Posted on 04/29/2008 5:53:08 AM PDT by flowerplough
(Acquitted) Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, who is Black, and Michael Oliver, who is white, together faced more than 50 years of prison time on first- and second-degree-manslaughter charges, while Detective Marc Cooper, who is also Black, faced two counts of reckless endangerment.
... Justice Arthur Cooperman's verdict ... makes palpable the gravity of the prison pandemic facing Black men in America. All too often, we hear numbers that show more than one in every 15 Black men in the United States is incarcerated. We are inundated with images of Black men as the perpetrator, Black men in handcuffs.
But rarely are we reminded of the stories of Black men who have been victims of law enforcement. Rarely are we reminded of the stories of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who in 1997 was brutally assaulted and suffered rectal wounds after an officer tortured him in the bathroom of the 70th Precinct station house with a broomstick; or the story of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who, in 1999, died after police officers opened fire, spraying him with 41 bullets in the vestibule of his apartment building. Or even more recently, the case of Ousmane Zongo, an African art restorer who in 2003 was shot and killed by police officers during a warehouse raid, which police believed was the base of a counterfeit-CD operation. In each of these cases, some police officers directly involved received probation or had their charges overturned; their defense, simply, was that each felt his life was in danger.
For Judge Cooperman, apparently that was good enough.
Today, Sean Bell's name is added to that growing laundry list of Black men struck down in a hail of police gunfire. Tomorrow it may be mine.
(Excerpt) Read more at diversityinc.com ...
I’d sentence them...........to marksmanship class.
I didn’t know there was a gun in Bell’s car.
Yep, it could be the you, assuming you use your car as a deadly weapon to attack police officers.
Why does the article CAPITALIZE the color of those who are black (Black), but not the color of those who are white(white)? RACISM.
No known gun in Bell’s car. Detective Insnora saw passenger Guzman, who now has about 15 bullet holes in himself, reaching for something as Bell’s Nissan was re-ramming the cops’ car and began firing. Calamity ensued.
Oh. Another one of those.
Frankly, I'm tired of this tripe. If the guy was being a thug, looking to shoot up some dude in a club, hit a cop or a cop's vehicle with his and a firearm was found in the car, I'm sorry, he reaped what he hath sown. He'll be canonized by his boys, tattoos drawn up in his memory, etc., and the thug life will continue on ad nauseum.
Keep pandering to the sheeple, Reverend!
The press fails to mention key facts from the trial.
What we know about the innocent ‘victim’ Sean Bell.
1) Sean Bell had been arrest for illegal firearms possession in the past.
2) Sean Bell’s buddy in the car, Joseph Guzman, had spent considerable time in prison, including for an armed robbery in which he shot at his victim.
3) Witness say that Sean Bell tried to strike a police officer TWICE with his car.
4) Bell, 23, and his bachelor-party buddies exit the strip joint Club Kalua early that morning and proposition the woman as she talked to a man seated in an SUV.
The woman, a dancer named Trini Wright, “refused to go to a hotel with them where they wanted to have sex with her,” the court papers say. “I’m not doing you all,” Isnora heard Wright say to the guys. “I’ll do one or two, but not all.”
"According to a motion filed by the defense team, Detective Gescard Isnora said he saw Bell, 23, and his bachelor-party buddies exit the strip joint Club Kalua early that morning and proposition the woman as she talked to a man seated in an SUV.
The woman "refused to go to a hotel with them where they wanted to have sex with her," the court papers say.
An argument broke out, and the man in the SUV made several "unpleasant comments" to Bell's group, according to the documents.
Isnora said he heard Bell's pal Joseph Guzman yell, "Get my gun! Get my gun!" and Bell add, "Let's f- - - him up!"
Sanford Rubenstein, who represents Bell's would-be bride, Nicole Paultre-Bell, as well as Guzman and the third pal, Trent Benefield, dismissed the court papers as "pure fiction."
"First, there was a fourth man in the car," Rubenstein said, mocking the NYPD's initial claim that a gunman fled the scene.
No weapon was found in the car, nor was a fourth person found to be involved in the shooting.
But the motion outlines what it calls a "valid defense of justification" for the slaying of Bell, saying Isnora was "convinced" the men were "going to do a drive-by shooting" in front of the strip club.
The papers say Isnora "saw Guzman reach down toward his waistband" after the trio got into a Nissan Altima, and yelled, "Police! Don't move!"
The car lurched forward, hitting Isnora's leg, and stopped in front of a van driven by Detective Michael Oliver. It then backed up into a wall before accelerating forward again and hitting the van.
"Convinced that if Guzman ever got to raise that hand, Detective Isnora would see a gun in it, he yelled, 'Gun!' and, 'He's got a gun!' and began firing," the motion states.
Isnora, Oliver and the third cop, Marc Cooper, are due in Queens Supreme Court this week.
It will be the first chance Judge Arthur Cooperman has to act on the defense's motion to dismiss the indictment against the cops.
'Their previous appearances were clearly no big deal. [But] this one, something is going to happen, something,' one source said.
Rubenstein said, "A grand jury indicted these police officers, and they testified before the grand jury."
"We look forward to a jury in Queens hearing this case and doing justice."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09042007/news/regionalnews/bell_sex_shock.htm
________________________________________________________
BEFORE DEALING WITH THE BUSINESS AT HAND, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO HONOR THE DECORUM OF THE COURT AND REMAIN QUIET AFTER THE VERDICTS ARE RENDERED.
snip
BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT WAS AFFECTED BY A COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING FACTORS: THE PROSECUTION WITNESSES’ PRIOR INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS, INCONSISTENCIES IN TESTIMONY AMONG PROSECUTION WITNESSES, THE RENUNCIATION OF PRIOR STATEMENTS, CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS, THE INTEREST OF SOME WITNESSES IN THE OUTCOME OF THE CASE, THE DEMEANOR ON THE WITNESS STAND OF OTHER WITNESSES AND THE MOTIVE WITNESSES MAY HAVE HAD TO LIE AND THE EFFECT IT HAD ON THE TRUTHFULNESS OF A WITNESS’S TESTIMONY.
THESE FACTORS PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT PART IN THE PEOPLE’S ABILITY TO PROVE THEIR CASE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT AND HAD THE EFFECT OF EVISCERATING THE CREDIBILITY OF THOSE PROSECUTION WITNESSES. AND, AT TIMES, THE TESTIMONY JUST DIDN’T MAKE SENSE.
YET, IT WAS APPARENT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF THE PARTICIPANTS THAT THE CONFRONTATION THAT TOOK PLACE IN FRONT OF THE CLUB WAS HEATED. THE SUV OWNER, FABIO COICOU, GAVE THE IMPRESSION THAT HE HAD A GUN, CAUSING AT LEAST ONE OF THE GROUP TO THREATEN TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM HIM.
AND, THE COURT FINDS, ANOTHER THREAT WAS MADE BY JOSEPH GUZMAN TO RETRIEVE A GUN. AT THAT POINT, NOTHING OF A CRIMINAL NATURE HAD TAKEN PLACE. BUT, HAVING WITNESSED THAT PROVOCATIVE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN MR. COICOU AND THE GROUP, THE UNDERCOVER OFFICERS BECAME CONCERNED AND FOLLOWED THE GROUP AROUND THE CORNER TO LIVERPOOL STREET.
DEFENDANT ISNORA APPROACHED THE NISSAN ALTIMA INTO WHICH MR. GUZMAN AND SEAN BELL, TWO OF THE MORE ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN THE HEATED EXCHANGE, ENTERED.
THE ALTIMA, WHICH WAS DRIVEN BY MR. BELL, SPED AWAY FROM ITS PARKED POSITION, STRUCK DEFENDANT ISNORA AND COLLIDED HEAD ON WITH THE POLICE VAN THAT HAD ENTERED LIVERPOOL STREET. THE ALTIMA THEN WENT INTO REVERSE, BACKED UP ON TO THE SIDEWALK, STRUCK A GATE AND THEN WENT FORWARD AND TO THE RIGHT, STRIKING THE POLICE VAN AGAIN. AS THIS WAS HAPPENING, DEFENDANT ISNORA -- WHO TESTIFIED IN THE GRAND JURY --OBSERVED MR. GUZMAN, THE FRONT PASSENGER, MOVE HIS BODY AS IF HE WERE REACHING FOR A WEAPON. DEFENDANT ISNORA YELLED, “GUN” AND FIRED.
OTHER OFFICERS, INDICTED AND UNINDICTED, JOINED IN FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS ON THE STREET.
THE COURT HAS FOUND THAT THE INCIDENT LASTED JUST SECONDS. THE OFFICERS RESPONDED TO PERCEIVED CRIMINAL CONDUCT; THE UNFORTUNATE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR CONDUCT WERE TRAGIC.
THE POLICE RESPONSE WITH RESPECT TO EACH DEFENDANT WAS NOT PROVED TO BE CRIMINAL, I.E. BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. QUESTIONS OF CARELESSNESS AND INCOMPETENCE MUST BE LEFT TO OTHER FORUMS.
ALTHOUGH THERE WERE ASPECTS OF DEFENSE TESTIMONY THAT WERE NOT NECESSARILY CREDIBLE, THE FOCUS MUST BE ON THE PEOPLE’S PROOF TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY HAVE SATISFIED THEIR BURDEN OF PROVING THE DEFENDANTS GUILTY BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.
TO THE EXTENT THAT THE DEFENSE OF JUSTIFICATION WAS APPLICABLE TO THE CHARGED
CRIMES, COUNTS 1, 2, 3, 4 IN PART, 5 IN PART, 6, 7, AND 8, THE PEOPLE HAVE NOT PROVED, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, THAT EACH DEFENDANT WAS NOT JUSTIFIED IN THE ACTIONS THAT EACH TOOK.
WITH RESPECT TO COUNTS 4 AND 5, TRENT BENEFIELD, WHOSE CREDIBILITY WAS SERIOUSLY IMPEACHED, TESTIFIED THAT HE WAS SHOT WHILE RUNNING DOWN LIVERPOOL STREET. FORENSIC EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATED OTHERWISE. THUS, ALTHOUGH THE JUSTIFICATION DEFENSE WOULD NOT HAVE APPLIED TO THAT ASPECT OF COUNTS 4 AND 5, IT WAS NOT PROVED BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.
ACCORDINGLY, THE COURT FINDS EACH DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY OF EACH OF THE RESPECTIVE COUNTS IN THE INDICTMENT OF WHICH THEY WERE CHARGED.
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/bell_verdict_statement.pdf
From the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party, parent org behind World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime, their "Mission Statement":
"Create Public Opinion, Seize Power! We are preparing minds and organizing forces for the time when there is a major crack in the system, whenever it comes and wherever it comes from: an opening that makes it possible to bring the future Revolutionary Army of the Proletariat (R.A.P.) into the field and wage a revolutionary armed struggle that actually has a chance of winning. And we have said that building our party itself is the most important part of organizing forces for revolution. This is true now, and it is true looking forward to the creation of that future R.A.P. and the waging of that armed struggle. ":
http://revcom.us/a/v20/1000-1009/1000/barw.htm
And...
"Throughout its history, one of RCP's principal objectives has been to foment civil unrest in the United States. The most notable example of such efforts occurred on April 29, 1992, when RCP members looted and trashed the downtown and government districts of Los Angeles, triggering the infamous Rodney King riots. During the days immediately preceding the violence, RCP -- which maintained close ties to the L.A. gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods -- had circulated throughout South Central Los Angeles a leaflet featuring a statement by RCP National Spokesman Carl Dix, titled 'It's Right To Rebel' -- a quote popularized by Mao Zedong.
Encouraged by Dix, RCP activists helped lead the riots that would leave 58 people dead, more than 2,300 people injured, some 5,300 buildings burned, and $1 billion in property damaged or destroyed. On the ten-year anniversary of the rioting, RCP member Joseph Veale fondly recalled the violence as 'the most beautiful, the most heroic civil action in the history of the United States.'"
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6197
From David Horowitz's
FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org
Profile: World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime (WCW):
*Revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration
*Organizes college and high-school students
*Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7213
On Oct 5, 2006, Democrat Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr, *gave a speech* to the World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime organization!
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3114&Itemid=243
Finally, here's the Revolutionary Communist Party (see link) boasting of a FULL PAGE 'World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime' ad of theirs which appeared in the New York Slimes. (either "rwor.org" or "revcom.us" takes you to the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party).
The NY Times has since allowed several additional full-page RCP/WCW ads.
Article title: "Who Hated the Bush Ad"
http://www.rwor.org/a/028/who-hated-bush-ad.htm
"rarely"?
I would beg to differ.
The press never shuts up about it!
Shades of Chris Rock’s famous (and somewhat profane) video, “How to Not Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police”.
Lets see where he went wrong:
Didn’t stop immediately
Didn’t STFU
Wasnt polite
Had a crazy friend(s)
Didn’t get a white friend
According to Rock’s rules he deserved an Azz kicking.
But sadly, now it's only a dream, eh?
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