fficial reports have revealed that Johannes Mehserle, the police
officer convicted of manslaughter for shooting a young unarmed man in
Oakland, Calif., has released a letter of apology.

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Michael Rains, Mehserle's
lawyer, said Friday his client wrote the letter while the jury was
deliberating. Jurors decided on a verdict of involuntary manslaughter
late Thursday.

Oscar Grant III died after Mehserle, then a police officer with Bay Area
Rapid Transit, shot him in the back as he lay on the platform of a
train station on Jan. 1, 2009. During the trial, Mehserle testified he
thought he was holding his Taser and only realized it was his gun after
he fired the fatal shot.

Mehserle wrote, "For now, and forever I will live, breathe, sleep and
not sleep with the memory of Mr. Grant screaming 'You shot me' and me
putting my hands on the bullet wound, thinking the pressure would help
while I kept telling him 'You'll be OK.'"

The apology might have meant something the day after the shooting, said
Cephus Johnson, Grant's uncle. Now, he said, it amounts to a "convict
pleading for mercy."

The verdict spawned protests by those who consider it too lenient and
some turned to vandalizing and looting Oakland stores. Police said about
100 businesses had windows broken and many were looted. (With Inputs
from Agencies)