Experts: Mehserle jury makeup doesn't make defense's case any easier San Jose Mercury News
LOS ANGELES — No sooner was the jury seated in the murder trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle than the criticisms of its makeup began.
The panel of 12 Los Angeles residents and six alternates includes no blacks. A majority of the members are women, and at least a handful of its members said they had some sort of relationship with law enforcement through family, friends or by working with police officers on neighborhood committees.
Seven of the 12 jurors are white while, it appears, the other five are Latino. Of the six alternates, one is white, three are Latino and one is Asian-American.
The family of the slain man, Oscar Grant III, 22, of Hayward, said they were angered by the lack of blacks on the jury. Grant, who was black, was fatally shot by Mehserle, who is white, early Jan. 1, 2009 on the Fruitvale BART station platform in Oakland.
Attorneys and professors who have been tracking the case said they are not surprised by the jury's makeup, adding that it does not necessarily mean Mehserle's defense team will have an easier chance of winning acquittal for their 28-year-old client.
