Ventura County trial of gay teen set to begin
CHATSWORTH, CA (BDCi) — The hate crime trial involving the slaying of openly gay middle school student Lawrence King is set to begin Tuesday.
The trial begins three years after 14-year-old Brandon McInerney was accused of fatally shooting his classmate, then 15-year old Lawrence King.
King, a self-proclaimed, feminine-clothing wearing gay adolescent was shot twice in the head on February 12th 2008 during a lesson at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California. His classmate McInerney, who was 14 at the time, was charged with first-degree murder and hate crimes.
It is alleged that King made sexual advances to McInerney, and the younger boy believed King had a crush on him. McInerney, now 17, doesn’t deny that he killed King on Feb. 12, 2008, according to his attorneys, Robyn Bramson and Scott Wippert.
Witnesses will testify that McInerney walked into a classroom in an Oxnard middle school, took his seat, pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot King, who was sitting in the desk in front of him.
According to the local newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, McInerney’s lawyers plan to argue he was provoked by King’s repeated sexual advances. Prosecutors, however, have added a hate crime allegation, arguing McInerney’s actions were spurred in part by his hatred of gays.
By Janete Weinstein Source: News Feeder Researcher & MSNBC July 5, 2011
12:21 p.m. PDT