A white ex-transit cop who shot and killed an unarmed black man at an Oakland train station on New Year's Day in 2009 got an early release from prison Monday.
Johannes Mehserle served just 11 months of his two-year jail term, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
"He was released at 12:01 a.m.," a spokesman told CNN.
The 29-year-old scored an early release thanks to earning "good time" credit, with one point for every day spent in jail.
His sentencing unleashed more violent protests when he was found guilty on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in 2010.
The shooting death of Grant sparked massive protests in Oakland. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
The jury acquitted Mehserle of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, more serious charges that would have meant more jail time.
"My son was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered. My son was murdered," said Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, said after the sentencing. "The system has let us down."
"We really don't feel like there has been accountability for his actions," Cephus Johnson, Grant's uncle, said this month, the Oakland Tribune reported. "We were totally let down by the judicial system."
Grant had been pulled from a train at Oakland's Fruitvale BART Station at the time of the shooting. He was lying facedown on the platform when Mehserle pulled his weapon and fired.
The former transit cop claimed at the time that he meant to use his Taser, but unintentionally pulled his gun instead.
Mehserle quit his job after the incident and was arrested in Nevada.
Mass outrage last year caused the trial to be held in Los Angeles, and Mehserle's lawyers reported receiving scores of death threats, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Dozens were arrested during protests that often turned hostile.
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