As the Johannes Mehserle trial starts today, the prosecution has a surprise that might not bode well for the former BART cop accused of murdering Oscar Grant. See, according to BCN (via CBS 5), "Prosecutors said Wednesday they have a cell phone picture taken by Oscar Grant of then-BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle pointing his Taser at Grant, just minutes before Grant was shot on New Year's Day 2009." more ›

Prop8TrialTracker.com has comprehensive updates of what's going on in the courtroom today as the first federal gay marriage trial takes flight. (A camera to eventually broadcast delayed YouTube footage of the trial, if you recall, was barred from the courtroom early this morning.) more ›

Important news about the Mehserle murder case unfolded today. As most of you know by now, the case has been moved to Los Angeles, as ordered by a judge. What's more, the man who ordered Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend and two doctors to stand trial on charges of drugging the icon to death, Judge Robert Perry, will be assigned to the infamous BART cop killer case. more ›

At a court hearing this afternoon in Oakland, Judge Morris Jacobson of Alameda County Superior Court decided to move the trial of Johannes Mehserle to Los Angeles in an effort to get a fair trail. Jacobson promised in September that the trial would move out of the area. more ›

ABC 7 News spoke to one anonymous witness who says he watched, for twenty minutes, the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a homecoming dance two weeks ago -- he says he was too scared to call for help or say anything because of who several of the perpetrators were. They also spoke to Salvador Rodriguez, who was held, questioned, and released in the case and who claims he tried to help the naked victim after the incident was over, and covered her up with her t-shirt. more ›

According to The Oakland Tribune, Wycoff reads at a sixth grade level and kept books around the house like The Vigilante's Handbook and Techniques of a Silent Killer. He had killed at least 17 cats in his neighborhood in order to "protect other wildlife," and he said openly that he "could have been a serial killer" if it weren't his "good morals." more ›

80% of black residents surveyed and 33% of white residents already believe Johannes Mehserle is guilty in the case of the New Year's shooting death of Oscar Grant, therefore his attorney Michael Rains is arguing for a change of venue. In papers filed last week, Rains said the trial should be moved out of the Oakland area on account of these racial divisions. Meanwhile, four of the six BART police officers involved in the incident that night have quietly returned to work, while Mehserle and one two other officers remain on paid leave. more ›

And speaking of South Bay molesters, the Redwood City trial of psychiatrist William Ayres -- a prominent child psychiatrist who stands accused of molesting several of his male patients, not to be confused with Bill Ayres -- is winding down, and conviction seems pretty damn likely. While defense attorneys argued that no one can clearly remember things that happened to them when they were ten years old, prosecutors kept it simple. As ABC 7 reports, "[The prosecutor] began her closing arguments by asking the jurors why, if Ayres' physical exams were medically appropriate as he claims, he did not discuss them with the boys' parents, why he only examined boys and not girls, and why he didn't use gloves during the exams." Also, uh, why was a psychiatrist performing these "medically appropriate" genital exams at all? Yeah, that pretty much clinches it. For more details on Ayres hand-grabby therapeutic methods, see this Mercury News piece here. more ›

CurrentTV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were detained for illegally crossing the North Korean border and accused of "hostile acts," are set to go on trial on Thursday. They were working on a documentary about the sad stories about North Korean refugees fleeing to China. If convicted, they could spend up to ten years in a North Korean boot camp. Al Gore, a partner at Current, has been working closely with the State Department to get the women released, and the Swedish Mission at the United Nations has been serving as an intermediary. more ›

Tyra Banks was and vulnerable when she testified in the NYC trial of a man accused of stalking her. A lawyer for Brady Green, 39, claims his client is just an "overzealous fan" and that he's just reaching out to her, the way Banks tells fans on her website. However, a staffer for the Tyra Banks Show didn't appreciate Green's way of reaching out: A producer claims that Green threatened to slit his throat because he refused to give him the address of the studios. Green, who has sent flowers and made numerous calls, managed to find the studios anyway and was arrested when he went into an unsanctioned area. Banks said, "I don't live that kind of sheltered, protected life. I like to walk around my neighborhood...[But now] I fear the safety of my staffers. I fear the safety of my family. I fear the safety of people in my vicinity." FWIW, the courtroom sketch of Banks is amazing—you can just tell she's smiling with her eyes. more ›