Black youth
(front page)
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
NEW YORK—After a 15-month wait, the trial of three cops charged in the killing of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old African American, began February 25 at the State Supreme Court in Queens.

Protesters rallied outside the courthouse that day, chanting “Justice for Sean Bell!” Many of them carried numbered signs from one to 50, referring to the number of police bullets fired at Bell, who together with his two wounded friends were unarmed. Some demonstrators told the media that they plan to be out there every day of the trial proceedings.

Five undercover cops gunned down Bell on Nov. 25, 2006, while he together with Trent Benefield, 23, and Joseph Guzman, 31, were sitting in Bell’s car outside a night club in Jamaica, Queens. Bell had gone there to celebrate his bachelor party hours before his scheduled wedding later that day. Both Benefield and Guzman were seriously wounded.

In March a grand jury voted to indict three of the cops. Detectives Gerscard Isnora, who fired 11 shots, and Michael Oliver, who fired 31 times, were charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter. Detective Marc Cooper, who fired four shots, was charged with reckless endangerment. Cops Michael Carey, who fired three times, and Paul Headley, who fired once, face no charges and are not on trial.

Claiming prejudicial pretrial publicity, the policemen demanded that their trial be moved outside of New York City. On January 23 an Appeals Court judge rejected the request. The cops waived their right to a jury trial. The case is being presented before Queens State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman.

Among those testifying on the second day of the trial was Marseilles Payne, 32, a medical assistant who at the time of the shooting worked as a dancer at the night club. Payne was standing across the street and was an eyewitness to the cop’s assault on Bell and his friends. She said she saw a black minivan belonging to the cops crash into Bell’s car. “The driver of the minivan, he got out and started shooting. He was standing in front of the minivan and he started shooting,” she said, according to Reuters. Payne testified that she never heard the shooter identify himself as a police officer.

The same fact was also stated by Lt. Gary Napoli, the supervisor of the undercover cop unit on the scene that night. He testified February 29 that he never heard any of the cops identify themselves as police officers before opening fire.  
 
 
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