Criminal Law News

The trial of an ex-BART police officer accused of shooting and killing an unarmed black man while on duty, is set to begin soon. It’s rare that a police officer goes on trial in a case like this, and all eyes are on the case, not just in California but around the country.

The shooting occurred on New Year’s Day 2009. 28-year-old Johannes Mehserle says he was about to taser the man, Oscar Grant. But instead of pulling out the taser, he pulled out his gun, and shot the victim. The shooting occurred on a Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform. The entire episode was captured on video by several bystanders nearby. The videos made it to the Internet, and sparked off angry protests around the state. The videos are likely to be the focus of attention during the trial. In fact, legal experts believe the biggest witness will be the videos that documented the entire shooting. Since the shooting, Mehserle has resigned from his position as a BART police officer.

Mehserle’s criminal defense attorneys are taking an unusual approach. His lawyers will plead that he did not commit a crime at all. The jury will only have to deliberate on two questions -whether to convict him of first-degree murder, or to acquit him.

It’s a high-profile case even for California, which has had its share of criminal lawsuits hogging the headlines. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys for Mehserle have so much at stake here, they have spent much of the past few months trying to change little things in the filings and papers that could sway jurors either way. For instance, Mehserle’s criminal defense lawyers do not want the victim to be called “the victim,” but want him to be called “Mr. Grant,” instead. They also want Mehserle to be called “Officer  Mehserle.”

Those are shrewd tactics , and while the lawyers may have no trouble with the “Mr. Grant” bit, California criminal defense lawyers know that getting Mehserle to be called “Officer Mehserle” may be a stretch, considering that he resigned from the force more than six months ago.

Any verdict from this case is also likely to affect future litigation arising out of fatal encounters involving police officers.