Free Republic

Until now, the courts and the public have placed the responsibility for Oscar Grant's death entirely on the BART police officer who shot the unarmed passenger on an Oakland train platform. But a federal appeals court ruling could shift some of the blame to the officer's supervisor and perhaps the transit system itself. Former Officer Johannes Mehserle, who fired the shot that killed Grant on Jan. 1, 2009, served 11 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and is also a defendant in the damage suit by Grant's father and four of his friends. While allowing claims against Mehserle to go...

I missed out on the spree looting of Footlocker and other businesses in Oakland after the Johannes Mehserle verdict. But about 200 other people seemed to be having a great time burning and smashing. Out-of-town agitators, officials said, in kind a weird throwback to establishment terminology about protests in the 60's. Only "The Man" in Oakland these days is Mayor Ron Dellums and no one can ever find him. Also a cop (ex-cop, Mehserle) is going to jail in this case, so there are all sorts of interesting twists here. One of them is another group activity, rather different from...

(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

For all the worry over the upcoming verdict in the trial of the former BART police officer who killed Oscar Grant, there is just as much determination in Oakland to make sure the reaction remains peaceful. From youth clubs and churches to City Hall and even groups planning protests, many people are working hard to keep the inevitable demonstrations from getting out of hand the way they did Jan. 7, 2009. That evening, rioters damaged scores of businesses and torched several cars in the downtown business district in reaction to the shooting of Grant, who was black, six days earlier...