In attacks on the prosecutor in the Sean Bell case for not trying hard enough to win, media and "trial experts" have characterized his effort as incompetent. But blaming the acquittal of three police officers for killing Sean Bell outside Club Kalua in Queens, N.Y., on prosecutorial ineptness is misdirected. It ignores crucial considerations that no fair-minded prosecutor could avoid. A prosecutor's legal and ethical duty is not only to win, but to win while also serving the cause of justice.