Judge rules no TV for transit police murder trial

To put the lid on excessive publicity, Los Angeles Judge Robert Perry ruled that there would be no TV for the trial of Johannes Mehserle for shooting an unarmed rider January 1 in Oakland, California. -DB

November 3, 2009
By Demian Bulwa

LOS ANGELES — Hours after being assigned to preside over the murder trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, a veteran Los Angeles County judge made his first big decision, indicating Wednesday that the case will not be televised.

Judge Robert Perry told court officials that he would not allow cameras as Mehserle stands trial for fatally shooting an unarmed train rider on New Year’s Day, said Allan Parachini, a Los Angeles County Superior Court spokesman.

Parachini said Perry – known as a no-nonsense judge who keeps cases moving – is leery of fueling publicity. During Perry’s long legal career, the spokesman said, he has been involved in a number of high-profile cases that took on a “circus” atmosphere.

The most recent was a 13-day preliminary hearing for Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend and two doctors. It ended Oct. 30 with Perry ordering the three to stand trial for allegedly providing the late Playboy playmate, who died of an overdose, with prescription drugs. Another judge will oversee the trial.

In 1984, as an assistant U.S. attorney, Perry prosecuted sports car maker John DeLorean on charges of conspiring to deal cocaine. DeLorean was acquitted after a five-month trial.

Perry, 66, was assigned to Mehserle’s murder trial late Tuesday by California Chief Justice Ronald George. Perry was chosen even though he has a backlog of cases and has said he cannot preside over Mehserle’s trial for several months.

Mehserle, 27, is accused of murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward early Jan. 1 while trying to arrest him at the Fruitvale Station. Mehserle’s lawyers have said he intended to stun Grant with his Taser but pulled his pistol by mistake.

Judge Morris Jacobson of Alameda County Superior Court ordered the case moved to Los Angeles last month after concluding that Mehserle could not get a fair trial in the East Bay because of heavy publicity and the possibility that jurors would be intimidated by protesters.

Now, the case is headed for Department 104 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. Perry’s courtroom is on the ninth floor, where visitors who have already walked through metal detectors at the courthouse entrance are screened again for weapons.

O. J. Simpson was acquitted on the ninth floor in 1995 in the slaying of his ex-wife and her friend. The judge in the case, Lance Ito, still sits behind the bench in the same courtroom.

Jurors are pulled from a 20-mile radius around the courthouse, Parachini said.

Perry was appointed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson to the Los Angeles County courts in 1992 after seven years in private practice and more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, state court officials said.

He is the author of a how-to book for attorneys, “Sharpening Your Trial Skills,” published earlier this year, as well as 2006’s “Dirty Money,” which recounts major financial and narcotics cases he oversaw.

This spring, he was named judge of the year by the criminal justice section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Mehserle is due back in court in Oakland on Dec. 15, when Jacobson is expected to discuss the logistics of the move. The former officer is free on bail.

Copyright 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.