Major League Baseball called the Los Angeles Angels last week to warn them about the possibility of riots in Oakland this weekend if a verdict comes down in the case of a transit officer who is on trial for shooting an unarmed man on a train platform.
Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday's lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.
Oscar Grant was shot in the back while laying face-down on a subway platform. Mehersle dodged the more severe charge of second degree murder.
Mehersle faces a prison sentence of two to four years.
The protesters, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as a racially diverse group, faced off with police, threw rocks and bottles, smashed storefronts and sprayed graffiti on walls that read "Riot for Oscar."
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein said in his closing argument that Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him and intended to shoot Grant with the handgun without justification.
Defense attorney Michael Rains contended the shooting was a tragic accident. Mehserle had no motive to shoot Grant, even though he was resisting arrest, the lawyer argued.
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