by Jack Lee
As the jury nears a verdict on the BART police shooting, one things become quite clear and it was a point I made during my analysis. That point was, what was the intentions of the officer at the moment of the shot being fired?
Here is a summary of the court testimony, judge for yourself: Defense Attorney Rains reminded jurors that two people, including a friend of Grant’s (victim), testified that they heard the officer say he intended to use the Taser shortly before the shooting. And the lawyer said at least six other officers have made the same mistake of firing a handgun when they intended to use a Taser. He had no reason and no apparent motive to use deadly force and this coupled to his statement that he was about to fire the Taser backs up the theory of an unfortunate accident.
There it is…this is where the whole case rests and how the jury sees it will determines if this was a terrible accident or a criminal act. By all accounts it appears an accident, but with a jury you never know. Ex-officer Mehserle, who is white, fired one round into the back of Grant, who was black and lying face down on the ground. The shooting, which was filmed by several witnesses, provoked protests and violence in Oakland. Officer Mehserle, who had been an officer for less than two years, resigned from the department about a week later.