Mehserle's letter to the public

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

[thecodont]

(07-09) 13:56 PDT OAKLAND -- The attorney for Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Oscar Grant, released a handwritten letter today that Mehserle composed Sunday - four days before a Los Angeles jury came back with its verdict in the case.

The full text of the letter released by defense attorney Michael Rains follows:

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/09/BAQB1EC3T3.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0tDspBOYL

[Filo]

Is it possible to eat Cheetos to it, rather than drink? :-)

I'm sure it is, but eww.

(not a big fan of orange powder, either)

I'm gonna have to go with a nice, big steak. Medium rare.

.-)

[Enterprise]

"The jury got it wrong."

That is your OPINION and it has all the majesty and glory of Monday morning quarterbacking.

The jury verdict is a FACT and is backed by the LAW.

[conimbricenses]

No. Those who think he should not be called murderer for what may have been a mistake...would be the first to scream “murderer” if he was a common civilian and the victim of that mistake was a cop.

[Ophiucus]

a taser is a potentially leathal weapon

You are absolutely wrong. There has NEVER been one single case where a taser has been the medical cause of death. Never.

Mehserle had no reason to draw, more or less use his taser, and certainly not his gun.

Again, the scene was not safe until the suspect was controlled. Period.

[HiTech RedNeck]

That might even be the most likely explanation, however only a reasonable doubt is necessary to bar a conviction for it. The doubt that says “there is evidence pointing to the possibility that Mehserle was unaware that he had pulled the wrong weapon until it was too late.” Such as Mehserle’s comment to his colleague before the shooting that he was going to use a Taser, and the “d’oh!” gesture immediately after the shooting.

The system that provides (in principle) a margin of error in favor of the peon, did the same for the jackboot. C’est la vie. I’d still sooner be a peon here than in a lot of other places. If something needs to be under particular scrutiny, it is probably not this particular case, but whether there will follow a rash of similar cases. The Taser company IMHO should take Mehserle at face value and hire him as a consultant to make it harder to make that mistake with future models of the Taser.

[conimbricenses]

Have you read his rap sheet? In and out of jail.

Yeah. For violating California's radical leftist gun control laws.

[Filo]

Great! Glad you brought up the O.J. thing and I was hoping you would.

O.J. was aquitted wrongly or rightly but the system worked. Was is just? I don’t think so but 12 other people saw it differently.

And this case is pretty much the same. The system "worked" but it worked poorly and reached the wrong conclusion.

Life’s tough there were no “White People” riots. In fact, no one but the most atavistic, Hood wearing, Robert Byrd is my hero, moron would even think about it.

We all just kind of threw our hands up in the air and rolled our eyes.

Agreed and I think the rioting is stupid. Predictable, but stupid.

The difference here is Mehserle is going to jail. A terrible place to be under any circumstance and he is going to pay a penalty.

Perhaps. I'm sure the court, which is traditionally very deferential to the police, will give him a light sentence in isolation at a minimum security prison. He'll get time served and early parole and he'll be home by Christmas or not much later.

He'll serve far, far less time than a civilian would under the exact same circumstances.

As far as you not drinking, I guess that’s probably the problem.

I can't argue with that!

And your hope will be realized, then you can celebrate justice.

We'll see.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You are absolutely wrong. There has NEVER been one single case where a taser has been the medical cause of death. Never.

You mucked up your italics, but please note that what would go down as the medical cause of death where the secondary cause was a Taser would be such things as cardiac arrest or blunt trauma, just as the medical cause of death from a shooting might be loss of blood.

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“Quoting only half of the definition (which is an either/or one) is a really interesting form of dishonesty.”

I said “So, your definition is down by 50% already”, dumbass. Did you not see that? Either you saw it and are now going to lie about it (I noticed you made no mention of that entire point!) or you’re just a moron.

You wrote:

“Clearly the two cuffing Grant were surprised that anything at all happened.”

Not according to their testimony. They were surprised that there was a gunshot. They were not surprised that the officer wanted to use his taser.

[Filo]

No. Those who think he should not be called murderer for what may have been a mistake...would be the first to scream “murderer” if he was a common civilian and the victim of that mistake was a cop.

Exactly.

If a group of men burst into my home and I fire on them, as I should, and one dies later to be identified as a cop then I go to jail for murder of a police officer for a long, long, long time.

If, during the exact same home invasion, the cops kill me but they later find they were at the wrong address they walk Scott free.

All's fair.

[Filo]

You are absolutely wrong. There has NEVER been one single case where a taser has been the medical cause of death. Never.

ROFLMAO.

There has never been a case where a bullet has been the cause either. It's always that the heart stopped beating. . .

LOL. Again, the scene was not safe until the suspect was controlled. Period.

He was, well before Mehserle drew.

[roses of sharon]

A friend of the victims court testimony about the officer's spoken words of intent have zero to do with your opinion that cops are evil and your assumption that the officers at the scene were “willy-nilly” running around shooting and killing in plain view of hundreds of commuters.

Intent is a legal term, it is important so that those who accidentally kill someone vs premeditate and intend to kill someone have different punishments.

A simple concept really...for those with the powers of discernment.

[Filo]

Amazing how people see what they want to see.

True.

Again, the suspects sitting with their hands cuffed were in control and not resisting. The suspect on the ground, yelling, kicking, and refusing to withdraw his hand from is pants was not in control, was resisting, and was a clear danger to the officers.

Funny. I've seen several videos from several angles and I've seen nothing like you're describing.

What was that about "seeing what you want to see?"

[HiTech RedNeck]

This being under Obama’s watch, if Mehserle gets the slap-on-the-wrist then it’s likely the Feds will weigh in with the relatively newfangled civil rights charges a la Rodney King. Is this good or bad? The trouble with getting the devil to do you a favor is that it’s hard to keep him from turning on you later.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Defendants have sometimes prevailed in cases where police assaults on a home were reasonably mistaken for home invasions by common criminals. This is why police departments get extremely worried when groups of “private” criminals start showing up in a community using that tactic in their hot burglaries.

[Filo]

I said “So, your definition is down by 50% already”,

And as I said it's an or definition. It has to be A or B so, by definition, it's down by 50%.

Don't let your functional illiteracy be my fault.

Not according to their testimony. They were surprised that there was a gunshot. They were not surprised that the officer wanted to use his taser.

Q:How can you tell a cop is lying?
A:He's on the witness stand.

If the cops expected a taser they would have gotten out of the way.

[Enterprise]

The record is hardly silent on this, because it has happened before.

Lawsuit revived in killing by Madera cop

Police get away with murder in the Central Valley

In the next article the officer's department sues Taser.

Cops kill handcuffed man then sue

The pertinent quote here: "The city and Noriega are suing Taser, alleging that similar shootings occurred in Sacramento in April 2001 and in Rochester, Minn., in September 2002."

As you see, there is an allegation that his has happened BEFORE Noriega shot someone and before Mehserle's incident.

[Filo]

This being under Obama’s watch, if Mehserle gets the slap-on-the-wrist then it’s likely the Feds will weigh in with the relatively newfangled civil rights charges a la Rodney King. Is this good or bad? The trouble with getting the devil to do you a favor is that it’s hard to keep him from turning on you later.

No argument. As much as I hate the verdict I'd hate to see Obambi step in with some of his typical BS.

[Vendome]

careful now. I might start liking you. LOL

Post on.

[Filo]

A friend of the victims court testimony about the officer's spoken words of intent have zero to do with your opinion that cops are evil and your assumption that the officers at the scene were “willy-nilly” running around shooting and killing in plain view of hundreds of commuters.

No, I am stating categorically that one officer, Mehserle, acted with blatant disregard for human life resulting in second degree murder.

Intent is a legal term, it is important so that those who accidentally kill someone vs premeditate and intend to kill someone have different punishments.

There is another level of murder between premeditated and accidental that you are (deliberately) ignoring.

A simple concept really...for those with the powers of discernment.

As is mine.