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Mayor: No need to move Bell trial

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO | anthony.destefano@newsday.com; Staff writer Emi En

March 21, 2007

Mayor Michael Bloomberg waded back into the furor surrounding the fatal Sean Bell shooting yesterday when he appeared to side with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown's view that the case doesn't need to be transferred out of the city because of pretrial publicity.

"[The] District Attorney is the one that will make the decision as to whether or not there is a need for a change in venue and he does not," Bloomberg said.

In reality, it's the court's call.

Widespread publicity, including Bloomberg's earlier remarks that he thought the 50 shots fired by cops were excessive, has pushed the case close to the point where the three indicted officers could make a strong argument for moving the trial, said a prominent law professor and author.

"It is probably on the border," said Professor Abe Abramovsky of Fordham University School of Law about the public atmosphere. "I would say it is not quite as prejudicial as [Amadou] Diallo, but it is a little too early to call because they [the cops] were just indicted. "

More demonstrations led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, particularly outside the courthouse in Queens, could tip the balance, he said.

Noted First Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus of Manhattan thinks the Bell case is ripe for a change of venue request right now.

"I think it is there," said Garbus, citing the media atmosphere.

Garbus said that the passage of time might lessen the impact of media coverage. But if the potential jury pool winds up being predominately black, Garbus thought the defense should ask for a change.

Any request for a change of venue would be made by the defense to the courts very close to trial. Brown said he would oppose such a move. Defense attorneys for the three officers - detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, and Officer Marc Cooper - said they are studying the law about moving a trial.

Sharpton has been defiant about any attempt to move the case from Queens.

"We will not participate in or cooperate with a trial outside of Queens County," said Sharpton after Monday's arraignment of the three police officers.

He couldn't be reached yesterday.

A notable change of venue was in the trial of four cops charged in the 1999 killing of West African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was fatally shot in a barrage of 41 rounds. In 1999 the appellate division in Manhattan found that a "tidal wave" of publicity would prevent the officers from getting a fair trial in the Bronx. The case was moved to Albany, where the officers were acquitted.

In 1982 Garbus won a ruling from the appellate division in Brooklyn, which covers Queens, which moved the trial of Brink's robbery suspect Kathy Boudin from Rockland County to nearby Orange County. Boudin was convicted of murder and robbery and sent to prison. She later was pardoned.

Staff writer Emi Endo contributed to this story.