Former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle will likely serve seven months in prison for killing Oscar Grant III a judge declared Friday as he dismissed a key but confusing jury verdict that could have landed the 28-year-old in prison for longer.

In making his decision, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry acknowledged that his sentence would anger Grant's family and possibly the Bay Area but said "I did the best I could with this case."

Perry said the evidence presented during the trial was "simply overwhelming" in favor of Mehserle's claim that he made a mistake in shooting Grant by confusing his gun for his Taser and that the prosecution's various examples which it argued pointed toward a fabricated story were "insufficient."