The Oakland Oscar Grant verdict has finally come out and here's the verdict. Former Bay Area Transit officer, Johannes Mehserle has been found guilty in the 2009 shooting which resulted to the death of Oscar J. Grant III.
Oscar Grant, 22, was shot in the back with one bullet from Mehserle's gun while the two struggled on a BART platform. Oscar Grant was face down on the platform when he was shot and killed. But on video of the incident, Johannes Mehserle was reportedly heard saying, "Oh my God!" several times, adding to the evidence that he had no intention of shooting Oscar Grant.
Hundreds of people that have gathered in downtown Oakland near 14th Street and Broadway were angered by the verdict involuntary manslaughter instead of a more severe second-degree murder conviction. But the jury believes that Johannes Mehserle did not intend to kill Oscar Grant but acted negligently. The verdict of involuntary manslaughter may result in a four to fifteen year prison term for Mehserle.
Here's what the mother of Oscar Grant had said after the verdict was read:
“The system has let us down, but God will never, ever let us down. Though the system has failed us, though we fight continually, but one thing I know but the race is not given to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures until the end. As a family and as a nation of African-American people, we will continue to fight for our equal rights in this society. My son was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered.”
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