LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - The mood was not upbeat outside a downtown courthouse July 8 after a jury, having deliberated for about six hours, found former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of involuntary man-slaughter in the Oakland subway shooting death of Oscar Grant.

The verdict suggests the jury believed Mehserle who testified June 24 that he did not intend to kill Hayward resident Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009 on a rail station platform, and intended to draw his Taser, not his .40 caliber handgun.

“It sets a precedent for cops now to know that if they shoot and kill us on camera, they can still get away with it as long as they have an excuse,” said protester Cherise Rogers outside the courthouse Thursday. “It puts fear into young people – Black and Brown – out here that walk the streets and know now that the biggest gang out there is not the Bloods or the Crips, but the police. It is as if [police] now have the permit or license to go out here and kill our people with no recourse.”

To the family and some concerned citizens, the jury rushed to the decision and should have taken a longer look at the facts.

Outside the courthouse, John Burris, who is representing the Grant family in the case, said “as you can imagine we are extremely disappointed with this verdict. The verdict is not a true representative of what happened to Oscar Grant and what the officer did to him that night. This is not an involuntary manslaughter case. ... We do believe that this was a murder case, a second degree murder. We are surprised that the jury came back as quickly as they did.”

Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, who has not spoken much to the media over the trial, added “My son was murdered and the law has not held the officer accountable the way that he should have been held accountable.”

Mehserle, 28, was remanded into custody and handcuffed following the verdict. He was then booked into the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, where he will be kept separate from the general population. Mehserle is due back in court Aug. 6 for sentencing.

He could face five to 14 years in prison. But according to Burris, there is a slight possibility he could walk away with as little as two years of probation.

Involuntary manslaughter convictions call for anywhere between two to four years in prison. But because the added gun enhancement charges, the judge could add an additional three to 10 years.

“Johannes Mehserle has a debt to pay,” said Grant’s uncle, Cyphus "Bobby" Johnson. “And if that debt is not paid according to this system, there is a higher moral justice that he will pay to. ... It is my prayer and hope that the judge comes back with a sentencing that is appropriate because we do not want this murderer to be released to go home to eat dinner and then be rehired by another police department somewhere across the United States.”

Following the verdict, the U.S. Justice Depart-ment issued a statement saying its civil rights division, the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office have an open investigation into the fatal shooting, and at the end of the state prosecution the bodies will conduct “an independent review of the facts and circumstances to determine whether the evidence warrants federal prosecution.”