Johannes Mehserle, the former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer convicted of killing unarmed Oscar Grant in July of this year, was denied bail yesterday [Dec. 3],  by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry.

Michael Rains, attorney for Mehserle, had asked the court allow his client to go free pending an appeal of the involuntary manslaughter conviction handed down by a Los Angeles jury on July 8.

Rains stated that, in Alameda County, bail in the amount of $30,000 for involuntary manslaughter was appropriate, but that he understood that the Los Angeles court was not bound by that figure.  Rains argued in part that Mehserle should be granted bail because he “has six months of his sentence left,” and that “we won’t complete the appeals [process] in six months.”

In order for bail to be granted the court had to consider three issues: 1) is the defendant likely to flee?  2) is the defendant a danger to the community; and 3) the appeal is not for the purpose of delay, and the issues raised are substantial enough that the appeal will be granted/the conviction reversed. 

Perry refused earlier this year to lower Mehserle’s bail stating that he did consider him to be a flight risk.  Such was not the case today in that Perry agreed with the defense that Mehserle was neither a flight risk nor did he pose a threat to the community.  These two points struck sour notes with members of Oscar Grant’s family and others.

Family members have long maintained that Mehserle has a violent past both as a BART police officer and as an individual, assaulting a young woman when he was in high school and Kenneth Carruthers, an African American man, about three weeks before killing Grant.

According to attorney John Burris, attorney for the Grant’s family and several others who were detained with Grant on New Year’s Day 2009, Carruthers did not file an official complaint with BART and came forward after Grant was killed.  “There’s no ‘paper trail’ of a violent past,” said Burris. 

The court based its decision on the third point of whether Mehserle had a likely chance of having his conviction reversed on appeal.

"None of the issues raised by defendant, collectively or individually, constitute a substantial legal question that would be reversed," Perry stated.

Perry upheld the jury’s finding that Mehserle “acted in a grossly negligent manner” when he mistakenly pulled his service weapon instead of his taser, killing Grant.  “This court sincerely believes the decision will not be reversed," he said.

Rains has said that he is considering appealing the judge’s decision.

The location where Mehserle will serve his six months was not disclosed as of presstime.

Follow Oakland Local's continuing coverage of this trial.