Oscar Grant's police executioner gets 2 years, eligible for release in 7 months.

[Anti Federalist]

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."

[jclay2]

"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."

Seriously? I really don't think it is possibe to find fault in a policeman. If they didn't follow through with the correct procedure, it must have been too dangerious and threatening their safety.

[libertythor]

I can live with this as long as he never gets to work in law enforcement or related field again.

[Free Moral Agent]

Are you f'n kidding me? 2 years is nothing for point blank murder. First of all, I DO NOT think it would even be justified to use a tazer in that situation. If three grown men couldn't physically subdue an unarmed teenager, then maybe those out-of-shape pigs aren't fit enough to be on the police force. Tazers are a deadly weapon, in and of themselves. Oh yeah, nevermind how differently designed the trigger mechanism of a tazer is in relation to a gun...

People always talk about the unpredictability and danger that comes from being a cop, but when you have cops walking around with this shield of incredible legal immunity and every reason given to them to use lethal force then maybe the salary they receive just isn't reciprocal to the actual danger they're in.

[Philhelm]

I can live with this as long as he never gets to work in law enforcement or related field again.

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I must say that I don't believe that Oscar Grant could live with this.

Sure, it's good that a cop is being held semi-accountable for an execution, but a two year sentence with a possible minimum of seven months is absurd. However, I hope that at the very least, he can never be a cop again.

[libertythor]

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I must say that I don't believe that Oscar Grant could live with this.

Sure, it's good that a cop is being held semi-accountable for an execution, but a two year sentence with a possible minimum of seven months is absurd. However, I hope that at the very least, he can never be a cop again.

Until the War on Drugs ends, working as a cop in any major inner city area and keeping one's head will require major gymnastics. It takes a special kind of person to put up with it.