Court upholds Mehserle conviction (police officer convicted of killing Oscar Grant)

Source: SF Chronicle

A state appeals court upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of former BART policeman Johannes Mehserle on Friday, rejecting the claim that his fatal shooting of unarmed passenger Oscar Grant was a tragic but innocent mistake.

The jury was entitled to conclude that Mehserle acted with criminal negligence when he shot Grant on an Oakland transit platform, according to the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

Grant, 22, of Hayward, was arrested at BART's Fruitvale Station in the early-morning hours of Jan. 1, 2009, after a disturbance on a train. As he lay face-down on the platform, Mehserle, who had been trying to handcuff him, shot him in the back.

Mehserle said he had intended to fire his Taser stun gun to subdue Grant. The case was moved to Los Angeles because of intense news coverage and protests in the Bay Area. In July 2010, the jury acquitted Mehserle of murder but convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/08/BAHB1OV72A.DTL