Mehserle Jury Seated Without Any Black Jurors: Family (of Oscar Grant)

Source: NBC Bay Area News

Late Tuesday, a Los Angeles County judge officially seated a jury in the Johannes Mehserle trial. The group of eight women and four men were sworn into service at 4 p.m.

Oscar Grant's family says that the jury does not include a single African American.

Race has been and is expected to continue to be a key component in this already highly charged trial. The trial is considered the most racially polarizing in California since the acquittal of four white Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King. That verdict was read in 1992 and lead to days of riots.

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Johannes Mehserle is accused of killing Oscar Grant on a Fruitvale BART platform early Jan. 1, 2009. Grant was being detained at the time after reportedly taking part in a fight on the train on its way back from a New Year's Eve celebration in San Francisco. It's the first time ever in California that a police officer has stood trial in the fatal shooting of a suspect.

Legal observers say Mehserle's legal team has built some momentum heading into trial and that was ahead of the jury selection.

They point to two rulings. First the judge will allow Grant's criminal record to be introduced during the trial. That record includes an earlier case of resisting arrest. Second, a video expert that says he has spend hundreds of hours analyzing cell phone videos of the shooting will be allowed to be called by the defense.

Read more: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Mehserle-Jury-Seated-95914494.html

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(sigh) Everyone in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas: Board up your windows and load your shotguns, because shat is going to happen if Mehserle gets off scotch free!

While I believe that all suspected criminals have the right to a free trial per the Sixth Amendment, the fact that ZERO African Americans will sit on this jury is especially infuriating. Throughout history there has been exclusion of blacks from juries by thinly veiled racism. Batson v. Kentucky (Supreme Court, 1985) says that's unconstitutional. Still, silly excuses to exclude blacks from juries still exist in some states.

Interestingly though, the fact that 2/3 of the jury is female may put gender as a factor: women's vs. men's attitudes on police brutality and race. And the article fails to report if non-black minorities such as Hispanics or Asians are participating in the jury.

First the judge will allow Grant's criminal record to be introduced during the trial. That record includes an earlier case of resisting arrest.

What does his record have to do with ANYTHING? He was handcuffed on the ground and the pig just took out his gun and shot him. Is his excuse he meant to taze him? And then again WTF. Why taze someone who is already on the ground in handcuffs.
We hear sometimes how real criminals usally white collar crimes about not being able to bring their record to the jury. This case is already tainted.

instead of up in the Sierras somewhere, like the defense tried for. And look what happened. :eyes:

This is California: there are non-White jurors in this trial, namely Hispanics and Asians.

Most judges are very conscious of that these days. If there was the appearance of that the prosecution should have spoken up and gotten it stopped.