Three New York City detectives, Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, were acquitted of all charges by Justice Arthur Cooperman in the shooting of Sean Bell.

Audio commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal

As previously reported, 50 rounds were fired at Bell and his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield as they left a strip club for his Bachelor party in late November of 2006. Guzman was shot at least 11 times while Benefield was hit 3 times. 31 Shots were fired by Detective Michael Oliver alone. All victims were unarmed.

Detective Gescard Isnora, who was cleared of manslaughter, assault, and reckless endangerment, thanked the “honorable Judge Cooperman for his fair and accurate decision.” Detective Michael Oliver praised Cooperman “for a fair and just decision” and had the nerve to attributed the verdict to Jesus Christ.

Leroy Gadsden, chair of the police/community relations committee of the Jamaica Branch NAACP, declared; “This case was not about justice. This case was about the police having a right to be above the law. If the law was in effect here, if the judge had followed the law truly, these officers would have been found guilty.”

Incorrectly equating justice with laws, Mayor Michael Bloomberg seemingly stated that the authority of the legal system must be accepted no matter how wrong it is. “America is a nation of laws, and though not everyone will agree with the verdicts and opinions issued by the courts, we accept their authority.”

When black presidential candidate Barack Obama was shamelessly asked by the corporate media for his reaction to the verdict, he played it safe by echoing Bloomberg’s cop out, stating that “we’re a nation of laws, and so we respect the verdict that came down”.

Prosecutors are conducting a review to determine whether there were any civil rights violations in Bell’s shooting.