involuntary manslaughter Options

[*futura*]

A jury found former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter, concluding that he did not intend to kill train rider Oscar Grant when he shot him in the back on New Year's Day 2009 but acted so recklessly that he showed a disregard for Grant's life.

The verdict was an all-but-unprecedented instance of a police officer being convicted for an on-duty shooting. But it deeply disappointed Grant's relatives, who said the video-recorded shooting was a murder and that Mehserle deserved a sentence years longer than the one he is likely to receive.

"My son was murdered," said Wanda Johnson, Grant's mother, outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse where the trial was moved to escape heavy publicity in the Bay Area. "He was murdered and the law has not held the officer accountable."

The jury also found that Mehserle, 28, had used a gun during the crime. In all, he could be sentenced to five to 14 years in prison.

[full story]

Anyone have thoughts about this?

[heyo-captain-jac...]

police system here is f*cked, and has been for a while. I'm surprised nothing like this has made the news sooner

[mipadi]

If the roles were reversed and a civilian "accidentally" shot an on-duty cop, you can bet he'd get more than involuntary manslaughter. But hey, police protect their own; there's a reason policeman dump so much money into police fraternities.

A part of me does believe the shooting was an accident, but if so, that just shows how grossly incompetent this police officer was. At least his conviction should mean he can never own a firearm, because, you know, obviously this guy doesn't know how to handle one properly.

[sixfive]

My friend got in trouble a couple days ago for honking at a police officer who cut him off to pull someone else over. My friend ended up not being read his Miranda Rights, being mocked in the back seat, being called a pussy when he asked them to buckle him up because he couldn't do so handcuffed, sat in jail for four hours, when they told him to sign the release papers it was apparently a plea of guilty (he should have read, but shouldn't have been presented the papers to begin with), among many other things. Missouri City, Texas.

The cops in that city & in Sugar Land don't have actual crime to deal with so they harass a lot of people with a seemingly large priority being high school / college aged kids. It's no secret that people in Missouri City & Sugar Land are fairly well off, and a lot of cops come from areas 20-30 miles away that aren't quite as well off. It'd be presumptuous of me to say that they hold that against us that our parents are providing for us and take out their frustrations on us. Either way, the cops are notorious for pulling people over for shitty things like 1 mph over the speed limit or turning right on red at 1 mph and not coming to a complete stop. It is within the law, but they've developed a reputation for being shitty corrupt cops. They wave around their power and use a lot of unnecessary scare tactics, particularly with hinting that their gun could see some action should a kid do something wrong. What the f*ck.

My friend's case has been made aware to the Mayor. He's not happy with the police.

[karmakiller]

I'd imagine that the family tried their hardest not to watch the news, because they kept playing the tape over and over. I honestly do not understand how an officer mistakes a handgun for a taser. In my opinion, if that wasn't caught on tape the other officers who were there probably would have covered for the officer. If it was an honest mistake, then he must be the dumbest cop anyone's ever met.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

My friend got in trouble a couple days ago for honking at a police officer who cut him off to pull someone else over. My friend ended up not being read his Miranda Rights, being mocked in the back seat, being called a pussy when he asked them to buckle him up because he couldn't do so handcuffed, sat in jail for four hours, when they told him to sign the release papers it was apparently a plea of guilty (he should have read, but shouldn't have been presented the papers to begin with), among many other things. Missouri City, Texas.

The cops in that city & in Sugar Land don't have actual crime to deal with so they harass a lot of people with a seemingly large priority being high school / college aged kids. It's no secret that people in Missouri City & Sugar Land are fairly well off, and a lot of cops come from areas 20-30 miles away that aren't quite as well off. It'd be presumptuous of me to say that they hold that against us that our parents are providing for us and take out their frustrations on us. Either way, the cops are notorious for pulling people over for shitty things like 1 mph over the speed limit or turning right on red at 1 mph and not coming to a complete stop. It is within the law, but they've developed a reputation for being shitty corrupt cops. They wave around their power and use a lot of unnecessary scare tactics, particularly with hinting that their gun could see some action should a kid do something wrong. What the f*ck.

My friend's case has been made aware to the Mayor. He's not happy with the police.

I once got pulled over for doing the speed limit in front of a cop because nearly everyone else on that stretch was speeding

[Matsumoto]

Well yeah you can get pulled over for not keeping up with traffic because you risk an accident by driving too slow.

I hate cops that do unnecessary shit. I got pulled over once from a cop that was driving the opposite way as me, jumped the median and almost slammed into the drivers side door. My friend has a motorcycle and was followed and almost run off the road by an undercover cop even though he was driving perfectly. He had to go to court and the cop ended up getting into a lot of trouble for it though. I also hate when cops use their sirens just to get through traffic or red lights and then shut them off when they should just wait.

[sixfive]

Well yeah you can get pulled over for not keeping up with traffic because you risk an accident by driving too slow.

I hate cops that do unnecessary shit. I got pulled over once from a cop that was driving the opposite way as me, jumped the median and almost slammed into the drivers side door. My friend has a motorcycle and was followed and almost run off the road by an undercover cop even though he was driving perfectly. He had to go to court and the cop ended up getting into a lot of trouble for it though. I also hate when cops use their sirens just to get through traffic or red lights and then shut them off when they should just wait.

cops are so corrupt. turns out my friend didn't even have any marijuana on him at the time he got arrested. i just assumed that's what it was for since I know he's a habitual smoker. He still doesn't know what he's being charged for, which is retarded. The cops tried to hit him with a class b misdemeanor or w/e and the DA was like "what the f*ck for" to the cops, soooo that didn't happen. He has a reset court date and once it's cleared up, him & his dad are pursuing the cops that were involved and pressing charges if possible.

[Matsumoto]

Also it makes me sick that people automatically assume that it is a hate crime just because a white man shot a black man. What if a black man shot an asian? Or an asian shot an indian? Or an indian shot a white man?

f*cking bullshit.

[sixfive]

f*cking white people