Jurors in Los Angeles County have finally reached the long awaited verdict in the racially charged case involving a former Oakland BART police officer, Johannes Mehserle, who fired his weapon and killed Oscar J. Grant III, an unarmed black man while he was lying face-down on a train station platform.
VERDICT: Involuntary Manslaghter
Jurors had four options: second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter or acquittal, the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The Oakland Tribune reports that the verdict was reached after 6 1/2 hours of deliberations.
To obtain a murder conviction, prosecutors had to prove that Mehserle intended to kill Grant or acted with a conscious disregard for life.
From Wikipedia: Involuntary Manslaghter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter.
According to KRON 4 experts Mehersle is looking at 4-5 years max.
