(Former BART cop Johannes) Mehserle sentenced to 2 years

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A judge sentenced former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle today to two years in state prison for fatally shooting unarmed train rider Oscar Grant during a video-recorded arrest in Oakland on Jan. 1, 2009.

A jury in Los Angeles County, where the trial was moved, found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July, acquitting him of the more serious charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Mehserle testified that he killed Grant accidentally, after mistaking his service pistol and his Taser.

The verdict meant that jurors concluded that Mehserle, 28, did not intend to kill Grant, 22, when he shot him in the back at Fruitvale Station, but acted negligently and took his life unlawfully. The jury also found that Mehserle, a Napa County resident, had used a gun during the crime.

Today, Judge Robert Perry gave Mehserle two years for the involuntary manslaughter conviction, the shortest term possible, and threw out the gun enhancement, saying it was not supported by the evidence.

With credit for time he has already served behind bars, Mehserle will be eligible for release in about a year.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/05/BA061G7HVS.DTL&tsp=1

[slackmaster]

1. With a felony conviction, he'll never be employed as a cop again

Or allowed to possess a firearm.

The sentence is simply what is specified in the law.

[CreekDog]

5. Oscar Grant's sentence was far longer

:eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

6. After he gets released in a year, he'll probably never

be able to walk the streets of Oakland, either...

All of this is of little consolation to the Grant family, though...

[armodem08]

12. Bullshit.

The max penalty was 14 years, not including a firearms enhancement charge that the judge threw out. He got off light, because he was wearing a uniform when he killed a man.

[slackmaster]

17. You could just as easily have said the max penalty was life

For the first-degree murder charge that was thrown out.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Unbelievable.! Smoke pot and you'll get a longer sentence.

[slackmaster]

4. Only if you smoke pot on an airplane

Especially one that is on a treadmill.

[Naturyl]

3. Mmm-hmm. Did not intend to kill him, just a mistake.

Shot the guy point-blank - 2 years. Yep, makes sense. Mistook his service pistol for a Taser. Yeah, that can happen. Not like they have a whole different trigger system, different size and shape, etc.

Horse shit.

[Bennyboy]

7. Look for riots tonight on theTV....

gonna piss a lot of people off (myself included). Minimum sentence.

[alp227]

8. No reaction from Mehserle

"Mehserle, wearing an orange jail suit and his hands manacled, showed no reaction to the sentence. Some of his relatives in the gallery cried."

Hmm, wonder what that conveys? And at least 2 years was better than letting him walk free. As a convicted felon (unless he successfully appeals) he can never work in law enforcement again, and as the father of a young daughter, what can he really do with his life after release?

[rhett o rick]

9. He is apt to get shanked by mistake (for a taser). Two years is a long time to dodge the shank. nm

[Lilith Velkor]

18. They'll probably keep him in seg like they always do with pigs.

[TroglodyteScholar]

10. Two years for murdering a subdued man with a gunshot to the back.

Amazing.

[boppers]

11. "threw out the gun enhancement"?

:wtf:

Apparently, it doesn't matter if you carry a weapon, draw the weapon, and shoot someone, if you "meant" to use another weapon.

[Dawson Leery]

13. His days as a cop are over.

[Cal Carpenter]

14. That's not justice

Fucking pig.

[liberalhistorian]

15. Ummm.......he was convicted of shooting

and killing someone, but the gun enhancement charge was thrown out because the judge said that the use of a gun in a crime was not supported by the evidence even though generally, in order to shoot someone, it is necessary to........use a gun?????? Do I have that absurd distorted "logic" correct, or am I just a moron?

[Divine Discontent]

16. two years in prison cannot be relaxing at all. I hope that the family of Oscar

can find this somehow as justice for the loss of Oscar. I know many wanted a longer sentence, but wow, they actually gave a cop with a couple of years in prison.

[donheld]

19. You had me going for a minute

I thought you meant the guy from Bartcop.com