Overcoming the Pitfalls in the Oscar Grant Case
By Earl Ofari HutchinsonNew America Media
When prosecutors prosecute police officers for the murder of unarmed civilians no matter how cut and dry the evidence against the accused officer, they know that there are colossal pitfalls to getting a conviction. The pitfalls are certainly there in the prosecution of former BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer Johannes Mehserle, who is charged in the videotaped New Year's Day 2009 killing of Oscar Grant, a young African American, on a station platform.
Like some cop-on-innocent-victim killings, the case seems to be about as close to a no-lose case for prosecutors. There are compelling videos that show an unarmed and handcuffed Grant face down on the BART platform. Grant does not appear to be resisting the officers. And numerous witnesses confirmed that Grant posed no threat to the officers. BART officials offered the weak explanation that Mehserle might have mistakenly thought that he was reaching for his Taser gun.
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How BP Limits What You Learn, and What You Know
By Scott MartelleProtect Consumer Justice
We linked yesterday elsewhere on this site to an item by ABC News about BP buying Google search words to steer Internet browsers past news articles about the Gulf Oil disaster. But that’s only the latest wrinkle in what appears to be a campaign by the oil giant to control coverage of the disaster.
Individually, these steps are grotesque. Together, they stand as a callous display of corporate arrogance — with the help of U.S. government officials.
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