Police Shooting Trial Begins

New York, NY —

The trial of the 3 police officers charged in the death of Sean Bell is underway, in Queens State Supreme Court.

WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more on the upcoming deliberations, pitting the district attorney's office against lawyers representing the police.

It's been exactly 15 months since Sean Bell was killed and immortalized as the "50-shots" victim.

Bell's family and friends plan to hold an outdoor prayer vigil just before the trial starts, but within the courtroom, the emotions are likely to be reined in.

This will be a bench trial, meaning that there won't be a jury to play to - only Judge Arthur Cooperman, a 20-year veteran of the court.

Attorney Michael Hardy represents some of the victims, and says Cooperman is both fair and strict.

HARDY: And certainly has the experience and the demeanor to be able to control a courtroom with regard to this kind of high profile case, and the types of people and egos that tend to gravitate to these kinds of proceedings.

Much of the outrage over this case has stemmed from the sheer number of shots fired that night, and the fact that Bell and his 2 friends weren't armed.

But Professor Brian MacNamara of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice says the prosecution has a much higher threshold to cross. Especially if the defense argues that the victims were not fleeing the scene, but attacking the officers in their moving car, and may have been armed.

MACNAMARA: I think it's significant, because the judge is going to have to put himself in the position of the police officer at the time they were there. Did they reasonably believe their lives were threatened and therefore justified the use of physical force?

Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora fired 42 of the 50 shots that night. They face up to 25 years in prison.

The 3rd man, Detective Marc Cooper, faces up to a year in prison.

As many as 50 witnesses are expected to testify in this trial. The lead witness this morning will be Nicole Paultre-Bell, who was set to get married to Sean Bell the day he died.

For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.