Involuntary Manslaughter in Oakland BART Shooting Case

I was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to get a murder verdict given the evidence available:

A jury has convicted a former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform.

Johannes Mehserle was found guilty on Thursday afternoon in the New Year's Day 2009 killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III.

Involuntary manslaughter typically carries a sentence of two to four years. Sentencing was set for Aug. 6.

Mehserle was placed in handcuffs and taken away after the verdict. He turned to his family and mouthed, "I love you, guys." His parents wept when the verdict was read.

Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, stared at the jurors and appeared upset.

One woman juror wiped tears with a tissue when the panel was polled on its decision.

At least five bystanders had videotaped the shooting incident — one of the most racially polarizing cases in California since four Los Angeles officers were acquitted in 1992 in the beating of Rodney King. Mehserle is white, Grant was black.

Prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at Grant for resisting arrest. Mehserle claimed he mistakenly drew his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun.

Things are going to be tense in Oakland.