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April 25, 2008 A tense scene at the Queens courthousePosted: 05:02 PM ET
NEW YORK – From the moment I arrived at the Queens County Courthouse, I knew tensions were high and emotions were volatile. The verdict was about to be announced in the Sean Bell case. This is the case in which a 23-year-old groom-to-be was shot dead by New York Police detectives November 25, 2006. Bell was concluding his bachelor party in those early morning hours when 50 shots came from the guns of five police detectives. Three of those detectives had been charged, and two of the three, if convicted, could have been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The officers said those bullets were justified because they reasonably believed that Bell's friend had a gun and would use it on them. Now, after a lengthy trial, Judge Arthur Cooperman was to deliver the verdict. He presided at a "bench trial" because the defendant detectives gave up their right to a jury trial and asked for a judge to determine their guilt or innocence. A few minutes after 9 a.m., people started running out of the courthouse, screaming, "Not guilty!" Hundreds of supporters for Bell and his friends voiced their objections to the verdict through protests that got very loud as I was doing my live shots. Law enforcement officers circled the courthouse, forming a security base in case emotions ran too high. They did not. Protesters remained peaceful. When Bell's fiancee and family left the courthouse, supporters followed them as they made their way to Bell's gravesite. Once again, we see a family that has lost a son, a fiancee who lost her future husband, police officers who said they reasonably believed that they were in danger themselves and a very experienced judge who looked at the facts and the law to render his verdict. – Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent Filed under: Uncategorized |
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