Jury Selection In Gay Teen Murder Trial Begins

On February 12, 2008 teenager Brandon Mcinerney shot fellow teenager Lawrence King in the back of the head during an early morning class at E.O. Green Elementary School in Oxnard. Now, more than three years later a jury is being selected in the murder trial, as the defense has rejected all plea deals.

The Ventury County Star reports:

Defense attorney Scott Wippert said the plea bargain was "absurd and very far from the truth," and that his client is guilty of voluntary manslaughter and not premeditated first or second degree murder.

Wippert said the chance his client would get paroled whether he served 25 or 53 years is slim to none.

"The plea offer they are making is very illusory," Wippert said. "They are trying to convince the public by making such an offer that they are looking out for Brandon and they are giving him a chance. If they wanted to give him a chance, they would give him a determinant offer."

Wippert said his client was pushed by a tumultuous home life and constant sexual harassment from King.

"These were two very troubled young men," Wippert said of his client and King. "That doesn't justify what (Brandon) did, but it explains how distraught he was when the constant harassment occurred at the school and the overall anguish in his life that led to this horrific act. That is what created the heat of passion in his mind. He committed a horrific act, but outside of that, he is a really good kid." 

Amazing. Somehow Lawrence King is going to be made into the aggressor, even though Brandon went home and got his dad's gun and put a bullet in the brain of a classmate, in front of 25 other students and the teacher. I understand the defense wants to make this case about King's actions and not Mcinerney's, but surely there are some places even a defense attorney won't go? We'll see.

The LGBT community will be watching this case very, very closely.