Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The jury in the Johannes Mehserle murder trial may begin deliberating as early as today. Jurors will have a choice of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, or acquittal as possible verdicts for the ex-BART cop in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant, the Chron and Trib report. If jurors believe that Mehserle got angry, stood up, and purposely shot Grant in the back, then its second-degree murder. If they believe that Mehserle unrealistically thought Grant was reaching for a gun — when Grant wasn’t — and then shot him in the back, then it’s voluntary manslaughter. If jurors believe that Mehserle meant to use his Taser, but mistakenly and recklessly fired his gun instead, then it’s involuntary manslaughter. And if they believe that Mehserle accidentally fired his gun instead of his Taser because he was so poorly trained by BART on how to use a Taser, then he’s not guilty.
