(Reuters) - A white former transit police officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday in the videotaped shooting death of an unarmed black man that triggered riots in Oakland, California last year.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined civic leaders in Oakland and elsewhere in appealing for public restraint as police braced for the possibility of renewed violence sparked by the Los Angeles jury's verdict.
The panel of four men and eight women deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching their decision, which indicated they essentially believed defense arguments that the shooting was a tragic accident rather than the intentional act of a rogue cop.
The defendant in the racially charged trial, Johannes Mehserle, 28, testified that he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his electric Taser and shot Oscar Grant, 22, while trying to subdue him during a New Year's Day 2009 confrontation.
But prosecutors, who sought a conviction for second-degree murder, said Mehserle had "lost all control" and shot Grant on purpose because he thought Grant was resisting arrest.
Jurors can render an involuntary manslaughter conviction if they believe the defendant lacked an intent to kill but engaged in conduct so grossly negligent that it amounts to a crime.
It generally carries a sentence of two to four years in prison, but the jury also accepted a sentencing "enhancement" for Mehserle's use of a handgun in the commission of a crime.
Mehserle, who had been free on $3 million bond, showed no reaction as the verdict was read and was immediately taken into custody. Sentencing was set for August 6.
FAMILY FURY
Relatives of Grant, a young father who worked as a grocery store butcher, reacted with outrage.
"My son was murdered, and the law hasn't held the officer accountable the way he should be held accountable," his mother, Wanda Johnson shouted outside the Los Angeles courthouse.
The family's lawyer, John Burris, said that while "we do not accept the verdict," he called for a nonviolent response.
"One life lost is enough," Burris said.
Police in Oakland, across the Bay to the east of San Francisco, moved to a tactical alert status in preparation for potential civil disturbances.
"I encourage Californians to remain calm in light of the verdict and not to resort to violence," Schwarzenegger said, adding he had assured Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums that "we are well prepared to assist in maintaining order".
Demonstrations were planned in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, where many commuters left work early.
"I'm concerned about riots. I don't want to be hit by a bottle," said accountant Francisco Raygoza, 30, as he headed home. "Our office manager said leave as soon as you can".
In the first hours after the verdict, Oakland's streets were quiet, though some 200 people gathered at an intersection where a rally was planned.
"Its atrocious that a cop documented on video for killing a young man was not sentenced to murder. Justice was not done," said Naina Kanna, a 33-year-old community activist Oakland.
Anger over the slaying flared after video footage shot by onlookers and shown widely over the Internet and television appeared to show Grant lying face down on the train platform when he was shot in the back.
Mehserle was seen holstering his gun immediately afterward and putting his hands on his head as in disbelief.
The killing unleashed charges of police brutality and a night of civil unrest in Oakland, where demonstrators smashed store windows and set cars on fire. Police arrested over 100 people on charges of vandalism, unlawful assembly and assault.
The Alameda County Superior Court judge in the case, which was moved to Los Angeles because of heavy pretrial publicity in Oakland, ruled that the jury could not consider a first-degree murder charge. Judge Robert Perry held there was too little evidence to show the killing was premeditated.
Had he been convicted of second-degree murder, Mehserle faced a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. The jury could alternatively have found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter or acquitted him entirely.
