Cops on Trial: A Matter of Justice  Prosecuting police officers
is often politically and legally challenging, rarely producing
convictions. Paul Butler, a law professor at George Washington
University, explains the obstacles of putting cops on trial.
I'm Michel Martin and this is Tell Me More from NPR News. In a
moment, with so many African American men behind bars, how can
other blacks help put them there? That's a question that some
African-Americans confront - African-American prosecutors, I
should say, confront behind closed doors. One prosecutor is
speaking out in a few minutes, but first, we're going to
continue with our conversation about the Sean Bell case. As in
other cases alleging brutality by the police, Sean Bell was
unarmed when he was killed. And cut down by what some observers
see as excessive use of force. And now, as the officers have
been acquitted, some wonder, why is so hard to obtain
convictions against the police? Are these cases especially hard
to prosecute? Should they even be brou