Demand DA Oppose Effort to Move Mehserle's Trial Out of Alameda County

Alameda County District Attorney O'Malley's office *has not even opposed* the motion to move the Oscar Grant trial out of Oakland. It is clear that the fix is in, and that the D.A.'s office, after a summer of little activity, thinks it can get away with allowing Mehserle's attorney to move the trial out of Oakland. We must stop this - if the trial is moved, Mehserle will almost certainly go free.

Join us at the D.A.'s office Wednesday!

Here's the press release:

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PROTESTERS DEMAND D.A. OPPOSE EFFORT TO MOVE OSCAR GRANT TRIAL OUT OF OAKLAND

Protesters Say "NO to Jim Crow Justice"

PRESS CONFERENCE AT D.A.'s OFFICE
Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:30PM
Front of Alameda County District Attorney's Office
12th St. + Oak, Oakland

CONTACT: Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) - Yvette Felarca, BAMN Organizer (510) 502-9072
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Students and community members will hold signs and have a press conference at the Alameda County District Attorney's office Wednesday to demand that District Attorney Nancy O'Malley make a vigorous effort to fight the effort of Michael Rains, the attorney for Ex-BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, to move Mehserle's trial out of Alameda County. O'Malley's office has not made clear their intentions to oppose Rains' motion.

"Rains' brief baldly states: 'The black community has prejudged Mehserle guilty of a crime.' It is clear what Rains wants: no black people on the jury. He wants a mostly-white jury from the suburbs to decide how and under what circumstances young black people can be shot in Oakland," said Yvette Felarca, Northern California coordinator of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). "This is undemocratic and racist: the people of Oakland have the right to set the standards of decency and civility for our own community. We have the right to establish safety for our families and loved ones. This community, comprised of people of many different races, is just as intelligent and reasonable as the people of another community."

"The D.A.'s office seems completely prepared to let Jim Crow justice continue," said Ronald Cruz, a BAMN organizer. "The D.A.'s office did not say a word in opposition to Rains' brief when it was filed, and has not indicated it will make any serious opposition. Throughout this process, community pressure has been necessary to get the D.A.'s office conduct any serious kind of prosecution. The only reason why the D.A.'s office ever charged Mehserle in the first place was because people stood up and fought. The D.A. must not participate in the cover-up of this murder."

Community members plan a rally at the October 2, 2009 hearing, at which Rains will argue for change of venue, to demand that the trial stay in Oakland.