Jun 08 2010
Activists Gear Up For Oscar Grant Murder Trial in Los Angeles
Attorneys are set to question potential jurors in a Los Angeles courtroom today in the long-delayed fatal shooting trial of Johannes Mehserle. The white former Bay Area Transit police officer stands accused in the shooting death of a young black man named Oscar Grant. The incident, caught on multiple cell phones and other recording devices, sparked outrage and protests in Oakland and a controversial decision has since moved the trial from Alameda County to Los Angeles. In videos captured by numerous bystanders, Grant was lying down on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station when the fatal gun shot went off striking him in the back. Mehserle’s defense attorney Michael Rains will attempt to argue that his client reached and pulled out his handgun accidentally instead of his Taser. Ahead of opening statements scheduled for this Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry has made two pretrial rulings that favor the defense. Mehserle’s attorney will be allowed to bring a video expert to testify that Grant and his friend swung at officers before the shooting. Rains will also be able to bring up the victim’s prior criminal record during the trial. A protest by activists seeking justice for Oscar Grant is scheduled for Monday evening outside the Los Angeles Superior Court.
GUEST: Thandisizwe Chimurenga, assistant editor of the LA Watts Times, KPFK Programmer, and an embedded journalist with the LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant
There will be a demonstration on Monday June 14th at 7 am in front of the LA Superior Court, 210 W Temple Street in Los Angeles.
Find out more at www.myspace.com/justice4oscargrant, http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=259072433034&ref=search, by phone at 213-663-6316, and by email at la4og-owner@yahoogroups.com.
9 Responses to “Activists Gear Up For Oscar Grant Murder Trial in Los Angeles”
Grant was a thug and got what he deserved. WHY did he just not listen to authority? I guess because he is black he did not have to. I also believe in the heat of the moment AFTER Grant took a swing at the officers…this particular officer grabed his gun by MISTAKE instead of the taser. Would never have even happened had Grant done what he was told by police
you are very ignorant. oscar was a very close friend of mine. he did not deserve what happend to him. he had a daughter, girlfriend, fmily and friends that loved him very much. he was a hard working and very smart man. have you watched the video? your telling me that he took a swing at the officer. please get your facts straight before posting anything. ignorant people like you are the reason why the world is the way it is.
deb you are full of it!! you are blind on the facts about who the real thugs are!!!!Anyways, stop police brutality and murders! and jusitce for Oscar Grant!!
Deb is correct. If Grant obeyed the lawful order then none of this would of ever happened. Oh wait. He is black so it was obviously racism. Funny how they want to keep his criminal record and history of race baiting out of court.
Deb sounds like a paid bogger for the White supremist system! LAVA for you!!! its more than obvious that they had control of the situation, Grant was face down and complying to orders. Grant was punched in the face minutes before being murdered by the officer, and its been said there is a cell phone picture of the murderer with a taser in hand minutes befor he executed Grant. This shows that it was no mistake and he intentionally murdered Oscar Grant!! Its time for these racist white supremecy defenders to be fried and executed!!! All of the officers present there were accessorries to murder as well!! JUSRICW must prevail; or this government will be taken over by the people for the people!!!!
Oscar nor Jackie not once tryed to swing kick or anything of that nature at anyone of those police officers!! Oscar was a “young” man who made mistakes and served his time to society for those wrong choices.He was in the begining stages of making a career as barbar but never had the opportunity to redeem himself because he was killed.Taken away from Sophina and Tatiana after planning to move away from the bay to start fresh. That chance was taken from Oscar. There was no reason that a gun or the so called bull shit tazer should have never been needed. (BTW Taser story is a crock of shit and didn’t surface until after Rains was hired which was about 1 month after the shooting). Deb Did you know that Meheserle had other claims for brutality made against him prior to this shooting to the BART Police force and nothing was ever done about them? BTW the other victims were black. So looks like Mehserle is a thug with a badge. Oscar was lying on his stomach and his arm was under his stomach and he couldn’t pull his arm out from under him because dumb ass Officer Pirone was on his back. Oscar more than once told the officers he couldn’t get his arm out from under him. If you knew the many details you would see this case for what it is. MURDER!! My prayer is that God uses this case to pave the way for Bad Police Officers to be held accountable for the miss use of their authority. Hopefuly this will weed out the bad officers and keep the Good Officers from getting the bad wrap!! MURDER!!
O and Matt why are they keeping Meheserle’s past complaints of brutality out of court? Not only complaints but pictures of the victims with black eyes and busted lips. Looks like both sides have past that they desire to keep out of court. Get ALL the facts before you make a judgement.
DEB and MATT all due respect, you are sounding like an idiot.
THE FOLLOWING ARE LIGIT QUESTIONS:
Are you 80 year old redknecks?? that can never change your ways??
Do you get out of the house?
OOOOHH lemme guess you have never been a victim of police brutality. You have never ever broken even the smallest law,you believe that the world is a level playing field and black people should just get over slavery right?
FACT: Basic law states that you cannot draw your weapon on a handcuffed perpetrator.
You can draw your weapon when immediate danger is present and coming toward you.You can use lethal force when your life is in danger. The officer drew his weapon when oscar grant was on the ground, facing the ground handcuffed.
if Oscar Grant was white Meheserele would be wrong still. If Meheserele was a black officer He would be wrong still.
the facts are on the multiple recordings.
Are you that detached from other parts of the world, other peoples lifestyles that you think this is right regardless of the facts?? What are you are basing your judgement on?? If ands or buts?? Hope???
Are you a child? are you blind?
Isn’t it a sad advance for the races when you can use a racial slur like redneck, but the use of the word n—– is virtually outlawed? Don’t just quote the words of Dr. King, live them. “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. Let’s get beyond using a racial slur against someone everytime you don’t agree with them. If Dr. King were here today, he would probably throw up at how his legacy has been twisted by the world.