NEW YORK, NY March 05, 2008 —The prosecution in the trial of the 3 New York City detectives charged in the death of Sean Bell continues to make its case. But as WNYC's Arun Venugopal reports, recent testimony seems to be serving the defense as well.

Detective Hispolito Sanchez was an undercover on the night of Bell's death and presumably had insights into what police may have done wrong.

But instead, he told the court that Bell's friend, Joseph Guzman, spoke of getting his gun for a fight.

Later, Sanchez said he heard officers issue commands before opening fire.

But, he couldn't recall how much his fellow undercover, Gescard Isnora, drank that night - and prosecutors failed to press him on the issue.

Dirk Olin is with JudicialReports.com.

OLIN: Here you have what is reputed to be the first key prosecution witness that they're bringing from inside the undercover operation itself and they couldn't have picked somebody who did a lot more for the defense than Mr. Sanchez.

But, Olin says it's still early in the trial. And Bell's family members insist the DA is doing well. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.

OUTRO: The trial of Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper continues today.