Oakland Transit Shooting Verdict: Involuntary Manslaughter

July 8, 2010— -- A white transit police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man in Oakland, Calif., was convicted of involuntary manslaughter today in a racially-charged case authorities fear could spark violent demonstrations in Oakland and Los Angeles.

The verdict came after more than six hours of jury deliberations over the course of two days in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved because of extensive media coverage.

The victim, Oscar Grant, 22, was among a group of revelers returning from San Francisco on New Year's night 2009 who were involved in a fight on a BART train. A scuffle broke out after Grant and members of his group were pulled off the train at Oakland's Fruitvale station. Grant was on his stomach when former transit cop Johannes Mehserle pulled out his gun and shot him in the back.

The jury decision means that Mehserle, 28, could be sent to prison for two to four years. Sentencing is set for Aug. 6.

Legal experts called the case the most racially polarizing trial in the state since four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in 1992 in the famed Rodney King beating.

Oakland community leaders have been taking steps to try to ensure calm after the verdict, including opening centers where people will be able to vent their feelings. The "community engagement centers" are meant for people to discuss the trial's outcome.

Mehserle was charged with first-degree murder in the killing, but a judge removed that option last week and ruled that the jury could consider only second-degree murder or lesser manslaughter charges -- or a verdict of not guilty of any charges.

After testimony in the trial ended, the prosecutor last Friday asked a Los Angeles County jury to do what no local jury had done in nearly 30 years: convict a police officer of murder in an on-duty shooting.

The shooting sparked violent street protests in Oakland, where the death of Grant – a grocery store worker and young father from Hayward, Calif., whose criminal record included violent felony convictions and who had been recently released from jail – was seen as a symbol of long-simmering tensions between minorities and law enforcement. He became a martyr of sorts, his image plastered on buildings and storefront windows across the city, his name memorialized in hip-hop songs and murals.