Mehserle sentencing pushed back to Nov. 5

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(07-14) 17:27 PDT LOS ANGELES -- The sentencing date for former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle has been pushed back three months, to Nov. 5, to allow attorneys to prepare for what is expected to be a lengthy hearing.

A Los Angeles jury convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter July 8 in the shooting death of unarmed train rider Oscar Grant. The verdict means jurors concluded that prosecutors hadn't proved Mehserle intended to kill Grant, but believed the officer acted recklessly when he shot Grant in the back Jan. 1, 2009, at Fruitvale Station in Oakland.

Jurors also found that Mehserle, 28, had used a gun in the commission of a crime. He faces between five and 14 years in prison, although legal experts said defense attorneys could argue for probation.

Mehserle is in Los Angeles County Jail and will remain there until sentencing.

Judge Robert Perry, who originally set sentencing for Aug. 6, agreed to the defense request to push it into fall.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/14/BAL21EEIOV.DTL

---

Uh oh. Given that Mehserle's attorneys will argue for probation, chances are that Mehserle might walk free just like Sen. Ted Kennedy did back in 1970 after driving the car into the lake and causing the death of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Those two acts are hardly comparable. (Kennedy got a 2-month suspended sentence and a suspended driver's license.)

[jaysunb]

1. He'll walk

within 90 days of sentencing. :evilfrown: Bank on it !

[Suji to Seoul]

2. That much?

[jaysunb]

3. Got to give the Feds a chance to build

their case : violation of victims civil rights.

[mackerel]

4. The judge will give him 5-7 yrs but he won't serve the full

sentence.

[HardWorkingDem]

5. A prediction....

If he gets the full sentence, it will be appealed and a higher court will throw something out and the Feds will decide not to prosecute because they will not find a violation of civil rights.

This was a terrible, terrible, incompetent accident, which is not a claim to say the person does not deserve some sort of punishment. But it was not murder, nor did it meet the legal definition of murder. (If anyone cares to, a review of my past postings on this included correct predictions of the outcome of the trial).