Cop Who Killed Oscar Grant Gets His Trial Moved
Posted by Mike E on October 17, 2009
We are all Oscar Grant
The trial of the BART cop who killed Oscar Grant, a young Black brother, on New Year’s Eve this year, has been moved outside of the heavily Black city of Oakland.
Jose urged posting this piece and said: “Simi Valley justice all over again.” (A reference to the way the police trial in the Rodney King case was moved from LA to the police suburb of Simi Valley to guarantee an acquittal, and then the 1992 LA Rebellion in fury over that acquittal.)
Mehserle trial to be moved in BART shooting
Henry K. Lee, Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A judge has agreed to move the trial for Johannes Mehserl… John Burris, an attorney who is representing Oscar Grant’…
(10-16) 18:27 PDT OAKLAND — Extensive media coverage, inflammatory comments by public officials and the specter of possible unrest combine to make Alameda County an unsuitable place to try the former BART police officer accused of murdering an unarmed rider, a judge declared Friday.
Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson ruled that the defense had shown that Johannes Mehserle could not get a fair trial in Alameda County for the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on the platform of BART’s Fruitvale Station in Oakland early New Year’s Day.
The attention the case has drawn, demonstrations that caused extensive damage in downtown Oakland and continuing protests from those convinced Mehserle is guilty of murder “foreclose any real hope of insulating jurors from the pressure of the public outrage in Alameda County,” Jacobson wrote in a 28-page order.
A hearing will be held later to determine where the case will be moved. The trial is still scheduled to begin Nov. 2.
Mehserle is accused of murdering Grant while trying to handcuff him after a brawl aboard a train. The shooting was captured on several cameras and has been viewed by millions on TV and the Internet. Mehserle has said through his attorneys that he intended to use his Taser to subdue Grant, who was lying facedown, but mistakenly fired his pistol.
Attorney not surprised
Lawyers in the case are barred from commenting because of a gag order. But John Burris, an attorney who is representing Grant’s family in a $50 million civil rights lawsuit against BART, said he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s decision, citing the “substantial media attention” and Mehserle’s Sixth Amendment rights to an impartial jury.
He said Grant’s relatives, who had hoped the case would stay in Oakland, want the trial to be held in a county where the proportion of African Americans is roughly equal to Alameda County. Burris mentioned Los Angeles and Sacramento counties as possibilities.
Jacobson touched on the racial aspect of the case in his ruling, which came after a four-day hearing in Oakland. Mehserle is white, and Grant was African American.
“The incident is viewed by many as being a case about race relations between the police and minority communities,” Jacobson wrote. “In essence, this case is an allegation of murder under color of law, inseparably entwined with a broad-scale political controversy.”
Officials’ comments
The judge noted that several public officials had weighed in with comments unfavorable toward Mehserle. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums urged that Mehserle not be released on bail, Rep. Barbara Lee said she would push for a federal case to be brought against the former officer, and state Attorney General Jerry Brown asked why prosecutors were “taking so long to file charges,” Jacobson said.
He said Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks and county Supervisor Keith Carson had described what they saw on the video as an “execution.”
Emotions have run so high that Mehserle, his family and attorneys have received death threats, Jacobson said.
The centerpiece of the defense’s argument to move the trial was a telephone survey it commissioned of 397 Alameda County residents. It found that 98 percent of those polled had heard of the case.
Defense attorney Michael Rains asserted that the county is racially polarized over the shooting, with black people in particular prejudging Mehserle guilty of murder.
Poll’s findings
According to the defense survey, 46 percent of respondents said Mehserle was definitely or probably guilty. Twenty-seven percent said he was definitely or probably not guilty, and the rest didn’t know or wouldn’t say.
But more than 78 percent of the African Americans questioned said he was definitely or probably guilty, the defense survey said.
Prosecutors said they were alarmed by the suggestion that black jurors could not give Mehserle a fair trial.
In his ruling, Jacobson joined prosecutors in criticizing suggestions by Rains that black potential jurors should be screened in private, calling the argument inappropriate and unprecedented.
Prosecutors said the publicity around the shooting had been less sensational than in many other cases where a change-of-venue motion was denied.
The judge agreed that “the overall coverage appears to be accurate, nonsensationalized and not prejudicial.” But he also called it “massive in scope,” and agreed with the defense that “coverage has absolutely saturated the potential jury pool.”
Fears of unrest
Jacobson said his “deepest concern” was the possibility that jurors would have to walk past protesters outside the courthouse each day of the trial demanding “justice for Oscar Grant.”
He noted that three destructive protests had been held in downtown Oakland after the shooting, the largest of which, Jan. 7, resulted in damage to at least 50 businesses and several cars.
Since then, Jacobson wrote, protesters have regularly demonstrated at the courthouse during Mehserle proceedings, including during the hearing to consider the change of venue.
The defense was right to conclude that a jury could fear the consequences of not convicting Mehserle of murder, Jacobson said. “Anyone who lives or works in Oakland is genuinely in fear of more civil unrest and violence,” the judge said.
Police in Oakland were put on alert Friday, but there were no disturbances.
What’s next
With guidance from Judge Morris Jacobson, the state Administrative Office of the Courts will determine at least two or three potential trial sites.
The office considers whether a trial will be a hardship for a county, whether a locale is convenient for witnesses and other participants, and whether the county can provide security and accommodate the media.
The office will try to identify the new sites within two weeks. Jacobson will then hold a hearing and decide where to move the trial.
Chronicle staff writers Bob Egelko and Jaxon Van Derbeken contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at hlee@sfchronicle.com and dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/17/MNNT1A4J69.DTL
This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
observer said
“Society had a crime problem. It hired cops to attack crime. Now society has a cop problem.” (Tom Robbins in Still Life with Woodpecker)
A Bystander said
Until you recognize that everyone is your brother and sister, you are guilty of the racism of which you speak. Mehserle is as much your brother as was Oscar Grant.
What we have is a young man tragically killed, and another person who’s career has just been destroyed and will live with the killing of an innocent man the rest of his life.
Watch the video again. Listen to the hostile environment, see Oscar struggle, and see the pause and shock as Mehserle pieces together what has just happened. It does not look like murder to me. If the officer gloated, I would say yes. But given the shocked pause afterward, I genuinely believe it was not intentional. That makes the crime manslaughter.
Read the definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter
Given the above, Oscar Grant’s family can still sue for civil damages against BART. The measure for guilt in a civil case is much lower than criminal court. In a criminal case, it requires guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil does not have this requirement.
Oscar Grant’s family will get justice via the civil courts, as they should.
observer said
Involuntary manslaughter verdict–an outrage!