Sean Bell Trial

Sean Bell was killed by police officers on November 25, 2006, outside a Queens, New York strip club where he had been having his bachelor party on the night before his wedding.

An undercover detective at the party said that he believed Bell was going to his car to retrieve a gun. When ordered to put his hands up, Bell allegedly attempted to drive away, hitting an unmarked police vehicle. Police fired 50 shots, killing Bell and wounding two other men, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. An autopsy revealed that Bell's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit of intoxication, but no gun was ever found.

Three police officers, Michael Oliver, Gescard F. Isnora, and Marc Cooper were indicted on March 17, 2007. Oliver and Isnora were charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and assault, and Cooper was charged with reckless endangerment.

On April 25, 2008, all three officers were acquitted on all charges. Justice Arthur Cooperman of the State Supreme Court delivered the verdict, stating that guilt could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The family was escorted out of the courthouse by Reverend Al Sharpton without comment.

The not guilty verdict came as a shock to many. Nicole Paultre, who changed her name after the incident to Nicole Paultre Bell, bolted from the courtroom after the verdict was read. Reverend Al Sharpton said that this was not just a "miscarriage of justice" but an "abortion of justice".

1. Cooper: "I want to say sorry to Bell family for the tragedy"
2. Isnora: Thanked judge "for his fair and accurate decision today"
3. Oliver: praised judge for "for a fair and just decision."
4. Leroy Gadsden, NAACP: ""This case was not about justice...This case was about the police having a right to be above the law. If the law was in effect here, if the judge had followed the law truly, these officers would have been found guilty."