Jan 17, 2008 1:01 pm US/Eastern
Prosecutors Fight Venue Change In Sean Bell Case
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell on Nov. 25, 2006. Detective Marc Cooper has pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment.
CBS
Prosecutors urged a judge Thursday not to move the trial of three detectives charged in the killing of an unarmed man hours before his wedding, saying it won't be hard to find fair jurors.
Defense lawyers are trying to get the case moved out of the city, arguing that the shooting received so much publicity it will be impossible to select jurors who don't already have an opinion on the case.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell on Nov. 25, 2006. Detective Marc Cooper has pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment.
Bell was killed in a barrage of 50 police bullets as he left his bachelor party. The shooting spurred protests and questions about police conduct.
Citing a private poll they commissioned, defense lawyers say more than 60 percent of some 600 prospective jurors said they believed the shooting was unjustified.
But Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in court papers that the defense has "failed to establish the existence of a tidal wave of prejudicial publicity."
"The publicity, while extensive, has been largely balanced, often quite favorable to the defense," he said.
The prosecution also said that even prospective jurors with "fully formed opinions" about the case "understand the difference between expressing an opinion in a poll and performing a duty in a courtroom."
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Feb. 4.
Bell was shot as he and two friends left a strip club where the
officers were conducting an undercover operation into prostitution allegations.
According to police union officials and defense lawyers, the undercover officers believed Bell and his friends were going to get a gun from his car. No weapons were found.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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