Guilty verdict in transit cop shooting

THIS IS ANOTHER TRAVESTY OF "INJUSTICE". Poor Wanda Johnson's
son was murdered, and what happens? The "civil servant" gets the victory. No wonder there are riots. How can anyone with any conscious not punish this killer to the fullest extent of the law? Another OJ jury. I know for a fact what goes on, because Terrance Hough, an off-duty firefighter from Cleveland, Ohio pummeled two hollow point bullets into the BACK of my son and his girlfriend while they were in a sitting position watching fireworks, July 4th, 2007. He tried to kill the witnesses, but ran out of ammo. Hough also executed his longtime neighbor with 3 shots to the chest. The jury in this case found that him being a fireman, having kids and a family were mitigating circumstances to his favor, and he got LIFE in Toledo. These family members are being raped and robbed right in front of all of us, what do you think they feel like? Nobody gives a damn that our lives are changed forever, when our loved ones are gunned down by mad dogs. And society should sit still? I support this family, and their outrage. I know that if I hadn't believed that Hough WOULD get the death penalty, I would have gouged his eyes out while I had a chance, and thought absolutely nothing about it.

This is definitely a travesty, but lets not forget. This young man was doing something in order to have several officers restraining him on the ground. Police officers, for the most part, do not just shoot indiscriminantly. Notice, I said, "for the most part." I do not believe the officer shot this person intetionally. I would like to see the video of this incident. If one shot was fired and the officer looks suprised by the firearm, chances are good he made a mistake. If several shots were fired and no facial expression is made, then murder of some kind was committed. Just my two cents.

The travesty is that a police officer was charged with a crime while doing his job. This would not have happened if grant would have known better then to fight with the police. They have now made it even tougher to be a Police Officer. These people in oakland are animals and they proved that again last night.

A letter was just posted from Johannes Mehserle the BART cop convicted of Involuntary manslaughter. This " white cop" was wrongly charged and wrongly convicted of a crime. He made a mistake that cost a life, but it was a mistake, it was not intentional and it was during an arrest of a combative convicted felon. This police officer was charged for one reason, he is "white". Plain and simple this would have never gotten charged if he was any other race. Read his letter that was just posted by his Attorney Mike Rains. It is honest and heartfelt. This charge and conviction was a tragic turn in our justice system and to our "White" police officers made their job terribly hard, I would not be surprised if many "White" officers quit the job because they will be prosecuted doing their jobs. Shame on the Alameda DA, Shame on the Jurors and Shame on our justice system

But there were NO riots after the OJ murder trial travesty. Sorry for your loss and for the Johnsons son. Some argue that life is worse than the death penalty which a lot of people actually out live w/ endless appeals. Juries dont alway get things right, Her son should not have been shot but when you are resisting arrest this stuff happens. i avoid the arrest my not putting myself in these situations and i dont disobey the police

I don't see how this is a victory for the defendant so much as a failure of the CA legal system. The jurors acted in good faith to determine if the officers actions satisfied the conditions for a murder conviction and they did not.
Do I believe he is 100% responsible for the death of the passenger, yes. Having worked in Law enforcement and the military I was always taught that you are always, at all times, responsible for your weapon and if that weapon is used to kill another human being YOU will answer for it, right or wrong.
The officers excuse that he "thought he was grabbing his taser" is nonsense. I have used many different handguns and carried a Tazer at the same time and my TAZER would never be where my PISTOL was supposed to be.
Officer Johannes Mehserle is responsible for the death of that passenger but if his actions did not meet the criteria for a murder conviction then the problem lies in the system itself.

Ms. Pfeiffer, do you know all the evidence in this case? Or are you just forming your opinion from the family and or video? If you paid attention to the FACTS of this case, you would come to realized that this was a TRUE accident!!!!! What is a real shame is that the Media did not release all the FACTS during the trial. Like the video expert showing how Mehserle's left thumb was pushing forward on the left side of his hand gun as to release a safety lever. O, by the way, his service gun DOES NOT HAVE A SAFETY LEVER, BUT HIS TASER DID!! also, Mr. Grant was heard, by his friends, who testified in court, stating "dont taze me dont taze me" as Officer Mehserle was yelling "i m going to tazer him".

First of all. this is pure, simple murder in the 1st degree. Also, nothing in the article stated that the murdered man was involved in any wrong doing. The article states the officers were responding to an alleged fight. And, no one, in their right minds would have let this cold-blooded murderer walk with a slap on the wrist. This officer had no lawful justification to pull neither the tazor, nor gun. Therefore, the officer was acting unlawfully in the commission of this barbaric act. I only wish the victim was caucasian.. Then we would see how you posters feel about the crime, and verdict.

p53,

First, 1st degree murder requires premeditation. I don't think that Officer Mehserle got up that morning and said "I'm gonna go to that train platform and shoot Oscar today" so NO it is NOT an appropriate charge. 2nd degree murder requires only mailce aforethought and is the proper charge in this case.
Second, It is considered acceptable procedure to use a Taser on a physically uncooperative suspect (as much as people are horrified by this).
People need to stop being "outraged" long enough to look at the facts of the case. For example, Officer Mehserle claimed he intended to use his taser to subdue Oscar Grant while another officer restrained him by kneeling on his back.
If Oscar was allready restrained then all that remained was to handcuff him to complete the arrest BUT assuming that he was truthfull about his intentions he would have disabled the other officer that was in physical contact with the suspect.
I am trained and certified with this device and one of the things they stress is "before you deploy the taser make sure no one else is touching your target or they are going down too".
On the face of it this case meets the criteria for 2nd degree murder and I am very interested is learning why the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of Involuntary manslaughter.

kevin posso: People that riot only act like animals not decent citizens. However, I seen the Video and the officer shot him in the back while he was lying down on the ground. That officer intended to shot him and did not make a mistake in doing so. He knows the difference between a gun and a taser. And why didn't the other officers stop him before he shot this young man. That young man had been in trouble before but he should not have been shot. He should have been arrested and taken in to jail until court. And how about the other's with him. I did not hear a word about them being arrested only the victim.

Jesse Watson. I agree with you 100%. His intentions were to kill this young man and this officer should not have received a verdict of involuntary manslaughter but a murder verdict. He definately murdered that young man. I do not believe in riots. Breaking windows and looting stores does not solve the problem. Rioters when arrested by police should be jailed for one year to teach them a lesson. Our laws are too lean in some cases. If you read about rioting in other countries the rioter pays a still penalty.

Whatever the intention..........whatever he "should" have done .......whatever he meant to have in his hand............he had to AIM. While aiming he would have seen he had a taser and not a gun............he IS the police right? Someone is dead because another person intentionally grabbed a weapon and the result is death. You've got one individual ....... with 2 or more officers AND he was on the ground??? And, this officer shouldn't be charged with murder because this guy supposedly had been in trouble before. I think, the police were angry ( being that some news articles said that they had dealt with some issues earlier that day) that involved weapons. I think the officer who had his knee on the Grant instigated a level of hype AND I think Mersle was nervous with all the crowd yelling. EITHER WAY, he killed someone who was not imposing a threat on him. He should pay. If I did it I WOULD HAVE TO PAY. Even if I said I didn't mean to grab a gun.

Anyone who has ever witnessed how the thugs at BART police "politely" deal with their "victims" and the public in general knows that this was no accident or mistake.
Remember that the victim was already laying on the ground, with another thug standing on top of him.
Also, just the fact that he has reportedly been tased in another occasion is another good reason why I believe he would not want to resist arrest as many have implied (just ask anyone who has ever been tased if they would like to repeat the experience).

I live in the bay area. This happens everyday in Oakland, I am a witness. There is rally going on right now in a neighboring city in support of Mesherle. I wonder if it is in support of what the officer did. Or just support for the officer and family. I can't hit someone from behind. So shooting someone in the back is defintley wrong. What ever happened to shot to stop? Shoot to kill is the new adoted policy it seems. I have tried to look at this from all angles and I keep coming up with the same thing. It was wrong. Racial slurs being thrown around? He shot him in the back while he was being held down. I don't accept that he didn't know it was his gun, he had to see what he was firing isn;t that part of his job as well. Gun or taser, if he were looking to release the safety the idiot pointed it someone who lost his life. Average Joe woiuld have been crucified. And then he had the nerve to apologize after the trial, but when he learned sentencing was at a later date. I have to question whether that is genuine. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. In Oakland we lost 80 officers because of budget cuts to save money. I think we just saved lives. It was MANSLAUGHTER! The bottom line manslaughter says you did too much. Therefore a harsher penalty should be imposed. Don't believe it? Come live in OAKLAND.

I feel that Lindsay Lohan is being used as an example, which is wrong. She is still too young and prone to making mistakes. Jail, and I have been to prison more than once, does not make things right.

Its obvious that certain individuals who are posting comments must be police officers. For those of us who actually saw the video, it was clear that the "subject", as some would like to refer to Mr. Grant in an attempt to dehumanize him, was not combative. He was on the ground, face down when Mr. Idiot Meserhle pulled out his gun and shot him in the back. Its a sad state for our country when you end up dead while lying face down on the ground by a police officer who is supposed to be upholding the law. Obviously they must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when they hired Mr. Meserhle who can't tell the difference between a taser and a gun. And for those of you who say it was just an accident, I seriously doubt you would feel the same way if this had happened to one of your family members. Its about time that Police Officers are being held accountable for supposed "mistakes" that end up in someone's life being taken. Someone please tell me what Mr Grant did that night that justifies his life being taken the way it was.

aloha- i think transit police and security need to do a little better when comes to people. and handle transit people kind way. not a mean way.what you think you are transit police and security dog da hawaiian bounty hunter?