Friday, October 07, 2011

Brandon McInerney Faces a New Trial Without The Hate Crimes Charge

Brandon McInerney [l] and Larry King [r]
Earlier this week, prosecutors announced their intention retry, and pursue a murder charge in adult court, 17-year-old Brandon McInerney, who is accused of killing 15-year-old Larry King, a young gay man, by shooting him in the back of the head.
The prosecutors have decided to drop the Hate Crime charge they had sued in the first trial.
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 shooting Larry King in the back of the head. 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.
Voluntary manslaughter. Shooting someone in the back of the head, which required thought about bringing a gun to school, and where to do it and how to do it. 
Voluntary?
Prosecutors contend that McInerney embraced a white supremacist philosophy that sees homosexuality as an abomination, after police found Nazi-inspired drawings and artifacts at his house. A white supremacist expert testified at the first trial that this kind of hate-filled ideology was the reason for the killing.
Prosecutors say the shooting was premeditated and deserving of a murder conviction, and made note in the first trial of at least six people who heard Brandon McInerney make threats against Larry King in the days leading to the shooting.
Voluntary?
Defense attorneys acknowledged that Brandon McInerney did, in fact, shoot Larry King in the back of the head, but say he had reached his emotional breaking point after King made repeated, unwanted sexual advances. 
Oh, so, if a young gay man has a crush on a young straight man, and the young straight man allegedly makes death threats against the young gay man, and then brings a gun to school and searches out the young gay man, and then shoots him in the back of the head, that's okay?
Or, just voluntary.

source

4 comments:

  1. This should be an interesting case

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  2. Read this and try not to be disgusted. http://www.towleroad.com/2011/10/jurors-say-brandon-mcinerney-deserves-leniency-because-larry-king-was-the-bully.html

    Victim blaming much?

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  3. Anonymous8:06 AM

    Looking at the elements necessary for 1st degree murder, I'd say McInerney meets ALL of them.

    He planned it, let others know what he was going to do, then did it. How you can not get 1st degree murder out of that is beyond me.

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  4. Wow, just awful. I need to read more about this.

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