Mehserle breaks down during testimony at BART shooting trial

Oakland Tribune ^ | 6/25/10 | Paul T. Rosynsky

[SmithL]

Former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle broke down and sobbed today as he described to a jury the moment he realized he had shot Oscar Grant in the back.

"I didn't think I had my gun," Mehserle said. "I heard the pop. It wasn't very loud. It wasn't like a gun shot. And then I remember thinking, 'What went wrong with my Taser?' I remember looking at my gun in my right hand."

Mehserle continued, "I didn't know what to think. It just shouldn't have been there."

Mehserle then broke down in tears, as did his mother, who was watching from the gallery.

Grant's mother left the courtroom and an unidentified black male screamed out, "You save those (expletive) tears dude."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry immediately shut down proceedings and ordered the man arrested for contempt of court.

Mehserle's breakdown came during the second day of his testimony in the murder case against him. He said on the witness stand that he never intended to shoot Grant and thought he was reaching for his Taser, when instead he was reaching for his gun.

Mehserle said he decided to use his Taser on Grant after he struggled to grab Grant's right arm while he tried to handcuff him. Mehserle said he thought Grant might have been reaching for a gun.

The proceedings broke for a brief recess with Mehserle still on the stand. Deputy district attorney David Stein is expected to begin cross-examining him later today.

[thecodont]

Another point of view:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/bart-cop-has-a-good-week/Content?oid=1854401

BART Cop Has a Good Week
Testimony in the trial of Johannes Mehserle, who is accused of murdering Oscar Grant, appeared to favor the defense more than the prosecution.
By Robert Gammon

“Convicting a police officer of murder, or even manslaughter, is never easy — even when the cop was caught on video fatally shooting an unarmed man as lay face down on the ground. And judging from testimony in the first week of the Johannes Mehserle murder trial in Los Angeles, the task facing Alameda County prosecutor David Stein may be tougher than imagined. A parade of witnesses that Stein called to the stand to help convict Mehserle repeatedly testified that the then-BART cop appeared to be “shocked,” “dumbfounded,” or “stunned” right after shooting Oscar Grant to death last year, the Oakland Tribune reported.

“Even Grant’s friend, Carlos Reyes, who was two feet away at the time, testified about Mehserle’s apparent surprise, bolstering the argument by defense attorney, Michael Rains, that Mehserle killed Grant by accident. The testimony also undermined Stein’s contention that the shooting was intentional. According to Rains, Mehserle maintains that he meant to pull out his Taser against Grant but instead mistakenly grabbed his gun.”

[zeugma]

Great thread for bringing out the bootlickers. Thanks!

[papertyger]

Here on planet Earth, we understand that no rational person would do that, and so it must have been a tragic error.

That is a pretty solid textbook example of "denial."

Leaving aside it is only the abject ignorance of firearms among great swaths of the public that allows the preposterous notion a person that carries a gun for a living could possibly mistake it for a tazer, are people "here on planet earth" really so supercillious as to believe if there were any real chance of police confusing a taser for a gun they couldn't anticipate such problems and prepare accordingly?

Based on the photographic evidence, there is no excuse for anything but prosecution for second degree murder. Anything less is an attempt at a cover up.

[papertyger]

I’m appalled that you seem to think your series of unrelated anecdotes has any bearing on the specifics of the Grant case, and that you seem to think we need a procedural blessing before we can believe what we saw from numerous angles.

[papertyger]

It’s clear to me that some posters have issues. If you insist on your blind prejudice against police officers...

Multiple videos is not "blind prejudice"... ignoring those videos, is.

[Tigerized]

It’s obvious that you have a perspective that’s not going to change, no matter what evidence or facts presented by the prosecution or defense. So I won’t bother with any further personal insight, it’s useless having a discussion with someone who has an overriding agenda.

I talked about my personal experiences with black East Bay thuggery (and my father-in-law’s) not as any direct evidence in the Mehserle case, but to set an overview as to what kind of sociopaths we have running loose around here. Fortunately there’s only a few, but they really give Oakland a bad reputation. Would YOU have the guts to be a LEO in this area? How can you sit in judgement of those that do?

We all saw the same tapes, after editing. None of us saw the raw footage. Hence the Rodney King reference. How can you stake conclusions solely on video that’s not in it’s original form?

You’ve already tagged Mehserle with the epithet “murderer”, BEFORE he was arrested and BEFORE the trial is over. How can you be so sure?

If you accidently shot someone, would you want someone like yourself sitting on the jury?

Sheesh.

[Filo]

Uh, don't you mean "the 1% giving the 99% a bad name"?

Nope. Not even close.

While I'm at it, it's tiresome to hear people calling for the theoretical obliteration of (pick 'em) California, the Bay Area, or wherever else you can think of. Free Republic is headquartered in CA. There are many, many conservatives here, and really... after being here since 98 (forgot my first screenname and reregistered in 2000)... it just gets old.

Give or take. I can understand where these folks are coming from being against the area that gives us Pelosi, Feinstein and Boxer.

I've never voted for any of those losers, of course, but voting Conservative from San Jose is a losing proposition.

Here's my idea for cleaning up the state. Illegals no longer get protection of the state and get out. Rehab the schools, bring the teachers' unions back from Mount Olympus, break the (D)s in power of the power and money habit and send them the hell home if they're not going to be public servants. Grow the conservative base - all but the most intransigent members of the welfare class can be taught to respect themselves and quit being an anchor on their family and neighbors.

The problem is that the libtards here cannot do any of that and they outnumber us 3-1. They are not capable of grappling with the logic of the ideas. They run on pure emotion and they keep electing the same brand of tired, stupid losers into office.

[Filo]

Oh, Filo and telebob, the brutal execution of the four Oakland police officers last year (one of whom was a close friend of a friend of mine) was semi-official retaliation for the Oscar Grant shooting

And in response to all of those who keep calling the murder of Grant justified because of his history I respond in kind. The police have created an environment where they are the antagonists - the enemy. They have separated themselves from the community and consider themselves above it and the law.

While I don't think they should be killed (unless and until they do something egregious like murder an unarmed, restrained civilian) they have created the situation and they shouldn't be shocked and surprised, after beating, tazing, shooting and otherwise abusing civilians at will, that they are despised as they are.

In the same way I have no sympathy for gang-bangers who suffer the consequences of their collective choices I don't have much for cops who suffer the same fate. Individually, yes, it is often a tragedy. Collectively, however, both groups are creating their own problems.

And, by the way, it's worse with the police when they act this way because we pay them and we expect them to behave with honor. At least some folks do. . . I've given up on that expectation.

[bootless]

Oops. Liberty = liberal. D’oh.

[bootless]

I never said that Grant’s killing was justified.

[bootless]

I’ve got limited time now, but the 3-1 numbers don’t quite hold. I attended a substantive 9-12 meeting the other night that broke down the CA voting numbers. Much of the problem is the huge block of people who just don’t vote... (R)s and conservatives and moderates who aren’t socialists.

Mix in the change in the Gallup numbers in self-identification, and the conservatives/moderates outpace the liberals. Add in the values voters (those who voted against gay marriage in CA, yet voted for Obama, and who now feel ripped off - there’s a LOT of them around here) who can be persuaded to vote conservative this time around. The Marxist deceived them.

There are fewer and fewer Obama stickers on cars around here - just the hard core idiots are left. Big time buyer’s remorse - unemployment in the state and the Bay Area is much higher than they’re admitting.

[WL-law]

“Based on the photographic evidence, there is no excuse for anything but prosecution for second degree murder. Anything less is an attempt at a cover up.”

Please supply a link to the photographs you are referring to.

[WL-law]

“Based on the photographic evidence, there is no excuse for anything but prosecution for second degree murder. Anything less is an attempt at a cover up.”

Please supply a link to the photographs you are referring to.

[Filo]

I never said that Grant’s killing was justified.

I never said you did. Several of the (far) more retarded boot-lickers, on the other hand, made no bones about it.

Meanwhile, anyone who is in a camp willing to forgive or even understand Mehserle is in the wrong.

The guy is a murderer and a moron as is clearly demonstrated by numerous vidos of him committing cold blooded murder.

Case closed.

[Filo]

I’ve got limited time now, but the 3-1 numbers don’t quite hold. I attended a substantive 9-12 meeting the other night that broke down the CA voting numbers. Much of the problem is the huge block of people who just don’t vote... (R)s and conservatives and moderates who aren’t socialists.

You're probably right. I live in the heart of sillycon valley and it's impossible to swing a dead cat and not hit a libtard (which is, by the way, a wonderful pastime for those interested in joining the league.) There are more rational areas of the state.

Mix in the change in the Gallup numbers in self-identification, and the conservatives/moderates outpace the liberals. Add in the values voters (those who voted against gay marriage in CA, yet voted for Obama, and who now feel ripped off - there’s a LOT of them around here) who can be persuaded to vote conservative this time around. The Marxist deceived them.

The marxists will always decieve but, unfortunately, there are a lot of folks who can't seem to get that through their thick skulls. I've talked at length with a number of the 'tards and they are so brainwashed against the Republican party that they can't even believe clear and compelling facts when they go against the brainwashing.

Don't get me wrong - I hope you are correct, but I ain't seeing things quite as optimistically.

CA went close to 70% for Obama in 2008. That's a lot of ground to make up or a lot of really stupid people to put in reeducation camps. . .

There are fewer and fewer Obama stickers on cars around here - just the hard core idiots are left. Big time buyer’s remorse - unemployment in the state and the Bay Area is much higher than they’re admitting.

Again you're right but the liberal mantra has always been "it's not that we're wrong, we're just not doing it right."

They'll keep clinging to the failed ideology, believing that they just selected the wrong person(s) to implement it before the head over to the R column.

[absalom01]

Politeness demands that I thank you for proving my point.

So, thank you.

[absalom01]

I hate to butt in, but since you mentioned the videos, it seems opportune to refer back to them for a moment.

There’s been discussion in the media, and on this thread, that Grant was “restrained”. The videos show clearly that this was not the case: Grant was prone, but still struggling, and not complying with the officer’s (lawful) demands that he stop resisting. Oddly enough, the (as yet uncontested) testimony quoted in the referenced source article notes that Grant was “digging” at his waistband, and the officer was concerned that he, Grant, might be reaching for a weapon.

The Libertarians are right on with their economic policies, but their ideas on drugs, immigration, and the proper role of law enforcement in a free society are cockeyed.

[telebob]

Good post but I don’t think it will persuade the slobbering cop haters.

In fact, I believe they are gonna be sorely put out when the jury finds Mehserle guilty only of manslaughter and not the universe ending, special double premediatated first degree murder with really bad intentions they’ve already convicted him of.

[papertyger]

You’ve already tagged Mehserle with the epithet “murderer”, BEFORE he was arrested and BEFORE the trial is over. How can you be so sure?

Because I don't need some commisar to tell me what I saw, and you obviously, do.

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Oops, I thought that was a Taser” isn’t a very common story, in fact I think this is the first I’ve heard anybody claim it. If true it would be manslaughter but not murder.