Apr 8, 2008 6:16 pm US/Eastern
Analysis: Benefield Recording Helps Both Sides
Says Det. Isnora Never Identified Himself, Just 'Started Shooting'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A photo of Sean Bell with his fiancee Nicole Paultre and one of his children is displayed at a memorial dedicated to the shooting victim on Nob. 28, 2006, in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. Sean Bell was killed and two friends wounded when New York City po
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
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Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges, while Detective Marc Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment in the Sean Bell shooting trial.
CBS
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A photo of Sean Bell with his fiancee Nicole Paultre and one of his children is displayed at a memorial dedicated to the shooting victim on Nob. 28, 2006, in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. Sean Bell was killed and two friends wounded when New York City po
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
The trial of the three detectives charged with shooting Sean Bell is almost over. The defense played its last piece of evidence -- an interview Trent Benefield made with police after he was shot in Bell's car. But as CBS 2 HD has learned, it contains passages that helped both the defense and the prosecution.
The lawyers for the three detectives on trial ended Tuesday by playing an audio tape of Benefield, one of the three men shot that night back in November, being interviewed by police as he was being treated for gunshot wounds at the hospital.
But the tape, made just 90 minutes after he was shot, seems to cut both ways, for the defense and also the Queens district attorney.
A plus for the detectives: contrary to what Benefield said on the witness stand (that he was shot in the street after he ran from the car), he says in the taped interview that he was shot inside Bell's car.
* Detective: "And you got shot while you were in the car, or as you were running out?"
* Benefield: "I got shot in the car. I felt it in the car. That's why I jumped out and started running."
A plus for the D.A. trying to put the cops away: on the tape, Benefield also says the man who started the shooting, who turned out to be Det. Jesse Isnora, never identified himself as a cop.
* Benefield: "He just pulled out and started shooting."
* Detective: "Where did he come from?"
* Benefield: "He was in front of the car."
* Detective: "Did he have a shield or anything?"
* Benefield: "No."
* Detective: "Did he identify himself in any way?"
* Benefield: "No."
The head of the detectives' union said Benefield's remarks could help the D.A., though he said it should not affect the judge.
"I guess it does a little bit," Michael Palladino said.
By the middle of next week, the judge could come back with his decision. And it might be that the officers are all innocent; or that some detectives are guilty of a few things. And others are not.
The D.A. called 50 witnesses. The defense, only six. And as CBS 2 HD first reported last week, none of the detectives took the witness stand.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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