LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The lawyer of a white former transit officer charged in the videotaped killing of an unarmed black passenger says in court documents that his client did not commit first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.
Attorney Michael Rains also says in documents filed last week that Johannes Mehserle will argue at trial that he accidentally pulled out his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun when Oscar Grant was fatally shot on a Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform on New Year's Day 2009.
Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
He is scheduled to appear in court Los Angeles on May 8 when a judge could decide whether to allow peace officers to serve as jurors.
A trial is scheduled to begin in June.
