A Just Verdict

There has been a tremendous amount of criticism of Judge Arthur Cooperman’s verdict in the trial of acquitting the police officers charged with homicide and reckless endangerment in the shooting of Sean Bell. While I did not follow the trial religiously, I do think it was fair and just verdict. Don’t get me wrong, the death of Sean Bell was neither fair nor just. It was a mistake and a tragedy and the police were most likely negligent, but negligence does not equal murder.

Legally, it didn’t matter whether Sean Bell had a gun or not, the question was whether it was reasonable for the police to believe he had one. The prosecution’s burden was to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers did not have a good faith belief they were in danger. Police officers accused of crimes are entitled to the same constitutional and procedural rights as other defendants.

The acquittal may not be the end of it however. As Newsday reports:

Also yesterday, a group of black leaders gathered at the Harlem headquarters of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and said they are hoping to meet with the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. They are urging the federal agency to investigate and prosecute the officers involved in the shooting. After the acquittal was announced Friday, the Justice Department said it would review the case to see whether any federal civil rights statutes were violated.

Prosecuting the officers under Federal Civil Rights laws would be wrong, a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitutions prohibition against Double Jeopardy. It is one thing to allow a second federal prosecution in cases where the first prosecution was a sham, such as a occurred in the South in the 1960’s when whites who assaulted or murdered African-Americans were acquitted by all white juries or only half-heartedly prosecuted by white district attorneys. But there was nothing “unfair” about how this trial was conducted. The problem is that the verdict is unpopular.