Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Los Angeles, July 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Johannes Mehserle, the Bay transit officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter yesterday by Los Angeles jury for the shooting death of unarmed Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009, the incident which inflamed racial tensions and riots in the city. The verdict generated lot of criticisms and tension in the city of Oakland residents as they wanted sterner punishment for the transit officer. Hundreds of people gathered in the streets of Oakland to protest against the involuntary manslaughter verdict of Johannes Mehserle.

Johannes Mehserle was accused of second degree murder for killing Oscar Grant III, 22, who was shot with his face lying down on a platform. This incident created racial riot in the city with people protesting against the black man’s slaughter by a white police officer when they saw the video footage of the whole incident. The much awaited verdict came yesterday when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry convicted him of involuntary slaughter and scheduled his sentencing for August 6. The guilty officer, however, showed no reaction when his verdict was read. He gave his reason that mistakenly he grabbed his gun instead of his Taser stun to keep the situation under his control and pulled the trigger which killed Oscar Grant.

On one hand the verdict triggered anger in the city and on the other the attorney of Oscar Grant said the victim’s family were extremely disappointed with the verdict against Johannes Mehserle. Attorney John Burris also added that the verdict was not the true representation of what happened to Oscar Grant. Involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of two to four years, if convicted again, then the tenure of imprisonment might increase for the guilty.