Brody's Notes... Trial To Begin In Case Of Murdered Gay Teen Larry King

Brandon McInerney and Lawrence King
E.O. Green Junior High 2008 Yearbook Photos

By Brody Levesque | CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA -- Opening arguments will be heard this morning in a Chatsworth courtroom as 17 year old Brandon McInerney, goes on trial this week for the February 12th, 2008 shooting death of an openly gay classmate, Lawrence King, in an Oxnard, California, middle-school.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Prosecutor Maeve Fox says she will outline a straightforward case in opening arguments set to begin Tuesday in a Chatsworth courtroom. The Oxnard teenager carefully planned and carried out the Feb. 12, 2008, execution of his eighth-grade classmate, she said. He brought a gun to school, positioned himself directly behind King during a morning computer class and fired twice into the back of the 15-year-old's head.

McInerney then dropped the gun and walked out the door in front of two dozen horrified classmates and a teacher, Fox says.

Prosecutors have added a hate-crime allegation, arguing that McInerney's actions were spurred in part by a hatred of gays, in line with his alleged neo-Nazi sympathies. If convicted, he faces 53 years to life.

McInerney is being tried in adult court under the provisions of Proposition 21, which allows prosecutors to bring murder charges against juveniles as young as 14 for certain serious crimes.

King's murder shook the seaside Ventura County California city as its residents have grappled with the implications of the killing, some local LGBTQ activists calling it a premeditated hate crime while some parents argued that this was adolescent angst run amok.

At issue in the case is whether or not McInerney committed the crime with specific malice of forethought which his defence attorney, Scott Wippert, disputes telling the Ventura County Star newspaper that the other teen sexually harassed his client and the shooting was committed in the heat of the moment. At a preliminary hearing last year, an Oxnard homicide detective testified that Larry's sexuality was an affront to McInerney's ideology, and was probably the motive for the crime. During a search of McInerney's home executed after King's shooting, police investigators found white supremacist materials in his bedroom.

Court records and additional testimony in the preliminary hearing last year paint a picture of two extremely troubled youths who grew up in broken homes.

McInerney's lawyers, Scott Wippert and Robyn Bramson, say their client doesn't deny the killing. But they argue it was voluntary manslaughter because the adolescent was provoked by King's repeated sexual advances.
Fellow students say the two had clashed for days over King's expressing his attraction to McInerney. King, who was living in a children's shelter because of problems at home, had recently gone to school wearing eye makeup and women's accessories.
McInerney was humiliated by King's advances, his attorneys said. He came from a violent home and decided to end his misery in a way that made sense to him — with a gun. He shot King "in the heat of passion caused by the intense emotional state between these two boys at school." ~From the LA Times

Some community leaders and LGBT activists point out that this crime brings specific relief to the larger issue of bulling and anti-gay actions in the schools that needs addressing to prevent similar crimes from occurring. School officials share in the responsibility activists say, blaming an attitude of apparent studied indifference towards reports that there were serious problems between the youths and with King's overall treatment at the hands of his fellow students.

King's murder triggered an emotional outpouring that spread across the United States with candlelight vigils being held in his memory. Since that time, other states have passed laws specifically outlawing bullying aimed at LGBTQ students in schools, and recently, California has strengthened its own anti-bullying laws with the introduction of legislation named for 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi, who committed suicide after enduring years of bullying at school.