Mehserle takes the stand at his murder trial

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(06-24) 16:39 PDT LOS ANGELES -- Former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle took the witness stand at his trial this afternoon, hoping to avoid a murder conviction for the New Year's Day 2009 shooting of an unarmed man detained after a fight on a train.

Mehserle, wearing a gray suit, blue shirt and red tie, testified for an hour and 20 minutes in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom before the day's session ended. By that time, he had not yet been asked why he shot Oscar Grant while trying to arrest him on the Fruitvale Station platform in Oakland. His testimony is set to resume Friday morning.

Mehserle, 28, who has never spoken publicly about the shooting, seemed comfortable. He smiled often and looked at jurors.

He described himself as an officer who preferred to resolve conflicts by talking, saying, "I was never very hands-on."

He distanced himself from a former colleague on the BART force, Anthony Pirone, who had aggressively detained Grant and his friends and made the decision to arrest Grant, allegedly for resisting the officers.

"I was the opposite of him" in terms of style, Mehserle said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/24/BAMH1E4GJM.DTL

[Politicalboi]

1. I always thought Oscar was

Handcuffed, but it appears he was not. But still, it doesn't excuse the cop for even thinking of tasing him let alone shoot him. He was already on the ground, and there were cops everywhere. I hope the cop is found guilty of murder.

[Divine Discontent]

4. spot on - the fact is, he was lying face down on his belly, with his hands in sight,

dude is guilty of taking Oscar's life, regardless if it was intentional or accidental - his horrible ability to handle duress killed another human being. I'm betting there will be city wide problems out there if he's let off.

[SILVER__FOX52]

2. I f this idiot is not found guilty............

it's just further proof of the corruption of our system.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. "seemed comfortable"

of course he did- he will get off.