Prosecution Rests Case in Police Shooting

"I reloaded the gun and I continued to fire," Oliver said in the transcript, describing how he emptied two clips, containing 31 bullets, from his Sig Sauer pistol. "I didn't want to die," he said.

Detective Marc Cooper, who is charged with reckless endangerment, said he fired his Glock once, but prosecutors said ballistics evidence shows that he fired four times.

Two other officers -- Michael Carey, who reportedly fired three shots, and Paul Headley, who reportedly fired once -- were not charged.

Other witnesses have testified that they did not see or hear the detectives identify themselves as police. Jean Nelson, a friend of Bell's, testified on March 25 that he saw Isnora approach Bell's car and say, "Yo, let me holler at you," meaning he wanted to talk, and then saw Bell drive into him.

The weeks of testimony have underscored the difficulty of deriving precise answers about a series of events that occurred in the wee hours, after drinks, in an encounter driven by fear and ending in death.

Legal analysts say some variability is built into any trial involving multiple defendants, as was apparent in the Queens courtroom from the first day, when the defendants' attorneys gave separate opening statements reflecting their respective clients' distinct perspectives.

But most significant, say analysts, is that prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses -- from a pole dancer at Club Kalua to police officers at the scene -- who have often cast doubt on the prosecution's story line and sometimes even bolstered the defense.

The prosecution is "presenting their entire evidence, everything they have," said John Patten, a lawyer who defended one of the officers charged with fatally shooting Amadou Diallo, an unarmed black man, in 1999. "There may be no common story line. They've got a problem."

"I have issues with how they presented it," said Neville Mitchell, an attorney for Bell's parents. But multiple story lines do not doom the prosecution, he added. "The facts and the evidence are there."

The case is being heard by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Cooperman; the defendants waived a jury trial.

Helen Peterson, a spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney's office, declined to comment.

Bell's family members seem to be making their own sense of the testimony. His mother, Valerie, takes notes in court. "I'm keeping an account," she said.

And Nicole Paultre-Bell, 23, Bell's fiancee, said after Guzman's testimony she felt she had answers. "Now I know what Sean saw," she said.