Anti Federalist
11-07-2010, 10:50 PM
In case you forgot who Oscar Grant was:
YouTube - Protests, Resignation After BART Shooting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXqGT74vBKk&feature=player_embedded)
Johannes Mehserle sentenced to 2-year minimum term
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/05/BA061G7HVS.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea#ixzz14VGTXaFn
A judge sentenced ex-BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle to the minimum term of two years in prison Friday for fatally shooting unarmed train rider Oscar Grant, saying he believed the former officer's testimony that he had confused his pistol for a Taser.
Judge Perry said Mehserle would have been justified in using the Taser because Grant was resisting the attempts to handcuff him. Mehserle's "weapons confusion" was owed in part to BART's poor training of its officers and to "near-riot" conditions at the train station, Perry said.
Mehserle, he added, showed "tons of remorse."
Perry's remarks suggested that, had the prosecution won the murder conviction it sought, he would have overturned it because he found no intent to kill.
"Mehserle's muscle memory took over in this moment of great danger and stress," the judge said. "No reasonable trier of fact could have concluded that Mehserle intentionally fired his gun."
YouTube - Protests, Resignation After BART Shooting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXqGT74vBKk&feature=player_embedded)
Johannes Mehserle sentenced to 2-year minimum term
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/05/BA061G7HVS.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea#ixzz14VGTXaFn
A judge sentenced ex-BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle to the minimum term of two years in prison Friday for fatally shooting unarmed train rider Oscar Grant, saying he believed the former officer's testimony that he had confused his pistol for a Taser.
Judge Perry said Mehserle would have been justified in using the Taser because Grant was resisting the attempts to handcuff him. Mehserle's "weapons confusion" was owed in part to BART's poor training of its officers and to "near-riot" conditions at the train station, Perry said.
Mehserle, he added, showed "tons of remorse."
Perry's remarks suggested that, had the prosecution won the murder conviction it sought, he would have overturned it because he found no intent to kill.
"Mehserle's muscle memory took over in this moment of great danger and stress," the judge said. "No reasonable trier of fact could have concluded that Mehserle intentionally fired his gun."