Looting In Oakland After Cop Found Guilty Of Involuntary Manslaughter, Rather Than Murder, In Oscar Grant Case

Reuters reports that the verdict in the Oscar Grant murder trial sparked "a wave of looting and destruction in the city" of Oakland on Thursday. Reuters explains that a "Los Angeles jury deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching their decision about the shooting on a train platform in Oakland, indicating they deemed it a tragic accident rather than the intentional act of a rogue cop. The defendant in the racially charged trial, Johannes Mehserle, 28, testified that he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his electric Taser and shot Oscar Grant, 22, while trying to subdue him during a confrontation on New Year's Day 2009. But prosecutors, who sought a conviction for second-degree murder, said Mehserle had 'lost all control' and shot Grant on purpose because he thought Grant was resisting arrest. Jurors can render an involuntary manslaughter conviction if they believe the defendant lacked an intent to kill but engaged in conduct so grossly negligent that it amounts to a crime. It generally carries a sentence of two to four years in prison, but the jury also accepted a sentencing 'enhancement' for Mehserle's use of a handgun... Looters targeted stores selling jewelry and beauty supplies and grabbed shoes from a Foot Locker store in downtown Oakland, while the phrase 'Riot for Oscar' was spray-painted on a bank building, according to a Reuters eyewitness."


The San Francisco Gate reports that police "arrested 78 people during Thursday night's protests in downtown Oakland over the involuntary manslaughter conviction of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle for the shooting death of train rider Oscar Grant, authorities said" Friday. Tweet