Defense lawyer Michael Rains says client Johannes Mehserle would prefer to “fade into oblivion” but that’s not likely to happen when the former BART police officer is released from jail in Los Angeles Monday. The family of Oscar Grant III, for whose shooting death Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, is planning events in L. A. this weekend to protest the release.Noted: Although he’s getting out of jail in fulfillment of his nearly two-year sentence minus time for good behavior, both his appeal of the conviction and the Grant family’s federal civil lawsuit will almost certainly keep the case alive for the foreseeable future.
