Posted on 07/04/2010 10:02:30 AM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND -- As the hour approaches for a jury to decide the fate of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, thousands of Oaklanders hope to experience what seemed so unlikely to them 19 months ago: Justice for Oscar Grant.
But what is justice? What constitutes a just response to the killing of the 22-year-old grocery store worker, a man memorialized in hip-hop songs and murals, discussed in barbershops and living rooms as an iconic victim of police brutality that some say happens all too often?
Grant was among a group of revelers returning from San Francisco on New Year's night 2009 who police say were involved in a fight on a BART train. Grant and his group were pulled off the train at Oakland's Fruitvale station, and a scuffle ensued. Grant was on his stomach when Mehserle pulled out his gun and shot him in the back.
A jury in Los Angeles returns to court Tuesday to deliberate whether Mehserle, 28, should be sent to prison. The former officer was charged with first-degree murder in the killing, but a judge took that off the table last week and ruled the jury could consider second-degree murder, lesser manslaughter charges or no guilty conviction at all.
Is a murder conviction justice? Is a voluntary or involuntary manslaughter conviction justice? If Mehserle, who says he intended to stun Grant with a Taser and accidentally shot him instead, is acquitted, can there still be a sense of justice for those who have come to view this case as a symbol for long-simmering tension between minorities and law enforcement?
"It impacts the whole community. Little kids are talking about it. Old people are talking about it," said Bishop J.E. Watkins ... "Everybody is for justice. Now, the degree of justice is a different story.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
The usual “no justice, no peace” types normally don’t care about the victims. They usually only care about the killers, rapists & robbers.
The rioting over an acquittal would be incredible. Even a conviction on just a manslaughter charge would probably trigger significant rioting.
Considering that this is Oakland, there could be enough rioting to do millions of dollars in damage improvement. :=)
Rioting should be met with a significant show of lethal force. I am sick and tired of our society bowing down to this “oppressed” minority. If they don’t like it here, go back to the first country in your hyphenated identity.
Don’t stop in Oakland, burn Berkeley while you’re at it.
There will be riots no matter what the verdicts are.
Let them burn it down. Don’t send in fire fighters. Then we can listen to Obama say the judge acted stupidly but the arsonists were fully justified.
Hey if they catch a few Holder can decide that’s not the sort of case that should be prosecuted.
If these dopes had bothered talking to any other the legal analysts covering the trial, instead of people who know nothing of how to run a trial (mall cops, really?), they'd have confirmed that the judge did the prosecution a favor by adding the lesser homicide charges.
A jury would not have convicted the accused of murder one. If the choice was that or acquittal, which is what the defense originally wanted, a simple yes or no, he'd likely have walked. This makes it far more likely he'll do prison time.
Ten years sounds about right to me as long as he does every single day of it.
Very true- the looters will not be denied their new electronics or supply of booze.
The single defining issue here is the color of the dead guy. Had he been white- how many would even care? My guess is, the guy desperately deserved the tazer and that this was a tragedy. I feel for his family AND for the cop.
However- one must never let(a disaster)an occasion for riot go to waste.
Where is all of this “community outrage” when young black men die at the hands of other young black men, which happens everyday in Oakland and in every other urban hell-hole in the U.S.?
Yea, just like thet did when the Lakers won.
It only occurs when persons of different color, or different religion are involved. Jews vs. Muslims, Americans vs. Muslims, White vs. Black or or ethnicity
“But what is justice?”
It certainly isn’t a lynch mob.
The basic question is, should we decide criminal cases based on “what’s enough” for a group of community activists, or should we decide them based on the facts.
Mehrsele is going to walk or get involuntary manslaughter and at the sentencing hearing, time served.
It’s far easier to draw up regs on where to mount your taser on your belt than it is to have some young black males act like law abiding citizens.
The riots are going to happen and innocent folks are going to get their property trashed, and maybe even hurt or killed. The costs to the city are going to be tremendous and this is even before the wrongful death suit.
Can the judge do that since he was changed with murder?
There’s going to be riots regardless of what happens.
I’m just glad I am not living anywhere near Oakland now, nor will I ever again.
The entire Bay Area could sink into the ocean and I wouldn’t shed a tear.
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