I’ve been reading reports suggesting that the prosecutors work closely with the police department, and therefore were not interested in getting a conviction. If this is true, justice was betrayed before the trial began.

I don’t think this was an issue of race as 2 of the 3 officers are balck. However, 50 shots is WAY excessive and just crazy! I also think most judges are going to side with law enforcement officals. The detectives were smart to waiive their rights to have a jury trial

I agree with the lady that said 50 shots is murder. These are men that are in a car and they can’t get out. The police can hide behind cars or whatever, and take more shots if they feel in danger. To stand there and fire 50 shots on people trapped in a car, its like shooting ducks in a barrel. If this happened in canada, those police officers would have never seen the light of day. And the public would not let them get away witrh such an injustice…

White Man
Calgary, Alberta

Well, from what I have heard, Sean Bell was driving drunk and he almost ran over one of the cops while intentionally trying to hit him. If that’s not cause to shoot, I don’t know what is.

I’m tired of cops getting away with deadly mistakes. I was falsely accused of a felony and jailed for a month before it was discovered the cops made some very serious and costly mistakes. I never even got an apology from anyone in their department. Why is it that the hardest thing for humans to do is say they were wrong?

This is so disturbing for all involved, the victims, the families, the officers his lovely girls have lost from all accounts a wonderful young man, last but, not least the country!! That’s right our country!! I just hope for his family they can someday find comfort that they deserve as well as the officers!!!

Bravo CNN!

Your converage of Jeremiah Wright ’s NAACP speech was a service to all Americans, irrespective of our race, SES, political affiliation, or religious ideology. Finally an alternative interpretation of the American experience has been articulated in a very public forum at a time that some may find politically incovenient. Despite many political pundits’ and some citizens’ attempt to detract from the long standing issue of inequality in America, which continues to the present, by relying on fallacies that target the messenger while ignoring the message, Dr. Wright’s speech indisputably impresses upon all listeners the importance of examining our own values, especially as it relates to how we perceive “different” others. How one reacts to this message will be determined my one’s own needs or motives. If one seeks understanding, he or she will listen without prejudice and seek additional information about our society, all members of our society and not just individuals who look, behave, and believe as we do. On the other hand, if one seeks to villify the messenger and therefore forsake the message altogether, then this allows one to remain in his or her comfort zone, a zone that exists apart from the real world where facts are discarded for fanatsy. Hence, it is each of our responsibility to engage in introspection, asking ourselves if we are ready to face the truth, which runs counter to ethnocentrism and narcicism. The truth holds that although we can neither run from nor deny our past, we can learn from it and allow it to inform our present and future. True change only comes when we collectively work through the shame, pain, and frustration and learn to celebrate ourselves and others.