Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman, 74, has just ruled that there was insufficient evidence to find three New York police officers accused in the Sean Bell shooting murder trial.More pictures, video and details under the hood...
Prior convictions by the victims and his boys, credibility and demeanor issues with the prosecution witnesses, and a reasonable fear for the officer's safety where all the factors that the court stated was the basis for its decision. The reaction was strong, immediate, and combative, with Nicole Bell bolting out the courtroom saying "I've got to get outta here!!!"
A no-nonsense jurist who once threatened to eject a rape victim from his courtroom for crying too loudly, Cooperman decided that the three plain-clothes, undercover detectives accused in the slaying of Bell, shot in a hail of 50 bullets on Nov. 25, 2006 in Jamaica, were not guilty on ALL COUNTS!
Sean died the day the day of his wedding to Nicole Bell, who legally changed her name after his death and who is now raising her deceased fiance's two little girls by herself.
Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora were facing up to 25 years in the slammer for manslaughter. Marc Cooper was charged with reckless endangerment and faced up to a year. Two of the three officers are Black.
One of the most important bench-trial verdicts in the city's history, Cooperman is no stranger to cop trials.
In 1986, he presided over the trial of NYPD Sgt. Richard Pike and Officer Jeffrey Gilbert, convicted of torturing two teens with stun guns.
He denied a request to throw out the jury's verdict, calling it an "affront" to "honest and honorable police officers."
WATCH VIDEO OF THE CROWD REACTING 
Not that today's verdict has been rendered, will Bell supporters who previously promised peace be able to contain others who are outraged?
"Let us be the purveyors of peace so the oppressors will not rob of us our most vital resource, our young people," Father Darryl James said last night at Community Church of Christ, where the groom-to-be's funeral had been held. Pictured above after the verdict, William and Valerie Bell, Sean's parents.
Meanwhile, the Kalua strip club, where Bell, 23, had been celebrating his bachelor party, has already planned to shut down today now that the cops will go free. "The boss is worried that people will bum rush the place," a bouncer told The New York Post.
Court officials said other cases were postponed until after the verdict. [NY Post]