BART cop granted $3M bail in murder case
A judge has set bail for the Bay Area transit officer accused of killing an unarmed man at $3 million.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson issued his decision Friday, after the lawyer for 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle argued that his client had mistakenly pulled his pistol rather than his stun gun.
Attorney Michael Rains argued that Mehserle didn’t act with malice when he fatally shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant in requesting that bail be set at $100,000.
Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. Cell phone videos of the incident show the officer shooting Grant as he was lying facedown on a train platform early New Year’s Day.
The case has sparked outrage among many residents and community leaders. Crowds gathered again outside the courthouse Friday, with demonstrators chanting that Mehserle should remain jailed.
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