Cops Acquitted in NYC Groom Shooting

Case 'revealed significant deficiencies' in undercover operations: critic

(NEWSER) - A New York judge yesterday cleared the detectives who fatally shot Sean Bell, but the NYPD is awaiting its own verdict, after the case provoked charges of shoddy undercover police work. The shooting “revealed significant deficiencies in supervision, tactical planning, communications and management accountability,” said the Queens district attorney. The case’s chief prosecutor added, “This was a slipshod operation.” More»

Bell's sweetheart says justice system failed after NYPD shooting

(NEWSER) - Sean Bell’s fiancé spoke out today, condemning the court for acquitting the men who shot her husband. “The justice system let me down,” Nicole Paultre Bell said. “April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again.” In her first public comments since yesterday’s verdict, Paultre Bell vowed to fight for another decision in the case, while Al Sharpton threatened to “shut the city down.” More»

He could face more than 20 years in prison

(AP) - Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, whose financial empire once spanned the Americas, was convicted today on all but one of the 14 counts he faced for allegedly bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme he operated for 20 years. Jurors reached their verdicts against Stanford during their fourth day of deliberation, finding him guilty on all charges except a single count of wire fraud. More»

(AP) - Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who became an outfitter to the stars and fought the federal government over claims he underpaid followers for church work, was convicted today in Arkansas of taking five girls across state lines for sex. The jury of nine men and three women found Alamo guilty of transporting girls as young as 9, in violation of a nearly century-old federal law. More»

Cosby launched conversation in 2004, journalist argues

(NEWSER) - The black community has already started the conversation Barack Obama wants, prominent conservative Myron Magnet writes in City Journal. Liberal icons Bill Cosby and Juan Williams have declared that it’s time for African Americans to take responsibility for their own destiny. They’re telling truths that have left black conservatives “unthinkingly ostracized as race traitors for breaking with orthodoxy” for decades. More»