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Justice Arthur Cooperman was to deliver a verdict Friday morning in the closely watched case of Sean Bell, who was gunned down outside a Queens strip club where he was having a bachelor party. Three undercover detectives charged in the shooting chose to have the judge decide, rather than a jury.
If convicted of manslaughter and other charges, detectives Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver face up to 25 years in prison. Detective Marc Cooper, charged only with reckless endangerment, faces up to one year behind bars.
Bell, 23, was killed and two friends were seriously wounded early on the morning of Nov. 25, 2006
-- Bell's wedding day. The shooting sparked protests and raised questions about police firepower and undercover tactics.
Defense attorneys painted the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors sought to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business and that the officers were inept, trigger-happy aggressors.
"This F-Troop of a unit caused the death of an innocent man and caused the injury of two others," prosecutor Charles Testagrossa said, referring to the classic TV sitcom. "This was a slipshod operation, with no real planning."
Bell's fiancee, parents and their supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, have demanded that the officers be held accountable. Sharpton said he has sought to temper outrage over the shooting of three unarmed black men and let the trial take its course. Two of the three officers are black.
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 "We gave the city an opportunity to show that we would be a new city of fairness," he told reporters at City Hall earlier this week.
Even with an acquittal, authorities predict calm will prevail.
"We certainly don't expect violence," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The defendants, who were investigating reports of prostitution at the Kalua Cabaret, say they became alarmed when they heard Bell and his friends trade insults around the 4 a.m. closing time with another patron who appeared to be armed. In grand jury testimony, Isnora claimed that he overheard one of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, say, "Yo, go get my gun."
Isnora responded by trailing Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield to Bell's car. He insisted that he ordered the men to halt and that he and other officers began shooting only after Bell bumped him with his car and slammed into an unmarked police van while trying to flee.
Guzman and Benefield both played down the dispute outside the club. They also testified that they were unaware police were watching them and that the gunfire erupted without warning.
[Associated
Press; By TOM HAYS]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
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