Mar 16, 2007 8:15 am US/Eastern
Sean Bell Grand Jury Resuming Deliberations
New Witness Contradicts Officers' Testimony
by Magee Hickey
QUEENS (CBS) ―
A Queens grand jury is back to work Friday, deliberating whether to charge five police officers in death of Sean Bell. They were interrupted yesterday, when a last-minute witness showed up to testify.
Lawyers for the five NYPD officers at first predicted that the new witness, Queens janitor Roberto Manaya, would clear the cops. He was expected to testify about a fourth man in Sean Bell's car who fired a handgun before disappearing into the night. But now, that might not be the case.
While grand jury testimony is secret, CBS 2 has learned that the witness's 45-minute appearance was not the expected bombshell, and actually contradicted the police officer's statements to the grand jury.
The Reverend Al Sharpton is questioning the new witness's credibility. Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, and the two men shot with Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, appeared at a vigil with Sharpton.
Sharpton, who has acted as a spokesman for the family of Sean Bell, said at a news conference that there's something "suspect" about a witness having a change of heart and then suddenly turning up at a police station instead of going to the prosecutor.
"Who determines what is credible, reckless or not?" Sharpton asked, adding that such testimony could taint the grand jury process. "Did he mislead investigators then? Or is he misleading investigators now?"
Sharpton said this new witness has tainted the process and might force the family and friends of Sean Bell to clam up.
"I am looking for justice," Nicole Bell said.
Michael Hardy, Guzman and Benefield's attorney, said, "Our clients do not want to cooperate with process that has been infected, lost integrity and that is a sham. It would be an insult to the memory of Sean Bell."
CBS 2 will bring you the grand jury's decision as soon as it happens.
