Ex-BART officer accused of murder out on bail

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN

updated 4 hours, 49 minutes ago
Ex-BART officer accused of murder out on bail

http://i2.cdn.turner.com.nyud.net:8090/cnn/2009/CRIME/02/07/bart.officer.bail/art.mehserle.jpg

OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- A former transit police officer charged with murder was released from custody Friday after posting a $3 million bail.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in downtown Oakland to protest the release of Johannes Mehserle, 27, charged with killing an unarmed man on New Year's Day.

The former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer's release funds came from unknown sources, Alameda officials told CNN.

Video taken by a bystander showed Mehserle pulling his gun and fatally shooting Oscar Grant III, 22, in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/07/bart.officer.bail/index.html

[dcindian]

1. Hasn't he already run once?

Why the bail? Oh.... wait he is white.

And how the heck does a transit cop get the ability to post 3 million in bail? I wonder who helped.... is there a way to find out?

[HardWorkingDem]

12. No, he did not run....and it would be 300K.

Someone could have put a house or other property up for the 300k.

And he was not charged when he left the area, so he did not run.

[mulsh]

18. he's probably safer in Santa Rita than anywhere he's allowed to

go. I hope his lawyer has him hidden somewhere secure, if he can figure our where that might be.

[sazemisery]

2. Who paid for this guy's bail?

snip...

"The former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer's release funds came from unknown sources, Alameda officials told CNN."

I have worked in the bail bond business for 33 years. This is what I would require to post this bond:
10% fee = $300,000.00.
Collateral worth 3 million dollars. For those who don't know how bail bonds work, consider it the same as going to the bank for a loan. The banker will loan you the money and charge you interest. Interest = bail bond fee. But the banker also wants collateral worth the amount of the loan to protect himself from a loss if you don't pay him back. If you don't show up in Court, the bail bond agent has to pay the Court the 3 million dollars.

He's got some pretty wealthy friends, is all I got to say.

[MineralMan]

3. The question of who paid his bail occurred to me, too.

I doubt he had the assets to collateralize a $3 million bail. Perhaps we'll find out.

[Xithras]

17. Well, it IS the SF Bay Area

A house that would cost $100,000 anywhere else costs $700,000 in the bay area...it's one of the priciest real estate markets on the planet (the entire Bay Area is second only to Manhattan in RE values, and the Bay Area is much larger). It would only take a few homeowning friends and relatives to pool resources and come up with the collateral.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

29. Maybe the FOP or other union.

[MicaelS]

4. Too bad he couldn't have been denied bail

I think he should have stayed in jail. If I were to guess, I'd say it was the California Peace Officers' Association who funded much of his bail. They are the ones supposedly financing his defense. That and a combination of individual donations from fellow BART cops, and other cops in the state.

[Seldona]

5. Why is there bail in the first place?

That is bs.

[MicaelS]

6. Apparently under the law he had to be granted bail

http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_11647292

Jacobson ruled that bail was permissible because Mehserle did not pose an immediate danger to society, had not made threats against others and was not charged with a capital murder, the only three requirements necessary under the state constitution for a defendant to be denied bail.

But, Jacobson said, because Mehserle is considered a flight risk, he set the amount at $3 million to ensure the defendant does not flee the country in an attempt to avoid a trial. Mehserle was arrested in Nevada on Jan. 13.

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. Don't African Americans count as members of society? How about the President?

sounds like a South African Boer name, doesn't it?

[HardWorkingDem]

13. As someone else pointed out....

remember how DU members felt about the use of "Hussein" in the presidential election?

[Joe Chi Minh]

39. You really think they were "bona fide" Dems? Or are you not a "bona fide" Dem yourself?

[melm00se]

42. because he has a right to bail?

[Seldona]

46. Bail for someone performing a public execution, on TAPE?

And there is no RIGHT to bail. It is denied all the time. If allowing a psychopath back in the community can be prevented, it should. It's not that there is grainy, hard to see, video. The murder was shot from eight different angles!

[melm00se]

50. yes

just like all folks have the right to a jury trial and present a defense.

[Starry Messenger]

7. That makes me really angry.

It might be lawful but it is not just. And if he is acquitted of murder this town is going to explode.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

30. Then I hope they reduce the charge.

[slackmaster]

35. At trial, the way it's usually handled is the judge gives the jury the option of convicting

On a lesser charge. I believe both parties have to agree to that kind of instruction.

[HardWorkingDem]

8. Do some people here only believe in the US Constitution for those we only like?

I find it very troubling how people on the left on one hand are demanding that people being held in places like Gitmo should receive due process of law, while on the other hand seem to ignore it for this guy.

Yes, he committed a terrible accident. It is not murder and he is still entitled to his day in court.

[dcindian]

9. Accident?????????????

Wow

[HardWorkingDem]

11. Probably should re-classify as tremendous act of negligence or incompetence...

Maybe accident is too weak of a word, but this was not an act of "murder" as so many keep suggesting.

If there were an audio tape of this man saying something like, "I'm going to shoot you" or some other evidence comes forward proving this was murder, then it can be called "murder."

And like I've suggested other times, if people want to see this man acquitted, then keep pushing for him to charged with murder.

[MicaelS]

15. You are behind the curve

He has ALREADY been charged with murder. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6644761

[sendero]

41. You are a moron..

... you don't know WHAT it is. It sure looks like murder to me. The prosecutor thinks it is murder. Did some fairy tell you otherwise?

And from where I sit, murder while operating as an agent of the law should have DOUBLE PUNISHMENT.

[HardWorkingDem]

47. Good ole fashioned name calling, eh....real mature...

You know, go to your local community college and sign up for a criminal justice class, or better yet, take a peek in Black's Law Dictionary.

There are certain things they call "elements" of an offense. And as anyone one with a smidgen of intelligence knows, there is a common thought that some prosecutors could get a ham sandwich indicted before a grand jury.

And why is it so hard to figure out that the prosecutor is possibly using the murder charge in a political way.

[davidinalameda]

14. you have access to all the evidence?

maybe you can share it with the rest of us

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Is it not on film?

[davidinalameda]

31. what's on film is one person's view of the scene

does it tell the whole story-probably not

[Joe Chi Minh]

37. No. It's the camera's...! Well, I've seen some tortured "reasoning" in my time, but never anything

as surreal as that! Not "probably not", virtually certainly, "Yes".

"One person's view?" What do want? One of those medical body scanners?

[davidinalameda]

43. do you know the story of why this guy was arrested in the first place

he and several other people were fighting on a BART train

if I was on that train, I would have called the police as well

if I was a BART cop, I would have restrained his ass as well

show me where the torture is

[Joe Chi Minh]

45. Is English your first language? I said your reasoning was tortured. This was about a helpless man

being shot in the back, or hadn't you noticed?

[davidinalameda]

49. accidents like that happen

you know that this wasn't one?

[HardWorkingDem]

20. Do YOU?!?!? And the countless others here who keep screaming "murder"?

No, of course not. But read a statute on murder. This is not murder. No matter how heinous it was, it is not criminal murder.

[davidinalameda]

32. unbunch your panties

I haven't been screaming murder

I actually live in the area and that is my BART station

[HardWorkingDem]

19. Try.......

Picking up a book on criminal statutes. Also, John Burris, the attorney to the Grant family has been on record stating he does not believe a first degree murder charge is appropriate. When this is all said and done, I think it will be clear the prosecutor charged this man with the statute he did for political purposes.

Next, as I suggested, if people here want this guy punished, then the appropriate charge needs to be actually charged, otherwise, and mark my words, this man will be acquitted or will have his verdict overturned on appeal.

Lastly, two things about the video tape: how many times have people seen video of an incident and the later outcome be different from what people thought was in the video and, where in the video is INTENT shown?


I hate to be the person that bursts the bubble of so many here, but people better take a look at trials, court room procedures and statues.

[Bonobo]

23. Huh? We should look at "statues"? Why?

Oh, you must mean "statutes". LOL.

[Bonobo]

22. "Yes, he committed a terrible accident"...

"It is not murder and he is still entitled to his day in court."

B, but you seem to have already tried the case yourself. WTF?

[HardWorkingDem]

24. The point I'm trying to make is this....

Do you want to see this person punished for what he did?

If so, then when his trial arrives, the appropriate charge must be filed or else there will be a great chance he will be acquitted or have his verdict overturned on an appeal.

Is that what you want to see?

[Bonobo]

25. Read this part again. And again. And again. Until you start sympathizing with the right side.

"Video taken by a bystander showed Mehserle pulling his gun and fatally shooting Oscar Grant III, 22, in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant."

[HardWorkingDem]

26. Have you had much dealing with criminal courts in America?

Evidently you have not. I have. I have had many dealings with murder cases in court. You need to take a crash course in LEGAL definitions of things like murder and intent.

Please, don't get me wrong - I'm not saying this man should not be punished. He should be. But if the most extreme people have their way and if he is tried for murder, he most likely WILL be acquitted or his verdict overturned. Whether you, I, or anyone else likes it or not, what he did, most likely will not sustain a charge of murder in a criminal trial.

[Bonobo]

27. I think you are a poser.

You don't write well enough to be a lawyer, so if you have had many dealings with murder cases, it surely was not in that role. Therefore, color me unimpressed with your (stunningly obvious) assertions about the right to a fair trial.

[HardWorkingDem]

28. Did I state I was a lawyer? Can you read?

Guess not.

But hey, it works both ways, you want to say I'm a fake Dem, my comment to you is why don't you call up Dick Cheney because you apparently think just like him and his sort.

[Joe Chi Minh]

38. Tell us the extenuating circumstances, in US law, will you. Why it's not first-degree murder

to shoot a man lying helpless on the ground in the back. We'd all be intrigued to hear. And we fully understand the twisted nature of human jurisprudence, but this is kind of special, don't you think?

[HardWorkingDem]

48. Probably the most telling factor is "intent"....

When this trial hits the courtroom, the defense will most likely be able to show this man did not have the intent to actually kill this man. There are other more appropriate charges that would almost surely lead to some sort of conviction.

[mountainvue]

34. Due process would determine whether or not

this was an accident.

[Joe Chi Minh]

40. That seems highly likely, I would think. But I don't think anyone is disputing that. What,

do you and HardWorkingDem think we want a lynching party to despatch our "Efricaaner" friend. Maybe that would be ideal on one level, but we believe in the rule of law here.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mountainvue]

33. Jesus H. Christ. Where does a transit cop

come up with a 3 million dollar bail? Who's backing him? The Klan?

[slackmaster]

36. His parents own a nice house

They may have tapped into equity. Another possibility is a union helping him out.

[ConcernedCanuk]

44. Let's see - I fatally shoot someone in the back - ON FILM - get out of jail, and ain't gonna run??

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yeah - right.