Tashina Manyak

The response in Los Angeles to the involuntary manslaughter conviction of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was largely peaceful.

Mehserle was charged with second degree murder by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for fatally shooting unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant last year, but after six and a half hours of deliberation the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday.

(7/9) — 00:15 PDT — LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury of eight women and four men convicted former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter Thursday afternoon, but acquitted him of the most serious charge he faced: second degree murder.

(7/8) — UPDATED 19:31 PDT — LOS ANGELES — Johannes Mehserle, the former BART Police Officer who shot and killed unarmed passenger Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009 at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a Los Angeles jury.

The jury found Mehserle not guilty of the most serious charge he faced: murder. The verdict means Mehserle will face from five to 14 years in state prison for Grant’s death.

(7/7) — UPDATED 18:45 PDT — LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury restarted deliberations in the murder trial of former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle Wednesday morning, but ended discussions at 11:45 a.m. because of a juror’s afternoon doctor’s appointment.

Deliberations struck a brief hiatus Tuesday when one of the jurors fell ill, canceling what was to be the first full day of reviewing evidence in the murder trial.

(7/1) — UPDATED 22:20 PDT — LOS ANGELES — The prosecution in the murder trial of Johannes Mehserle, the former BART Police officer who shot and killed unarmed passenger Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009, urged a Los Angeles jury to convict Mehserle of second-degree murder during its closing argument today.

But the defense said the prosecution had not proven that Mehserle intended to shoot Grant beyond a reasonable doubt. “This was an accident, folks. Clear and simple,” Mehserle’s defense attorney Michael Rains said.

(6/29) — 21:15 PDT — LOS ANGELES — Both sides finished presenting evidence Tuesday during a sometimes emotional day of testimony in the murder trial of former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle, who fatally shot unarmed passenger Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.