... fuck the fuck off, Judge Robert Perry
Nov. 5th, 2010 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eruthrosSo remember how Johannes Mehserle, a white BART police officer, shot and killed Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, last year in Oakland?
And remember how a couple months ago, the jury returned a verdict of involuntary manslaughter? And tacked a "gun enhancement change" on top of that? Rather than the second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter charges the prosecutor was asking for?
Well now Mehserle has been sentenced! To two whole years in prison (minus time served, of course). The shortest possible sentence. Yes. Two fucking years. Why?
Because the judge rejected the gun enhancement charge on the grounds that the jury must not have understood it.
Oh, and also because he's concerned about everyone's tone:
"The judge said he received more than 1,000 letters from the public advocating the maximum sentence of 14 years for Mehserle and that he was concerned by their anger." (from a different Bay Citizen article on the trial)
ETA: Oscar Grant Sr, Oscar Grant's grandfather, said: "Knowing how the judicial system in this country works, I was not surprised. Two years is just a slap in the face." (from sfgate.com's article on protests in Oakland)
No kidding.
ETA2: Scenes from the protests in Oakland tonight by Oakland North. According to the SF Chronicle, 500 police and Homeland Security officers are blocking off the 250 person protest.
And remember how a couple months ago, the jury returned a verdict of involuntary manslaughter? And tacked a "gun enhancement change" on top of that? Rather than the second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter charges the prosecutor was asking for?
Well now Mehserle has been sentenced! To two whole years in prison (minus time served, of course). The shortest possible sentence. Yes. Two fucking years. Why?
Because the judge rejected the gun enhancement charge on the grounds that the jury must not have understood it.
Oh, and also because he's concerned about everyone's tone:
"The judge said he received more than 1,000 letters from the public advocating the maximum sentence of 14 years for Mehserle and that he was concerned by their anger." (from a different Bay Citizen article on the trial)
ETA: Oscar Grant Sr, Oscar Grant's grandfather, said: "Knowing how the judicial system in this country works, I was not surprised. Two years is just a slap in the face." (from sfgate.com's article on protests in Oakland)
No kidding.
ETA2: Scenes from the protests in Oakland tonight by Oakland North. According to the SF Chronicle, 500 police and Homeland Security officers are blocking off the 250 person protest.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 12:09 am (UTC)I can't be sure from the articles I've read, but they mostly talk about him reading some letters defending Mehserle in court, and don't mention him reading any letters asking for high sentences. So he might have actually just dismissed them all with the tone argument and not read them publically. SRSLY.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 10:39 pm (UTC)What.
What is this I don't even.
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Date: 2010-11-06 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 03:49 am (UTC)