Break in Deliberations for Mehserle Jury

LOS ANGELES (KCBS) A Bay Area legal expert is weighing in on jury deliberations in the murder trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

Criminal defense attorney and legal analyst Steven Clark said the jury instructions in the trial have set a difficult-to-reach standard for convicting the former BART police officer of murder.[pullquote quote="The concern would be, is this jury going to rush to verdict to preserve it while he's still present." credit="Criminal defense attorney and legal analyst Steven Clark "]

Following closing arguments on Friday, the seven women and five men on the panel listened to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry, who went over deliberation instructions for more than 40 minutes.

Click here for the judge's instructions

Among other things, Judge Perry told jurors that they can't convict Mehserle of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter if they believe he meant to use his Taser on Oscar Grant and not his firearm.

"If the jury believes that Officer Mehserle intended to use his Taser, he by definition had no intent to kill or reckless regard for human life," said Clark. "Therefore, he can't be guilty of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter because the Taser by definition is non-lethal force."

Meanwhile, one of the jurors has apparently told the judge he will not be available after Wednesday, something Clark said is not unusual.

"That's why you select alternates. However, what is unusual in this case is that we know this juror has to leave after only one day," he said. "The concern would be, is this jury going to rush to verdict to preserve it while he's still present."

If the juror leaves, an alternate would take his place and deliberations would have to start all over.

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