San Jose Mercury News
- Moments after the verdict was announced this week in a racially charged case involving a white transit cop who fatally shot a black man, the accusations rang out.
Critics said the jury convicted former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle of the least serious of three homicide charges — involuntary manslaughter — because none of the jurors were black. Three were Hispanic; one was Asian, and eight were white.
Though the verdict prompted protests and looting in Oakland on Thursday, the violence was limited — mostly likely because it is so rare for a jury to find an on-duty police officer guilty of any abuse that the verdict was viewed by some as a small victory.
But the case has rekindled a hotly debated legal issue — the impact of the under representation of minorities on juries, particularly blacks.
