To prosecutors, the trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle proved that he "abandoned all judgment and training and became part of a sweeping swell of officer aggression" when he killed unarmed train rider Oscar Grant.
To defense attorneys, jurors learned that Mehserle accidentally shot Grant while intending to subdue the 22-year-old with a Taser during a difficult arrest, making "a tragic and irreversible error while trying in good faith to do his job."