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House panel to host Sean Bell forum

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com

2:47 PM EDT, May 9, 2008

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Academics and politicians will join members of a federal judiciary panel at a public forum Monday to discuss police accountability and conduct nationwide in cases similar to the shooting death of Sean Bell.

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), will hold the noon forum at the Customs House in lower Manhattan, according to a news release from Conyers' office.

The forum will center on "pressing national issues of law enforcement accountability and strategies for ensuring improved policing and greater public confidence in the fairness of the response to tragedies such as the Sean Bell case," the release said.

Guest speakers include Deborah Ramirez, professor at Northeastern University; Chris Stone, professor at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government; Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Committee members - Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) -- will attend. Non-members, New York state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D- Queens) and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D- Far Rockaway) will also take part in the forum.

None of the committee members, including Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner (D- Forest Hills), who wasn't slated to attend, could immediately be reached for comment.

A spokesman for Conyers said he couldn't be reached because he was traveling.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was invited but it was unclear whether he will attend the forum.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been traveling in Europe this week, is to return Monday, but whether he would take part in the discussions wasn't immediately known.

On Nov. 25, 2006, an unarmed Bell, 23, was killed and two of his friends wounded outside a strip club in Jamaica, Queens, where three undercover officers fired 50 shots at the three men. It was Bell's wedding day.

State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman acquitted the three officers, saying the testimony of what transpired outside the club by the officers was more credible than the accounts of the victims.

The acquittals led to city-wide protests, with Bell supporters demanding federal prosecution against the officers.