LA jurors noted for anti-police leanings a concern for transit officer’s murder trial

Murder trial move to LA a setback for transit cop

SAN FRANCISCO — The decision to move Johannes Mehserle’s trial to Los Angeles County is a setback for the former transit officer charged with killing an unarmed man on New Year’s Day.

Jurors throughout California are typically sympathetic to police, and the former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer could’ve expected a leg up before the start of trial in most any courtroom in the state’s 58 counties.

But legal analysts say Los Angeles is atypical and a bad draw for Mehserle.

The former officer will have to overcome the lingering specters of the Rodney King beating, the O.J. Simpson acquittal because of police behavior and other high-profile verdicts that expose many residents’ deep-rooted skepticism of law enforcement.

Mehserle is charged with fatally shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant at an Oakland BART station. His attorney had argued for a change of venue because of what he described as excessive media coverage and racial tensions.