Late Thursday afternoon, minutes before the clerk read the jury's verdict aloud in the People v. Mehserle trial, the victim's family members could be seen bowing their heads together in the second row of the courtroom. 

The jury found ex-BART police officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. After the verdict was announced, family members of victim Oscar Grant spoke to a large crowd of press and people protesting outside the courthouse. 

"Even though the system has failed us and let us down, God will never fail us, nor let us down," Grant's mother Wanda Johnson said. 

They jury's involuntary manslaughter verdict means that they found Mehserle not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and second degree murder. The latter two options would have given Mehserle a harsher sentence. 

With the involuntary manslaughter conviction and a sentencing enhancement for using a gun, Mehserle could be sentenced to a minimum of five years or a maximum of 14 years. 

"My son was murdered, and the law has not held the officer accountable the way that he should have been held accountable, " Johnson said.

Mehserle appeared calm as the verdict was announced. His attorney, Michael L. Rains, patted his back afterward.

Rains asked Judge Robert Perry not to remand Mehserle, meaning that Rains wanted his client to be temporarily free until his sentencing hearing in August. Perry denied the motion.  

"He should be remanded," Perry said. 

Mehserle later put his hands behind his back. An officer cuffed him and escorted him out of the courtroom.

During the trial, Mehserle cried as he testified that the shooting was a tragic accident.  He said he meant to use his Taser on Grant, but was not looking down to make sure that he grabbed the correct weapon. As he reached for his Taser, Mehserle accidentally grabbed his gun, he claimed.

He fired a single round into Grant's back as the unarmed victim lay on his stomach on January 1, 2009.  He then put Grant in handcuffs.

Grant's family said they never received an apology from Mehserle, which made them doubt that the shooting was an accident. 

Activists and family members also expressed concerns about there being no blacks on the jury. Oscar Grant was black, and Mehserle is white.

The jury had three Latinos, one Asian/Pacific Islander, seven whites, and one person who declined to state his race, according to a court Public Information Officer.

The Alameda District Attorney's office, the prosecutors in the trial, said in an Oakland press conference Thursday that they were "disappointed" by the verdict.

But minutes before the verdict was read, Judge Robert Perry told the packed courtroom, filled with family members, the public and the victim's family, that attorneys from both sides did the best they could.

"I thought this was an exceedingly well-tried case," Perry said. 

 

Previous Neon Tommy coverage of People v. Mehserle:

People V. Mehserle Wraps Up With Closing Arguments Thursday

Ex-BART Police Officer Cries On The Witness Stand At His Murder Trial

Attorney Accuses Witness of Abandoning Dying Friend

Prosecution Rests in People V. Mehserle

 

Reach reporter Amy Silverstein here.