- 342
- 10
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2008
MEHSERLE CONVICTED OF INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER
[h1][/h1]
[h1][/h1]
LOS ANGELES (CBS 5) ―
Click to enlarge
1 of 1
Johannes Mehserle (l) and Oscar Grant III (r)
CBS
[h3] [/h3]
Close
[table][tr][td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]
[/td] [/tr][/table]
numSlides of totalImages
[h3] Related Slideshows[/h3]
[h3] Related Stories[/h3]A jury has convicted a former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform.
- San Francisco Prepares For Mehserle Verdict
(7/7/2010)- Oakland Leaders, Shops Prepare For BART Verdict
(6/30/2010)- 1st Degree Murder Off Table In BART Case
(6/30/2010)- Oakland Police Prepare For Mehserle Verdict
(7/1/2010)
Johannes Mehserle was found guilty on Thursday in the New Year's Day 2009 killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III.
Involuntary manslaughter typically carries a sentence of two to four years. Sentencing was set for Aug. 6.
Mehserle was placed in handcuffs and taken away after the verdict. He turned to his family and mouthed, "I love you, guys."
At least five bystanders had videotaped the shooting incident — one of the most racially polarizing cases in California since four Los Angeles officers were acquitted in 1992 in the beating of Rodney King.
Prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at Grant for resisting arrest. Mehserle claimed he mistakenly drew his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun.
The trial was moved to Los Angeles after racial tensions boiled over into violence in Oakland.
The jury consisting of eight women and four men only deliberated for the equivalent of about one full day before delivering their verdict. They found Mehserle not guilty of the higher charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
The case was a rare instance in which a police officer stood trial for an on-duty killing and that was captured on video from so many different angles.
John Burris, an attorney and spokesman for Grant's family, said outside the L.A. courthouse that the family was "extremely disappointed" in the involuntary manslaughter verdict.
In Oakland, at the "Behind the Scenes" salon at 17th and Broadway, hairdressers along with patrons gasped out loud when the verdict was read.
"It's just outraging that they would attempt to appease the public instead of deliberating a real verdict," said Wayne Shelley, a stylist.
Police in Oakland expected protests after the verdict and prepared by getting crowd-control training and working 12-hour shifts.
Merchants all along 17th street were tense. Almost every store front near the intersection of 17th and Webster was boarded up, including some whose owners had said just last week that they weren't going to succumb to the fear.
A huge traffic jam formed on Broadway near Oakland City Hall. A few activists with red t-shirts reading "I am Oscar Grant" marched with purpose toward City Hall.
The City of Oakland put out a notice on its web site that read, in part, "The City of Oakland has been informed that the jury has reached a verdict in the Mehserle trial. Please prepare accordingly."
BART officials asked passengers -- especially those riding near the downtown San Francisco and downtown Oakland stations -- to be patient with service because the trains were very full as a result of the Mehserle verdict.
"All of our trains are on time; however, they are very packed with passengers," BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
Noah Klein was one of the passengers trying to get on a train at the 12th Street/Oakland City Center station.
Klein works in the Elihu M. Harris State Building in downtown Oakland, and was told to go home early after word came in that a verdict had been reached.
"It was a mob almost," he said. "It wasn't rushing or angry or trying to push, but everyone was trying to make their way down to a train."
He added, "everybody's pretty calm, just a little concerned."
