Mehserle's letter to the public

San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com ^ | Friday, July 9, 2010 | Chronicle Staff Report

[Filo]

If another officer did the same thing, and it was ruled a mistake, why could that incident be a mistake, and this one not?

I'm sorry but my Gibberish to English translator is on the fritz. Could you please clarify what the heck you're talking about?

[Filo]

Grants autopsy listed alcohol, coke and fentanyl in his system.

Fair enough. And that justifies his murder how?

He had his hand down the front of his pants and refused to be cuffed. THAT was the reason for use of a taser.

None of that is in evidence in any of the videos of the incident.

Have you read his rap sheet? In and out of jail. Even bleeding heart wikipedia isn't lying for him. It's all there in black and white.

And Mehserle was fully briefed on this rap sheet and was, therefore, fully within the law in administering street justice to the perp, eh?

This 22 year old was a thug, fighting and terrorizing other train passengers. He was ID'ed by people on the train. A couple other people had been caught earlier and they had weapons.

Which all may well be true, but it does not, under any circumstances, give the police a right to execute him.

[vladimir998]

All the evidence points to the fact that it was not murder. There was no motive, no intent to murder and it is clear from the video that the officer realized he made an incredbly bad mistake pulling the wrong weapon.

[Filo]

I watched the video of the incident. I re-watched it. What impressed me was how quiet and cooperative the seated arrestees on each side of Mr. Grant were. They were able to see the sun rise the next morning.

And I've watched several versions several times and still haven't seen Grant resisting or doing anything that justified his murder.

[Enterprise]

I don't speak Gibberish, but I'll try.

Mehserle said he meant to taser the suspect, but shot him instead. He said it was a mistake.

I have in mind the Marci Noriega incident in Madera, Ca. Marci meant to taser a prisoner who was handcuffed, sitting in the back of a patrol car. Instead, she shot him in the stomach with her service pistol. She said it was a mistake. She was not prosecuted. She remained on the force.

So, Mr Gibberish - if Noriega made a mistake, could Mehserle have also made a mistake?

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Boy, you have a real anger and hostility towards police.

Your hostility shows through in your angry tirades, not the content of your opinion.

[Filo]

He is not a murderer in the sense that he had forethought in his actions of ill intent.

He accidentally killed a man and for that he was convicted of “Involuntary Manslaughter”.

He did, however, act recklessly and with willful disregard for human life. That's Murder 2.

And it wasn't an accident. You don't draw a weapon by accident.

[Enterprise]

You keep insisting it was murder. You are perpetuating a libel.

[ex 98C MI Dude]

It is obvious that the officer was expecting the object in his hand to make the ‘tak-tak-tak’ sound of a Taser when he pulled the trigger, not the bang he got. Shock is what I saw in his expression, and unless he is an Oscar nominee for best actor, I am going with the theory he thought it was his Taser.

The jury got it right. And the ‘victim’ was harassing passengers, and acting like a hooligan. Grant placed himself in that position. Mehserle is going to pay for his mistake. Sad all the way around.

AG Holder needs to butt out.

[Enterprise]

The police did not perform an “execution.” More libel.

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“He did, however, act recklessly and with willful disregard for human life. That’s Murder 2.”

Nope. There is no evidence that he choose to act reckless or willfuly disregarded the value of anyone’s life.

“And it wasn’t an accident. You don’t draw a weapon by accident.”

He drew the WRONG weapon. That means it was an accident.

[Filo]

All the evidence points to the fact that it was not murder. There was no motive, no intent to murder and it is clear from the video that the officer realized he made an incredbly bad mistake pulling the wrong weapon.

What you are saying is that there is no evidence for Murder in the First Degree. While I understand why you believe that I disagree because Mehserle had his taser out, put it away and then later drew his sidearm and fired. That makes the "I grabbed the wrong weapon" part of his claim quite a bit less credible.

Regardless, since there is no evidence for any need for any weapon; the fact that Mehserle and Mehserle alone drew one is clearly in line with the definition of Murder 2:

Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion" or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

[DJ MacWoW]

Fair enough. And that justifies his murder how?

People hopped up on drugs are so reasonable, aren't they. They don't resist arrest. He'd already been in jail for drugs and again for a weapons charge. Not a bright young man.

This guy was not executed. He was struggling and had a rap sheet. He was also hopped up on drugs which tends to make one uncooperative. He was with a gang terrorizing people on a train. He didn't want to go to jail again. The young men on either side of him complied with police orders. They are alive. Grant would be too but for the drugs in his system, fighting arrest and an accidental shooting.

I've read your posting history. You obviously have baggage and hate cops. You can't see the truth because of the baggage.

Have a good day.

[dragnet2]

And it wasn't an accident.

I see you're still trying to convince everyone that the cop intentionally murdered this guy in front of his fellow officers and a dozen witnesses in broad daylight.

lol....

[DJ MacWoW]

Filo is a cop hater. There will be no reasoning with him. Read his posting history.

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“What you are saying is that there is no evidence for Murder in the First Degree.”

Nope. What I am saying is there was no intent to murder - as shown by the evidence. Thus, murder 1, murder 2, just don’t work.

“While I understand why you believe that I disagree because Mehserle had his taser out, put it away and then later drew his sidearm and fired. That makes the “I grabbed the wrong weapon” part of his claim quite a bit less credible.”

No, it does not. Correctly completely a task and later doing it incorrectly does not make the incorrect time les accidental. Look at how many people say, “I thought I stepped on the brake” when they actually stepped on the gas. They may have driven a car ten thousand times, but they can still goof up.

“Regardless, since there is no evidence for any need for any weapon; the fact that Mehserle and Mehserle alone drew one is clearly in line with the definition of Murder 2:”

Nope. He drew the weapon because he was in the position to do so. The other officer was not.

“Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable “heat of passion” or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender’s obvious lack of concern for human life.”

And neither 1 or 2 applies here.

I called this when it happened. I took one look at the video tape and I knew it. I was right all along.

[Filo]

I don't speak Gibberish, but I'll try. Mehserle said he meant to taser the suspect, but shot him instead. He said it was a mistake.

I have in mind the Marci Noriega incident in Madera, Ca. Marci meant to taser a prisoner who was handcuffed, sitting in the back of a patrol car. Instead, she shot him in the stomach with her service pistol. She said it was a mistake. She was not prosecuted. She remained on the force.

So, Mr Gibberish - if Noriega made a mistake, could Mehserle have also made a mistake?

Excellent. Thank you for the clarification.

The short answer is yes, of course there is the potential for Mehserle to have made a mistake and clearly he did. We just disagree on what mistake he made.

There are two significant differences between Mehserle's incident and Noriega's.

First, she was dealing with a clearly violent person who represented an immediate danger and who, thus, needed to be subdued with a taser (IIRC he wasn’t sitting in the back of the patrol car he was trying to kick his way out.) Mehserle was faced with a suspect who was face down under the control of two other officers, who was not struggling, who was already partially in handcuffs and who would have been fully restrained in seconds.

Second, she drew her weapon and fired making her claim that she grabbed the wrong one somewhat credible, if alarming.

Mehserle had his taser in hand, put it away and then drew his pistol over the course of a few minutes. To suggest that he addressed the taser twice (once to draw it, once to put it away) and then somehow forgot where it was moments later is far less believable.

[Vendome]

“Watch this, Watch this, Watch this!” I am going to kill the guy! Uh, erh, dohr, ee, Uh...

Filo:
Disregard my earlier post.

You have the intellect of a dry shallow creek.

[DJ MacWoW]

Yeah. It was clearly an accident. They all seem stunned.

Holder and Bam need to leave it alone and not make it more of a race thing than it is. But they won't. It's too tempting for the racists.