Are you serious? If not the judicial system, then how in the hell can we begin holding police officers accountable for the innocent lives being taken senselessly all to often? If accidentally kill cop, then I'll accidentally get sent right to jail and probably accidentally get recommended for the death penalty but whenever a police officer is on the line somehow they always manage to get acquitted or are able to plead to a lesser charge! Involuntary manslaughter WTF?
The BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant occurred when an unarmed civilian, Oscar Grant, was fatally shot by BART officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California, United States, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train returning from San Francisco, BART Police officers detained Oscar Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. Officer Johannes Mehserle and another officer were restraining Grant, who was prostrate and allegedly resisting arrest. Officer Mehserle stood, drew his gun and shot Grant once in the back. During his court testimony, Mehserle said that Grant then exclaimed, "You shot me!". Grant was pronounced dead the next morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
So apparently the jury didn't consider a first degree murder charge because the judge ruled there was not enough evidence to convict Mehserle (the police officer) of first degree murder, although I would disagree.
Murder as defined by California penal code section 187 is “the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus with malice aforethought…” The provision goes on to carve out exceptions for abortion, and section 188 explains that “malice may be express or implied. It is express when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a fellow creature. It is implied, when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.”
The video depicts very clearly that Mehserle deliberately shot the subject, who was struggling, but was lying flat on the ground. Mehserle’s defense was that he mistakenly shot the victim instead of using his taser while trying to handcuff the victim. See video here...
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