Three NYPD Officers Cleared In 50-Shot Death Of Groom:

NEW YORK - Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including victim Sean Bell's fiancee and parents, and at least 200 people gathered outside the building.

The verdict provoked an outpouring of emotions: Bell's fiancee immediately walked out of the room. His mother cried. Gasps were heard throughout the room. Shouts of "No!" and "Not guilty!" erupted in the crowd outside the courthouse, and dozens of people began crying.

Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 — his wedding day — as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends.

Not quite sure why my friend Al Sharpton was there as two of the accused officers were African Americans. Outside the courtroom, complete chaos as large groups of supporters wander around aimlessly. The 'demeanor of the witnesses' is what led to the acquittal. The judge in this case had to take the word of NYPD officers with clean records over club-going hoodlums with criminal records. Al Sharpton is going to have a field day with this one.

Stay tuned...

Snipes Has Been Sentenced To 3 Years In Tax Fraud Case:

OCALA, Fla. -- Wesley Snipes was sentenced to 36 months in prison, Thursday.

Snipes was convicted of three misdemeanor charges for not filing his taxes. Three years was the maximum sentence allowed.

Snipes’ defense team spent the morning arguing that he should not have to go to prison.

Three years for misdemeanors? The punishment seems a bit hefty in this case. The government clearly wanted to make an example out of Snipes. And Snipes will spend the next 36 months thinking about that example. It all seems a bit steep for a victimless crime, no?

416 Children, 400+ Lawyers, Can The Court System Handle This?:

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A court hearing to decide the fate of the 416 children swept up in a raid on a West Texas polygamist sect descended into farce Thursday, with hundreds of lawyers in two packed buildings shouting objections and the judge struggling to maintain order.

The case — clearly one of the biggest, most convoluted child-custody hearings in U.S. history — presented an extraordinary spectacle: big-city lawyers in suits and mothers in 19th-century, pioneer-style dresses, all packed into a courtroom and a nearby auditorium connected by video.

At issue was an attempt by the state of Texas to strip the parents of custody and place the children in foster homes because of evidence they were being physically and sexually abused by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon splinter group suspected of forcing underage girls into marriage with older men.

It looks like the entire hearing was a waste of time. I know we shouldn't rush to judgement in these early phases of the trial but it doesn't look good. I honestly wonder if the state got in over it's head here. How do you maintain order with more than 400 lawyers objecting to everything under the sun? They need to break this entire case up into groups of ten or less. That way, it would be much easier to keep the proceedings on track. I'll keep an eye on this but I can already see the entire case descending into chaos. Which, strangely enough, is exactly what the polygamists want to happen.