All I can say after reading this is ‘Wow’.. These folks have no shame..Absolutely no shame..
D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYGQNZAeQc
BART trial: Mehserle attorney calls Oscar Grant’s family ‘mean spirited,” requests sentencing delay.
Michael Rains
Now that the gag-order in the case has been lifted, the attorney for former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle is speaking out. KGO-TV asked Michael Rains on Sunday his reaction to Oscar Grant’s family denouncing Mehserle’s letter of apology. Grant’s uncle called Mehserle’s letter“garbage” and said that any letter of apology should have been directed directly to them and should have been sent much earlier.
Rains told KGO-TV on Sunday, “You know what, I don’t think that when the family remains that hostile and that nasty and mean-spirited that Mr. Mehserle should be out there offering olive branches because they will not be received.”
Rains is seeking a delay of sentencing so he will have enough time to prepare his post-trial motions.
He says the jury was “confused” and in a hurry to reach a verdict and “get out of the courthouse.”
Rains said the involuntary manslaughter charge and the gun enhancement charge which the jury convicted Mehserle on, were mutually exclusive because involuntary means without the intention to fire a gun. Rains will ask the judge at sentencing to set aside the conviction and order a new trial.
Grant’s family is seeking a federal prosecution based on civil rights violations. Rains called that “highly unlikely or altogether impossible.”
Media coverage of the Oakland riots after BART shooting trial verdict slammed (video, photos)
The San Francisco Bay Area media is taking heat for its coverage of the Oakland riots from the political right, left and center.
On the right, national radio talk show host Michael Savage is slamming the media for “stirring people up” following the verdict in the Oscar Grant case.
Savage told listeners on his show, which originates from the San Francisco Bay Area, that the “vermin in the media” are the “true terrorists” who fanned the flames of violence in the wake of the verdict that found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Savage, who is not known for his subtlety, said those who caused trouble in Oakland were “white communists and anarchists” and “white scum.”
Savage said the real hero in Oakland during the rioting was Oscar Grant’s grandfather and namesake. Savage played a speech by the senior Grant urging nonviolence.
Savage noted that Oscar Grant senior wore a ball cap with the words “Airborne US Marine Corps.”
Said Savage, “I don’t believe he found it in the ashcan.”
Savage’s opinion about the media was echoed by someone who is Savage’s political polar opposite in the media.
Charles Karel Bouley, who goes by Karel, a talk show host on the left-leaning Green 960, told listeners that the media effectively rallied the rioters.
“The media so wanted a riot yesterday in Oakland, they created one,” said Karel .
Karel also read aloud from Mehserle’s letter of apology and mocked the Mehserle for implying that he was a victim too.
Karel said that Mehserle should have been convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
The media also got slammed from a voice in the middle. KGO radio talk show host Ronn Owens told listens on his 9-noon show, “We the media were counting on these riots, I am surprised we didn’t just go out and take out ads, that said ‘listen to us, we will have the best riots coverage.”
Owens added, “It’s almost like the media was disappointed it wasn’t a bigger riot.”
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Previous Updates:
Letter of apology from Johannes Mehserle released Friday in wake of Oakland riots (photos, video)
Johannes Mehserle issued a hand-written letter of apology dated Sunday, July 4, 2010, four days before the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Here is the text of the letter. A PDF of the letter was posted on the SFGATE.com site. Click here to read it. The hand-written letter is addressed to Michael Rains, Mehserle’s attorney.
The attorney for the Grant family, John Burris, commented on the letter during a brief interview on the Gil Gross show on KGO radio at 2:45 p.m.
Although Burris called it a “good statement,” he said Mehserle should have apologized on the right of the shooting. Burris said he had not been able to talk to the Grant family since the letter was released early Friday afternoon.
“It doesn’t change any facts, Mr. Grant is still dead, he did it,” Burris said. The attorney reiterated that the letter would have been better received it had come earlier.
Here’s the text of Mehserle’s letter:
Mike –
Please try to get this message to the public:
I don’t know what the jury in this case is going to decide, but I hope those who hate me and those who understand that I never intended to shoot Oscar Grant will listen to this message.
I have and will continue to live everyday of my life knowing that Mr. Grant should not have been shot. I know a daughter has lost a father and a mother has lost a son. It saddens me knowing that my actions cost Mr. Grant his life, no words express how truly sorry I am.
I hoped to talk to Ms. Johnson (Wanda Johnson, Grant’s mother) and Ms. Mesa (Sophina Mesa, Grant’s girlfriend and the mother of his daughter) in the days following this terrible event, but death threats toward my newly-born son, my friends and family resulted in no communication occurring. I hope the day will come when anger will give way to dialogue.
For now, and forever I will live, breathe, sleep, and not sleep with the memory of Mr. Grant screaming “You shot me” and putting my hands on the bullet wound thinking the pressure would help while I kept telling him “You’ll be okay!” I tried to tell myself that maybe this shot would not be so serious, but I recall how sick I felt when Mr. Grant stopped talking, closed his eyes and seemed to change his breathing.
I don’t expect that I can ever convince some individuals how sorry I am for the death of Mr. Grant, but I would not feel right if I didn’t explain my thoughts as I wait for a decision of the jury.
Johannes Mehserle
I’m sorry – mean-spirited, as opposed to what, eh? Killing their son, their nephew?
And please – if Mehserle were actually interested in talking to Grant’s family, it could’ve been done LONG AGO.
This: “I hoped to talk to Ms. Johnson (Wanda Johnson, Grant’s mother) and Ms. Mesa (Sophina Mesa, Grant’s girlfriend and the mother of his daughter) in the days following this terrible event, but ….”
Ya see that ‘but’ – the word ‘but’ is a word of negation, meaning it negates what was said previous to it. Mehserle never wanted to speak to Grant’s family, apologizing or anything else. However – as stated by Karel – Mehserle is more interested as being placed or seen as a victim.
These wordz are dedicated to Oscar Grant from Oakland! The young brotha slain by the hand of corruption of crooked cops! He was smart enough to take the last picture!
Google it and see for yourself! These words are to be a rock pitched at a window of bullshit in this police State! UV…Live and Direct…Holla if ya hear me! Leave a comment liking this is not enough! If you have had enough speak up and be heard! Y B Silent? Find your voice!
Sometimes I feel disattached
The world is a plague
Hate can get into the blood
And I am afraid
Too many loved ones lost nowhere to turn.
My passions burn
And I am told to ignore it
Flipping dishonest pages
Through a history book
And I abhore it.
My thoughts often distorted
So I speak truth to power
Although I can scarcely afford it
Hometown houses boarded
Bandages upon the face of disgrace
A plague affecting lethally injecting
Into my destiny
Won’t let me be
Suppressin me
Sickness over taking my kindred
Lost minds
Lost souls
Drawing near
I hear the voices too
A look upon the face of a man
Schizophrenic and for some reason
I understand his catatonic gestures
A Plague has
Become pandemic
This is a mix of shattered glass
And pulverized bone
Jagged edges cut
Deep into my conscious
Glutony of a starving man
The boiling of hatred
Becomes an elixer
A subtle change from pepsi
A New Generation of flesh to
Be sacrificed to stop the plague!
So many bones to pick
At risk teens dream to be awakened
But they can no longer tell the difference
Between Jesus and Satan
The depth of speech is staggerring
I barely feel the urge to move
Away from this plague
Rather
Stand still as the infestation takes place.
Was a talented young man
That was the before
The after a few years waste ed
Tasted bitter fruits of damnation
Forgot I was born to original sin
Sinister plans plague
Impoverished provinces
Poisoning blood lines
And bloodstreams
Blood letting still going on in Oakand Streets
Oscar took his last photograph to prove
That they care less about
Justice Just this once I hope they
Get it
Like a kid watching the goodie goodies that finally get caught in the act
Lookin at that bitch with the scales like
What you gone do about that! Fuck being black
Dis shit bout being human
This climate so humid California feeling like New York 98
New York feeling like
LA 92
Oakland feelin a lot like 1975
Huey still alive The blood of Larry Hampton fresh on the hotel floor!
Freeze and shoot
Lay down and fire
Run and die
Lie and steal and poison the concept of
Equality
They done fucked up now
Niggas in the courtroom with violence in their eyes
No more Compromise
What will the DNC THE CBC THE Tea Par
T and the motha fuckin governator say about that
Niggas already know Rush Limpball
Run the GOP!
Mothafuckas don’t run me
Too many times we stabd in line for free meals
When we gone stand up?
Copyrights Reserved © 2010 UrbanVoodoo
hmm, if mehserle meant to fire the gun, then shouldnt the charge have been voluntary manslaughter at minimum? maybe the jury was confused by the judge’s instructions. regardless, i dont think intent and enhancement cancel each other out. if you use a gun in the commission of a felony, it doesnt matter whether you intended to or not. i think rains should consider himself lucky and just crawl back into his hole.
I am okay with the apology. The litigious nature of our society make it near impossible for people to do things without opening them up to exposure. The Grant family can not have it both ways. If you want an apology up front then you can not turn around and use it against the defendant.
I do not know if the media stirred up the riots, but I think that the graffiti in and around Oakland and discussions on the chatboards was enough to suggest to OPD that violence might happen.
Involuntary manslaughter was the correct call.
The destruction in Oakland was unwarranted and ineffectual. But involutary manslaughter? I can’t buy that. And I don’t buy that they’re pushing sentencing back til September. Time served will definitely be on his side. To call the family mean-spirited is like pouting and yelling “but, he SAID he was sorry!” Try losing someone you love so senselessly and then decide if that apology is enough. Furthermore, every cop I know said they have never, NEVER, accidentally pulled their gun when going for their taser, since they’re on opposite sides of the utility belt and all.
———-
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hometown grrl: how can you say you are “ok” with the apology? are you related to Oscar Grant? if not, it wasnt meant for you.
in any event, it didnt mean anything a year and a half after the fact. there was no apology on the stand during the trial, no apology on the BART website one week after the shooting. Grant’s family is not trying to have it both ways. mehserle could have apologized at any time. he only did after he was convicted, in an apparent ploy to get a lighter sentence. why else release it now?
as for the media, they were talking about riots long before the graffiti occurred. you need to check your facts–and your head.
Don’t people, especially the media itself, get that the police are generating that news that the media is reporting on? They put out press releases (at a much higher rate than other public entities) saying they expect a riot, to justify spending 10s of 1000s of dollars and much more in some cases (the g20s approaching billions range in each city) in the name of “security.” The media has a responsibility to report the news that is fed them as they do to critique what’s fed them before it’s reported…it’s just that the latter is less and less employed because of dwindling resources and motivation of profit by editors/owners/publishers.
debbie is right. but in this case we need to distinguish between independent and mainstream media. CNN does not care about Oakland, period. and the Washington Post cannot effectively report on an event from 3,000 miles away. as for the local TV, radio, and newspaper outlets, most of their reporters were sequestered in the press briefing room while stuff was happening, and had to rely on OPD accounts. the problem with that is exaggeration or misinformation: a firecracker becomes an “incendiary device,” a deaf woman hit by a police vehicle becomes a protester struck by a bottle, etc. the media relies on police PR for their crime coverage. yet indie media is often at the scene and can confirm what did and didnt happen with documented evidence.
Regarding the media, they made me sick!! Instead of covering thd people that were speaking out on stage, they avoided the stage and went around the edges pretty much adking people if they were going to riot! If was in believable!!! They could not wait for something to jump off. Since I live and work onOakland, I could care less what they say about us because if they were not scared, they would have taken over this city long ago. Keep perpetuating your racist BS and stay the fuck out of our city!!!! Next on the agenda is to demand that all police in Oakland. Culturally and ethnically match the people who live here.
the media made me sick too. they were just itching for something ‘to happen’ — during the rally it was like nothing was ‘happening yet’ they even said it like that, ‘nothing is happening yet’ , they are hungry wolves. and then if someone used a little language, you’d’ve thought the world had come to an end. argh… horrific. if you back way the f off, way back, you can see it so clearly. we’re talking about two young men, not quite men yet. one with a powerful weapon he had no business carrying, and the power of his uniform, and the responsibility of that uniform he didn’t understand, and one with a 500 year history of being beaten down unlawfully, by the law. they played it out. Oscar’s death is a horrible tragedy, and he is a victim, in the real sense and in the historic sense. Meserle is a victim too in a weird way. i believed his apology. not that is excuses the crime or releases him from responsibility for it, but it should not be taken with such animosity or hostility — maybe folks aren’t ready to hear it. HIs lawyer should shut up. he’s turning this into a circus, he should allow the grieving/healing process to happen, but he’s a dog too. Meserle is a very young man too trying to figure it out. now he’s killed an innocent man. he has a conscious, which is far better than not having one. i don’t think he’s looking for forgiveness with this apology, but trying to reach out and do one thing that is right, to be part of something more positive. while perhaps noone can accept that right now, at least let it lie there. what’s wrong with it?
e-scribblah,
The apology was addressed to the public and if I can not issue an opinion on it then neither should anyone else. Thus your words about its intent are just dust in the wind. That said I agree with amela’s take on the apology.
The media, which was not on lockdown, did a good job covering the events. As much as you may not like this somethimes you do not want the media poking a microphone in every speakers face. At times the media needs to let the event unfold as it unfolds and just show you the pictures.
Mainstream media is not the problem. Revisionist such as yourselves who appear to have been beaten so low that you will use any opportunity to distort the truth to your picture of reality are the real problem. Until you stop acting like the victim you will always be defensive and hostile.
e-scribblah,
This is a free society. I am entitled to my opinion as you are yours. I suggest you check your facts. The graffiti occured long before the media reported on riots. And if you do not believe me ask the people around the lake, businesses owners and churchgoers on Lakeshore. The pro riot graffiti was there long before the trial concluded, but you wouldn’t know because it does not fit with your version of the truth.
hmtwn grrrrl, with all due respect, you have no idea what you were talking about. you speak of media coverage as if it was sacrosanct. i was there and i have documentation to prove it, and i can tell you some of what was reported wasnt even close to the actuality of what happened
you are also wrong about the media’s reportage. and about me. i’m not a revisionist, nor an opportunist. you’re just playing yourself. i’m not really sure why you’re getting hung up on the graffiti issue, but it’s probably because you dont want to address the moral issues of a cop who shoots an unarmed man in the back. hotep..
No, e-scribblah it is ye who know not of what ye speak. The jury rendered the correct verdict. It was a tragic situation but it was not murder as defined by law.
The only graffiti to which I refer is the graffiti that appeared long before the trial ended. It supports the theory that the media was not creating the hysteria.
From what I have observed, 97.6% of the peaceful demonstrators do not acknowledge the events which got out of hand. I can tell you a lot of what happened was not reported. I was there I saw it.
No one is surprised at the verdict. Many of us just wonder how long will we continue to allow anyone who is part of what historically, to current day, in this country, has been the greatest oppressive force to individuals of color, (not just the police, the entire American justice system. From law schools to the court room, and pretty much everyone in it,) to be any determining factor on life. Politicians are the lowest scum of all, not one spoke up.
We know if this were their child, the entire event would be different, that’s a maybe, especially if that child happened to be considered of color. More so than not, the American justice system is happy being so antiquated that in 2010, it is still going on 1892, the year of the most recorded lynchings of black people in America. With no consideration of, and for a change in sight, site, or cite.
Do not expect any major outcry from our churches or the NAACP for the reasons listed on this web site. http://hushmoney.org/501c3-facts.htm.
Let us take a good look. What if one of us had shot a subdued police officer in the back, with a tazer, or a gun, which ever one, and caused the death of that officer. Would we receive anywhere near the same reaction from a judge, the American justice system, as well as the police, arresting individuals for showing their disapproval. In the manner that the police officers displayed, and are displaying? The answer is No!
Know that the legal definition of arrest it; to deprive a person of his liberty by use of legal authority. Knowing that liberty is a right secured by the U.S. Constitution, and “Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them.” Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436, 491. “There can be no sanction or penalty imposed upon one because of this exercise of constitutional Rights.” Snerer vs. Cullen, 481 F. 946. “The claim and exercise of a constitutional Right cannot be converted into a crime.”Miller vs. U.S., 230 F. 486, 489. “With regard particularly to the U.S. Constitution, it is elementary that a Right secured or protected by that document cannot be overthrown or impaired by any state police authority.” Connolly vs. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 US 540 Lafarier vs. Grand Trunk R.R. Co., 24 A. 848; O’Neil vs. Providence Amusement Co., 108 A. 887. “The police power of the state must be exercised in subordination to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution.” Bacahanan vs. Wanley, 245 US 60; Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. vs. State Highway Commission, 294 US 613.
The word police is inclusive of, the entire American justice system. I can easily list at least 60 standing decision that are currently being violated, and at least 80 that are violated everyday by the same.
This can only be done under color of law; meaning the appearance or semblance, without the substance, of legal right. Misuse of power, possessed by virture of state law and made possible only because wrongdoer is clothed with authority of state, is action taken under “color of law.” Atkins v. Lanning D.C.Olk., 415 F.Supp. 186, 188.
In the aftermath of the Johannes Mehserle verdict, it is to be remembered that the State by use of the police arrested many individuals, who did not not shoot and kill a subdued individual, in the back. The state by use of the police sent out an enormous message, that the State will protect their wrong doings at all cost. Historically, and today, especially when those wrong doings are of this nature.
There were political figures involved and there were churches involved fam..some of the most outspoken people were from church including Oscars mother and fam and Minister Keith from NOI.. weekly meetings were held ever week at Olivette.. yeah hush money exists , but not for everyone..