What Was Officer Mesherle Thinking?

Former Oakland, California BART Police Officer Johannes Mesherle goes on trial this week for the pointblank shooting death of Oscar Grant III on an Oakland subway platform last year.  The homicide of Mr. Grant by Officer Mesherle is sensational because Mesherle is white and Grant balck.  More importantly the killing was caught on video and went "viral."

Officer Mesherle's legal outcome will be determined by a jury which will try to judge what was in Officer Mesherl's mind, did he have a criminal intent to kill Oscar Grant.  Mesherle's attorneys will argue that Mesherle mistakenly thought he had his taser in hand when he pulled the trigger that killed Grant, Mesherle was legally allowed to use a Taser in this scenario according to the Oakland police.

Watch the video if you have the stomach for it.  Whatever you think of Mesherle's criminal intent, the video documents the abuse of police power and the outcome was the death of twenty-two year old, Oscar Grant III.

Mesherle Weeps On the Witness Stand

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the testimony of former Oakland BART officer Johannes Mesherle, the transit cop who shot and killed Oscar Grant at point blank range and caught on cell phone video.  This is from Demian Bulwa's story:

"'I didn't think I had my gun.'

Those were the words Friday of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, who wept on the witness stand at his murder trial as he testified that he had accidentally shot and killed Oscar Grant while intending to fire Taser darts into the unarmed man's back.  But after waiting for a year and a half to hear an explanation from Mehserle, Grant's family was not satisfied. They said the story was a lie, the tears a piece of courtroom theater.

Mehserle said that seconds before the shooting, he had decided to shock the 22-year-old Grant with a Taser because he saw him dig his right hand into his pants pocket - the same hand Mehserle was trying to handcuff on the platform of the Fruitvale Station in Oakland during an arrest early Jan. 1, 2009.

The pistol pull was smooth, with no 'red flags' to tell him he hadn't grabbed his Taser, said the 28-year-old ex-officer. He didn't realize he had shot Grant, he testified, until he looked at his right hand after firing and saw he was holding his pistol.

'I didn't think I had my gun,' Mehserle told the jury in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. 'I remember the pop. It wasn't very loud. It wasn't like a gunshot, and I remember wondering what went wrong with the Taser. I remember looking to my right side and seeing my gun in my right hand,'  Mehserle said. 'I didn't know what to think. I just thought it shouldn't have been there.'

Defense attorney Michael Rains asked Mehserle what he remembered after that, and the former officer, by now crying, struggled with the words. "I remember Mr. Grant said, 'You shot me,'  he said.

Heckler's yell bring arrest

Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, quickly left the courtroom as a Bay Area man identified by friends and authorities as Tim Killings, 24, stood and yelled, 'Maybe you should save those f- tears, dude.'  Bailiffs arrested Killings on suspicion of disorderly conduct and led him from court, and Judge Robert Perry declared a brief recess."
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As you will recall from my earlier posts on this sickening-video recorded homicide, the prosecution of former officer Mesherle will turn on the concept that we talk about repeatedly on Bad Lawyer--mens rea, what was Mesherle's intention. It sounds like Mesherle's testimony helped him bring perspective on this awful event.  There certainly is the "taste of hell" in this unnecessary tragedy, and lessons for all of us abounding., especially the lesson of abuse of police power.

Mesherle Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter

I'll write more about this later, but as you have no doubt already seen, former Oakland, Ca. BART Officer Johannes Mesherle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of the unarmed African-American Oscar Grant on New Year's day 2009.  Mesherle killed Grant during a confrontation videotaped by witnesses.  Mesherle was charged with murder and today's conviction on this lesser included offense seems like precisely the right outcome based on the evidence featured in media accounts of the trial.  As I said there is so much more to be said, and some extremely important lessons about the recklessness of law enforcement in their overuse of force.  In this case, Mesherle claimed that he mistakenly reached and intended to fire a TASER when he fired his firearm by mistake.  What a terrible tragedy for everyone especially the Oscar Grant family. 

Mesherle Follow Up in the SF Chronicle

Reporter, Demian Bulwa updates his ex-BART Officer Mesherle coverage at the San Francisco Chronicle website with compelling reporting on the defense expert on the use of force.  This is great trial coverage and the cross-examination by the prosecutor of the defense expert (who was paid $44,000!) was superb.  This is an astonishing prosecution and there may be a verdict by Friday.  We will keep our eye out for the final word by the California jury.

Read the original story at the link.

Sentencing of Ex-Officer Mersherle Examined

Bad Lawyer covered at some length the tragedy in the inexcusable killing of Oscar Grant by foremer Oakland, California BART Officer Johnannes Mesherle who was convicted by a California jury of involuntary manslaughter.  Judge Robert Perry ordered Mesherle into custody immediately, and Judge Perry faces a complicated set of issues in appropriately sentencing the white former police officer in the reckless killing of the unarmed black Mr. Grant.  The San Francisco Chronicle has an excellent analysis of the problems facing Judge Perry in arriving at the right disposition.

Mesherle Jury Update

The SFChronicle.com updated the Mesherle jury deliberations yesterday with news that no jury deliberations were held Monday.  Today, Wednesday an alternate will step in and jurors will have to go back to step one and re-deliberate because one of the jurors had a pre-paid, family vacation starting today.  The lawyers accepted this fact at the beginning of jury selection, thus this juror will be excused--but, since the alternate was not part of the earlier deliberations under the rules all matters under consideration begin again.