Lawrence King's Killer Accepts 21-Year Plea Deal

Finally, there is some sense of justice restored to the world. Brandon McInerney, who shot to death his teenaged, openly-gay  classmate Lawrence King at point-blank range on February 12, 2008, has apparently agreed to accept a plea deal which will lead to him serving 21 years in prison. Previously, McInerney had been tried with first-degree murder (with a hate crime enhancement) but the judge was forced to declare a mistrial after multiple jurors declared that they empathized with McInerney's rough home life and disagreed with the decision to try him as an adult because he had committed the crime as a 14-year-old as well as the anti-gay hate crime aspect.

The prosecution had made the decision to re-try McInerney as an adult but had dropped the hate crime enhancement (exactly the wrong decision, I argued).

The Los Angeles Times reports:

The Oxnard teen who shot a gay classmate he believed was flirting with him has agreed to spend the next 21 years in prison, a plea deal that ends a case that drew national attention and ignited debate on how schools should deal with openly gay students.

Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot Larry King twice in the head in 2008, has already served nearly four years in jail and would be released by the time he is 38, under terms of the deal.

"Larry had a complicated life, but he did not deserve to be murdered," the youth's father,Greg King, said after a court hearing Monday afternoon.

McInerney’s first trial ended with jurors split between convicting him of voluntary manslaughter and first-degree murder. Several of the jurors have since spoken in favor of a plea bargain, in order to avoid a second trial.

Prosecutors, in initially deciding to try McInerney a second time, had already dropped a key allegation that the shooting was motivated by a hatred of homosexuals, an accusation that several jurors in the original trial said they did not believe.

During the first trial, prosecutors portrayed McInerney as a budding white supremacist who hated homosexuals and was enraged by King's sexuality and aggressive flirtations.

The defense argued that McInerney was the product of a violent and dysfunctional home and had reached an emotional breaking point in response to King's advances.

McInerney was 14 when he carried a .22-caliber handgun to school in a backpack on Feb. 12, 2008, took a seat behind King, 15, and shot him twice in the back of the head.

Gay rights advocates were largely silent after the mistrial. A national gay rights group later said prosecutors should have done the "just and merciful thing" and reached a plea deal in the case.

It's probably the best decision overall to make the case go away. I am satisfied that the brazen killer of an openly gay (or transgender) teen will be serving significant time in jail, thus validating the idea that perpretators of such heinous acts will be prosecuted and punished by the state.

Prosecutor Decides To Retry Brandon McInerney (As An Adult)

Lawrence King (left) and the person who shot him to death, Brandon McInerney 

Well, this is interesting news. Last month a mistrial was declared in the first trial of Brandon McInerney for the murder of Lawrence King. MadProfessah was ashamed at the result and implored prosecutors to retry McInerney for the point blank shooting of his middle school classmate in February 2008.

Today comes word that prosecutors will again try McInerney as an adult for the crime, but will drop the hate crime charge, basically making the wrong choice TWICE. Many LGBT activists like myself insist that the murder was a hate crime, because it is clear that McInerney targeted King for death because of his gender identity. However, since both boys were under 18 years old (McInerney had barely turned 14 at the time of the crime) there are also many LGBT activists who disagree with the decision to try him as an adult.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Prosecutors on Wednesday announced their intention to pursue a murder charge in adult court against 17-year-old Brandon McInerney. However, a hate crime charge will be dropped, Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said.

Last month, a judge declared a mistrial after a nine-woman, three-man panel couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the degree of McInerney's guilt for killing 15-year-old Larry King. After a series of votes, seven jurors were in favor of a voluntary manslaughter conviction, while five others supported either first-degree or second-degree murder.

Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell set a Nov. 21 trial date, according to Fox, but it's unclear if it will be held in Ventura County. The first trial was moved to Los Angeles County due to pretrial publicity.

McInerney was 14 in February 2008, when he is accused of killing King at E.O. Green Junior High School during a computer lab class.

Prosecutors contend McInerney embraced a white supremacist philosophy that sees homosexuality as an abomination. Police found Nazi-inspired drawings and artifacts at his house, and a white supremacist expert testified at trial the hate-filled ideology was the reason for the killing.

Authorities maintained the shooting was premeditated and deserving of a murder conviction. During the trial, Fox noted at least six people heard McInerney make threats against King in the days leading to the shooting.

Defense attorneys acknowledged that McInerney was the shooter but explained that he had reached an emotional breaking point after King made repeated, unwanted sexual advances. They also have argued that juvenile court would be the best venue to try their client.

The reactions from the LGBT community to this news will not be good.

SHAME: Hung Jury In Trial Of Gay Teen's Killer

Madness! Apparently the jury in the trial of Brandon McInerney for the killing of teen age Lawrence King who was widely perceived as gay (even though he was probably transgender) is unlikely to reach a verdict even though they have only been deliberating since last Friday.

The defense has released all sorts of information to paint the confessed killer in as a favorable a light as possible with the jury, including the fact that the fellow teenager was abused by his alcoholic and violent father (who is now dead). The defense has also put the onus on King, claiming that he was the aggressor in the relationship with McInerney, a "gay panic defense" which has sent LGBT blogs hissing with anger, and may be illegal under California law.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Jurors weighing the fate of an Oxnard teenager accused of killing a gay classmate indicated Thursday that it is unlikely they will be able to reach a verdict in the high-profile case.

But the judge hearing the case indicated it is likely he will ask jurors to continue their deliberations, even though they have already taken votes – two of which were 8 to 4 and a third was 9 to 3. Jurors did not indicate whether they were leaning toward guilt or acquittal.

Jurors in the case, in which Brandon McInerney fatally shot 15-year-old Larry King in a junior high school computer lab, were ordered earlier Thursday to continue deliberating despite the failed votes.

If there’s a mistrial, it would bring to a close a trial that has been followed closely by gay-rights groups that have fought hard to protect gay and transgendered students from campus bullying.

But as the weeks of testimony continued and a more nuanced portrait emerged of what was happening at E.O. Green Junior High before the shooting, it also raised a host of thorny questions.

The prosecution says it was a calculated murder carried out in part because McInerney was exploring white supremacist ideology and didn't like homosexuals.

Defense attorneys painted a different picture, that of a bright but abused 14-year-old who snappedafter being sexually harassed by King.

Asked Thursday by Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell when it was possible the jury could reach a decision with more time, the forewoman of the panel said “I suppose it’s possible.”

She indicated, though, that it was seemed “unlikely” jurors would come to an agreement in the case.

Jurors also asked for a clarification in jury instructions pertaining to “what is a person of average disposition” and “what does it mean to act rashly.”

The jury began deliberating Friday, weighing eight weeks of testimony in a trial that included nearly 100 witnesses. Many of those testifying were students and teachers at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard who saw tensions on campus rising after King began coming to school dressed in makeup and girl's boots.

If it is true that the jury is unable to reach a verdict and McInerney will not face any criminal sanctions that will be a devastating loss for LGBT youth in California and around the country.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.

Jury Deliberating Anti-Gay Hate Crime Verdict

The trial of Brandon McInerney for the point-blank shooting (twice!) of fellow teenager Lawrence King has now reached the jury deliberation stage.

Towleroad posts the AP report:

"Jurors began their discussions on Friday to determine whether 17-year-old Brandon McInerney is guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of 15-year-old Larry King at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard. The panel is expected to deliberate for only a couple of hours because a juror has a prior commitment...McInerney has pleaded not guilty to one count each of murder and a hate crime. If convicted, he faces more than 50 years in prison. Jurors also can consider a conviction of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum 21-year term."

MadProfesssah has been following the story of this case very carefully, from the reports of the shooting, to the debate over whether the death penalty should be a factor and jury selection and now the trial itself.

More Analysis Of Zombie Anti-Gay Sodomy Laws

Sodomy laws, or state statutes which criminalized sexual contact between people of the same sex were some of the most pernicious aspects of anti-LGBT discriminatory practices that negatively impacted the civil rights of LGBT Americans.

The 2003 Supreme Court decision Lawrence v Texas basically ended the era of legal gay apartheid but there are 18 states which, today, 8 years later, still have sodomy laws on their books.

MadProfessah noted that Mother Jones discussed this curiosity last April and now Equality Matters and other LGBT media outlets are starting to take notice.

Update on Brandon McInerney Gay Hate Crime Trial

Gay Teen Murder Defendant's Brother Talks About Testimony: MyFoxLA.com

The murder trial of Brandon McInerney is continuing in Chatsworth and there have been some explosive testimony since last we checked in. 14-year-old McInerney, now 17, fatally shot his 15-year-old classmate Lawrence (Leticia) King twice in the head on February 12, 2008 when both boys attended E.O. Green Junior High School in Ventura County, California. McInerney is being tried as an adult (which I do not agree with) and is being charged with first-degree murder in a trial that began July 5, 2011.

The latest revelations are that Brandon McInerney was apparently repeatedly physically and sexually abused by his father.

Brandon McInerney was molested by a relative as a boy, a family secret that his older half brother didn't learn until two weeks after McInerney shot a gay classmate to death in February 2008, the half brother told jurors in a Chatsworth courtroom Wednesday.

James Bing testified that McInerney’s father cried hysterically as he revealed the molestation that occurred when Brandon was about 9 years old.

The older McInerney was upset because the family had dealt with the problem internally, sending the relative away for years, instead of reporting it to police and getting Brandon help, Bing told the courtroom.

McInerney’s father, who is now dead, believed the memory of the molestation was what caused his son to react so violently when Larry King began dressing like a girl and flirting with McInerney at their Oxnard junior high school, Bing said.

[...]

When McInerney’s father died in 2009, coroner's officials found alcohol and drugs in his system. Bing said his stepfather was frequently high on drugs and was sadistic.

He once put soap into a sock and beat the boys with it for an offense that later turned out to have been committed by someone else, Bing testified.

Billy McInerney poured Tabasco sauce down's the boys' throats when they were sleeping and would pull down their pants in front of their friends, disparaging the size of their genitals, Bing said.

"He was a mean, nasty person,'' Bing said.

How convenient that the alleged sexual molestation was never reported to anyone else outside the family so it will be different to corroborate. James Bing is Brandon McInerney's half-brother (same father different mother) and is the person speaking in the video given at the top of this post. If I were a juror I would take the testimony of a family member of the accused with more than a grain of salt.

What would you b willing to tell the court if a member of your extended family was accused of a crime for which they faced 53 years to life in prison if found guilty?

LA County Settles Police Brutality Case For $650K

The 5-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a settlement of $650,000 to Erick Hoxey and his girlfriend Shatwan Smith in response to a civil lawsuit which charged outrageous behavior by Los Angeles County Sherriff officials during an April 2008 incident in Compton.

The Los Angeles Times covers the story:

On trial for allegedly assaulting two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, Erick Hoxey took the witness stand in his own defense and told jurors it was the other way around.

He said he was waiting in his car outside a Compton apartment building where his girlfriend was making an appointment to braid a little girl's hair, when deputies pulled up. After asking him a few questions, Hoxey said they inexplicably yanked him out of the car, punched him and struck him with a flashlight before pepper-spraying his eyes and inside his mouth.


Then, he said, one grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head twice against the pavement.

The prosecutor, troubled by the young man's testimony, cut him off suddenly and asked the judge for a recess. When he returned an hour and a half later, the prosecutor announced that all charges were being dropped.

On Tuesday, two years after the criminal case fizzled, the county agreed to pay Hoxey, now 24, and his girlfriend $650,000.

The payout comes despite the Sheriff's Department defending the deputies' conduct in arresting Hoxey, his girlfriend, Shatwan Smith, and a bystander who came to their aid during the April 2008 altercation.

According to Deputies Samuel Orozco and Scott Giles, they were on patrol when they spotted Hoxey driving with his seatbelt off. The deputies said Hoxey was immediately aggressive, cursing at them, before reaching under his leg for what they believed was a handgun. The deputies unlocked the car door and pulled Hoxey out of the vehicle. The young man then spun around and took a swing at them, according to the deputies' account. Hoxey continued to fight back, the deputies said, while his girlfriend ran out from the apartment building and began hitting them too.

Although the deputies said they believed Hoxey was armed with a gun, no weapon was recovered. Deputy Orozco testified that a woman at the scene, who did not identify herself because she feared retribution, told him that she saw a man run and grab something from the car, presumably the weapon.

The couple, and the bystander who interceded and pleaded with the deputies to stop, denied the deputies were assaulted.

After hearing the conflicting testimony about the incident, the L.A. County district attorney's office abandoned its prosecution of Hoxey and Smith.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Siddall said in a deposition that Hoxey's testimony "made me think that there was reasonable doubt in the case."

The couple's civil attorney, Glen Jonas, accused the deputies of framing Hoxey on charges of resisting arrest and drug possession and Smith of resisting arrest and assault. Giles said he found a cocaine rock in Hoxey's car, while he and other deputies were searching the vehicle.

"It ruined their lives," Jonas said of the ordeal. He said Smith, who was a student at UC San Diego at the time, "was so distraught over being falsely prosecuted that she couldn't concentrate in school…her grades fell and ultimately she wasn't able to stay in school."

During the trial, Orozco's past on-duty behavior was also scrutinized in testimony from residents in the area who said they had run-ins with him. One woman said he used the N-word against her. Another testified that she'd also been roughed up by Orozco, booked and was eventually acquitted.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore declined to comment on specific allegations but said the department maintains the couple was resisting arrest. "This settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing," he said. "Deputies don't make stuff up, the hope is, and we contend they did not fabricate anything."

I don't usually include such an extensive excerpt from a newspaper story but one really needs to see all the paragraphs that I have included in order to draw your own conclusions about what really happened*. Two Sheriff deputies see a Black guy sitting in a car and decide to rough him up for some bizarre reason only known to themselves. They start beating the crap out of him, then his girlfriend and a bystander come to the guy's defense.  Then the deputies have the gall to claim that the person that they assaulted was "resisting arrest" AND they claim the existence of a gun which is not found AND attempt to plant drugs in the vehicle. It reads like something out of FX's The Shield!
(That was a show starring Michael Chiklis as a rogue cop who basically takes the law into his own hands.)

The real hero of the piece is the Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall who refused to condone the cops lying and when he realized what was going on, declined to perpetrate a fraud upon the court. I'm not convinced that $650,000 is enough money for the two people who were attacked by the very same people their own taxes pay to protect them and keep them safe. What is a reasonable price for violation of the public trust?

Another question is why do Samuel Orozco and Scott Giles still have jobs with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and why hasn't the Los Angeles County District Attorney charged them with perjury?
Even the Sheriff's Department spokesperson says "Deputies don't make stuff up, the hope is." Really? Do you think this is some kind of joke?

 It is incredibly damaging to how all police officers are viewed and public safety overall if it appears that some officers of the court are getting away with activities that if they were just regular people would result in jail time. Police officers and sheriff's deputies (and elected officials) who are presumed to have the public trust should be held to a higher ethical standard than the general public. Even the appearance of hypocrisy is unacceptable.

*DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this blog posting should be construed as claiming any individual of having committed any criminal or civil offense.

CNN Covers Larry King/Brandon McInerney Trial

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.