The former BART police officer charged with the Jan. 1 fatal shooting of Oscar Grant III at the Fruitvale BART station returned to court Friday.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Reardon discussed the defense's motion to dismiss the murder charge against Johannes Mehserle and said he would release his decision before Oct. 2.

In a seven-day hearing that ended in June, Michael Rains, Mehserle's attorney, argued that Mehserle intended to use his Taser but accidentally discharged his firearm.

Judge C. Don Clay ended the hearing before the defense had presented all its witnesses, ruling there was enough evidence to try Mehserle with murder and stating "there is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Mehserle intended to shoot Oscar Grant with a gun, not a Taser."

Rains is seeking to dismiss the murder charge or reduce it to the lesser charge of manslaughter by arguing that Clay founded his conclusion on faulty information that his next witness, a Taser expert, would have debunked.

"Judge Clay made it very clear that he wasn't going to allow me to put my witnesses up there and that my case would be over," Rains said to Reardon.

But District Attorney Michael O'Conner said that since the Taser expert who was expected to testify was not the one who trained Mehserle, the testimony would not be as relevant.

Although he did not make a ruling, Reardon discussed several topics with both sides, including the orientation and position of Mehserle's Taser prior to the shooting, whether Mehserle's character should be considered and what Clay's comments regarding several witnesses' testimonies meant.

Reardon also asked about the significance of video evidence that shows Mehserle distancing himself from Grant before firing, adding that Rains could have mentioned this in the hearing since it is consistent with the actions officers are trained to take when firing a Taser.

"They were recently trained to take that action, (which) was highly demonstrative of (the action) one would take in firing a Taser," Reardon said.

Outside the courtroom, Grant's uncle Bobby Johnson said he does not think Reardon will modify Clay's decision and that he still thinks Mehserle's intention was to murder Grant.

Mehserle will return to court on Oct. 2 to hear the defense's argument for moving the case to a different county.

Tags: OSCAR GRANT, JOHANNES MEHSERLE