Mar 3, 2008 12:46 pm US/Eastern
Sean Bell Manslaughter Trial Continues Monday
NEW YORK (AP) ―
A key question emerged after the first week of testimony in the trial of three detectives charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on his wedding day: Did the officers identify themselves before opening fire?
Though the detectives have long maintained that they opened fire only after one of them identified himself as a police officer,
their commanding officer testified that he never heard his men yell "Police!" or "Stop!"
On Monday, when the trial is scheduled to resume, it is likely that the question of whether the officers identified themselves will lie heavily on the court proceedings.
Lt. Gary Napoli's testimony was the first from a police officer to echo what other witnesses had said -- that on a confused Nov. 25, 2006, when 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed in a 50-bullet barrage, the detectives who opened fire outside the Kalua Cabaret never identified themselves.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora face manslaughter charges, while Detective Marc Cooper is charged with reckless endangerment. Napoli, 50, was not charged, but prosecutors say the lieutenant helped author a "tale of carelessness verging on incompetence."
Besides Napoli, the first week of testimony in the trial included eyewitness accounts from an exotic dancer at the club,
Bell's father and a strip club regular, Harold "Bones" James, who said he helped organize the bachelor party that brought Bell to the club with a group of friends.
Napoli told the New York Post Saturday that he was "able to block any outside emotion" when he testified in the trial.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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