Jury sides with police in fatal shooting of Van Nuys rapper

The parents of an aspiring Van Nuys rapper who was killed by police in 2008 will not be awarded the $750,000 they sought in an excessive force lawsuit against the city and an officer, officials announced Monday.

A federal jury decided Friday that LAPD Officer Derek Mousseau acted appropriately when he fatally shot Byron San Jose, 25, on Feb. 27, 2008, following a brief car chase.

San Jose was shot after he emerged from the car holding a black metal object and advanced on another motorcycle officer, according to the LAPD. The object turned out to be a microphone tripod.

"Basically, (the jury) said that they were all convinced that it was reasonable for the officer to conceive of the tripod as an assault weapon," said Deputy City Attorney Denise Mills, who defended the city and Mousseau.

"This officer had a second to a second- and-a-half to react to save his partner," Mills said. "And he had to go with his knee-jerk reaction, which was, `He's going to kill my partner."'

The family is considering filing an appeal, according to their attorney, Dale Galipo.

"We're disappointed," Galipo said of the verdict. "We don't think the microphone stand looks like an assault rifle, but some of the jurors were apparently affected by that."

San Jose, who was sitting in the backseat of the car, had been on his way to a recording studio when the driver tried to flee from police making a traffic stop, Galipo said.

The tripod was between San Jose and the door, so he exited the car with it in his hands after the car was pulled over, Galipo said.

"To me, (the jury) made up their mind that they gave the officer the benefit of the doubt," he said. "It's a very tragic situation, let's just say that."

San Jose was a gang member on probation for weapons possession and was high on methamphetamine at the time of the shooting, Mills said. However, those facts were not presented to the jury.