Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Larry King’s Killer Offered Plea Deal

Lawrence King and Brandon McInerneyVentura, CA – The Ventura County Star reports that Brandon McInerney, now 15, has been offered a plea deal that would potentially cut his sentence in half for the February 2008 murder of his 15-year-old gay classmate, Larry King.  District Attorney Greg Totten will allow McInerney to plead guilty to first degree murder in exchange for the lighter sentence.  “It would bring it down, from a maximum of 53 years to life, to 25 years to life,” said Maeve Fox, the Senoir Deputy DA who is actually prosecuting the case.  Further, she said to the Star, “The reason Mr. Totten authorized that offer is because we are keenly aware of this young man’s age. We are keenly aware of his developmental level being that he was 14 years old at the time of the crime,” Fox said. “And, we are also keenly aware that he is a very dangerous individual.”  The prosecution would also allow McInerney to plead guilty to the hate crime charge, and serve that sentence concurrently with the murder sentence.  McInerney’s lawyer, Robyn Bramson, has complained of cruelty against her client because of his young age.  The prosecution has countered that the defense is intentionally slowing down this case to a snail’s pace.  Now the preliminary hearing has been postponed until July 20 at the defense team’s request.  Fox responded, “I am out of options.  The King family has a right, the people of the state have a right to have this case moved along.”  King, who declared himself gay and presented femininely, had been harassed by schoolmates for months in Oxnard’s E.O. Green Middle School.  McInerney, slightly younger than King, but physically more dominating and tough, had participated in these bullying sessions, according to classmates of both boys.  As Valentine’s Day 2008 neared, King let McInerney know that he liked him.  Teased about it by other students, McInerney allegedly brought a 22 calibre pistol to school, and shot King in the back of the head while the boys were in their morning computer class.  Not since the hate crime murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 has a story of bias-motivated murder of an LGBT person captured the public’s attention so much.  If the deal the prosecution has offered is accepted by McInerney, he could be out on the street in his forties.

July 9, 2009 - Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, California, gay men, gun violence, harassment, Hate Crimes, Law and Order, Media Issues, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, School and church shootings | , , , , , , ,

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