LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has denied bail for a white former transit officer sentenced to two years in prison for fatally shooting an unarmed black man in Oakland last year.
Twenty-eight-old Johannes Mehserle sought to be released pending an appeal of his involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Superior Court Judge Robert Perry said Friday he didn’t think any of the arguments made by the defense met the legal standard for freeing Mehserle.
Mehserle was sentenced last month in the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant during a disturbance on a Bay Area Rapid Transit platform in Oakland.
The trial was moved to Los Angeles because of intense media coverage and racial tensions.
With credit for time served, Mehserle could be eligible for release in about seven months.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.