Oscar Grant trial begins in L.A.
By Estela FuentesThe Guardsman
More than 100 people rallied outside the Los Angeles Superior Court building when former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle faced Judge Robert Perry on Jan. 8, 2010 for his first hearing in the death of Oscar Grant III.
Mehserle is accused of shooting and killing Grant on the morning of Jan. 1, 2009 while trying to subdue him on a platform of BART’s Fruitvale station in Oakland. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder, asserting he made a mistake and meant to reach for his Taser, not his gun.
The trial was moved to Los Angeles due to the likelihood of bias in jurors from Alameda County because of the extensive media coverage the case has received in the Bay Area.
“There were a lot of people who actually came down from the Bay Area,” said Kokayi Jitahidi, community organizer with the Families for Community Safety Campaign in Southern California.
Perry renewed the gag order that Alameda County Judge Jacobson issued last year for all parties involved in the trial. He also denied the media access to film the proceedings. The trial is set to start in May.
In a recent interview with KTVU Channel 2, an Oakland-based Fox affiliate, legal analyst Michael Cardoza stated that Mehserle borrowed a Taser from the BART police department without having had prior training to use the weapon. Mehserle’s defense will bring to light BART police’s lack of training and how the Tasers used by the transit agency closely resemble guns because they have similarly shaped handles, Cardoza said.
He also mentioned that police allegedly have taped statements from at least two of Grant’s friends that conflict. On one of the recordings, Jack Bryson, who was about two feet away from Grant during the incident, told police that before the shooting Mehserle had already threatened to use the Taser on Grant. Another friend, whose name has not been released, said Mehserle never used racial slurs, curse words or expressed anger toward any of them.
“But if that comes in, that witness gets up and says Johannes Mehserle said, ‘I’m going to tase you,’ that could lead to a not guilty verdict if the jury believes him,” said Cardoza during the interview with Fox.
Jitahidi said it would be difficult for the jury to convict Mehserle for murder due to the California Police Bill of Rights, which protects officers from being unjustly represented.
“I do workshops with folks who are activists around this issue to let them know how difficult it is to get a conviction for murder,” Jitahidi said. He strongly believes there is a public assumption that police officers have the right to kill.
“They have the right to carry arms and they have the right to kill and the question that comes into play is, how do they use that power and do they use it right?” he said.
Jitahidi is working closely with the Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant, which organized the rally at the courthouse.
“What we, the activists, are looking for is first or second degree murder. We are not looking at manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter,” he said.
“This case is so important because over and over again we have always heard the excuse ‘I made a mistake. I didn’t mean to shoot the person,’” Jitahidi said.
