In the early hours of January 1st, 2009, Oscar Grant III was murdered by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, shot in the back as he lay face-down on the Fruitvale BART platform with BART officer Tony Pirone’s knee in his shoulder.
On July 8th, 2010, Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but acquitted on the more serious charges of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. The jury included eight women and four men. A white police officer killed a black man, yet no African-Americans served on the jury. The killing took place in Oakland, but the trail was moved out of Alameda County to Los Angeles.
It was announced that Mehserle will be sentenced on August 6th**. However, other reports suggest that sentencing may take place later, perhaps in September. Judge Robert Perry now has the discretion in sentencing to decide how to apply the findings of the jury.
** 65 years ago, on August 6th, 1945, the U.S. Military dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9th, the U.S. detonated a nuclear explosion over Nagasaki. Read More and View Photos
On July 12th, the day after publishing about my interaction with former California State Assembly representative Fred Keeley, I received an anonymous email: