The Murder of Larry King - Trial underway.

Article first published as The Murder Of Larry King - Trial Starts Today on Technorati. By Jason Shaw.

Brandon McInerney was a 14-year-old boy from a broken home when he gunned down a classmate in front of stunned students at a Ventura County middle school – all because that fellow student was gay. That was three years ago, now McInerney is about to stand trial for the murder of the 15 year old classmate Larry King.

McInerney (right)  is just three months from his 18th birthday, legally an adult, however because of the severity of the crime he’s being tried as an adult anyway. If found guilty, he faces life behind bars.

The opening statements are due today in a San Fernando Valley courthouse, the judge recently changed the venues. The shooting and killing of little Larry King shocked America and the world, tears fell rom Ellen DeGeneres’ eyes as she told of the fatal crime on her TV chat show. It tore at the heart of the gay community.

Gay rights campaigner’s and advocates along with parents in King’s home town of Oxnard wondered how such a crime could happen. They were shocked that in the city that’s just 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles that school officials hadn't done more to stop the harassment and abuse toward Larry by students, including McInerney.

There had been conflict and rife between these two boys, both of whom seem to have suffered troubled upbringings. Perhaps such conflicts didn’t seem all that unusual for young boys, in their teenage years, it’s not unusual for adolescence angst. However, there were taunts, there was teasing and according to reports, there was on at least one occasion, a fight or scuffle between Larry King and McInerney, it’s also alleged that McInerney tried to round up and encourage others to beat up Larry.

What may have made this argument between bully and victim unusual  was the simple fact that Larry King (above)  displayed a good deal of strength and stood up for himself. Maybe not in the manor one would expect for a 15 year old, but stood up for himself nonetheless.

 

Students at the school express that the two had been clashing for days because Larry had a crush on McInerney. It’s also alleged that McInerney also took exception to the eyeliner make-up that Larry sometimes wore to school. Then, according to one of McInerney's friends who told the authorities that the day before the shooting, Larry whispered the words "I love you" as he and McInerney passed in a hallway.

That friend, according to court papers, then told how McInerney said to him that he was "going to get a gun and shoot (Larry)," also telling her "Say goodbye to your friend Larry, because you're never going to see him again."

It’s chilling to read those words alone, but that horror deepens a hundred fold when you know that the following day Brandon McInerney and Larry King were sitting in the computer lab at school when McInerney casually pulled out a .22-calibre gun from his sweatshirt and coolly shot Larry King in the back of the head.

McInerney, whose legal team are saying acted ‘In the heat of passion by the intense emotional state"’ then slowly got up as Larry King collapsed to the floor, looked around at his astonished classmates and fired a second shot right into the back of Larry's head, as prosecutor Maeve Fox has written in court papers. According to the court documents it’s then said that McInerney dropped the gun and calmly walked out of class, leaving the teacher and fellow students horrified in his wake.

This crime bares all the hallmarks of a hate crime, a crime driven by hate and distrust of gay people, for during the subsequent investigation white supremacist materials were found in McInerney's bedroom and detectives also found books and drawings of swastikas. McInerney chose not to attend a school field trip to the Museum of Tolerance, which is the educational arm of the human rights organization ‘The Simon Wiesenthal Centre’

During a preliminary hearing held during 2010 where a police detective had testified that Larry King’s sexuality was an affront to McInerney's ideology, and was in all probability the motive for this horrendous crime.

As advised by lawyer Scott Wippert, McInerney has pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder, lying in wait and a hate crime, as these were ‘heat of the passion’ acts. However it’s the jury that will decide whether the 17 year old is guilty or not. During this emotive trial they are likely to hear about the rough and troubles life’s these two teens had already suffered. They will learn that Larry, who was open about his sexuality had lived at a centre for abused and neglected children in the months before his slaying in the computer lab at school.

The jury will also learn that girls at school used Larry as a pawn to clear a table of boys at during lunch, according to prosecutors. When Larry asked to sit with them, the boys got up and sometimes called him derogatory names.

William McInerney, Brandon’s father was sentenced for battery against his mother in 2000, going back further, he was also accused of shooting her in the elbow a few months before his Brandon was was born.

William McInerney died in March of 2009 from ‘blunt-force’ trauma to the head at his home and the coroner has ruled the death to be accidental.

The jurors ultimate decision at the end of this case will not only determine the length of time Brandon McInerney faces behind bars, but also have far deeper reaches and repercussions. Many see this as a landmark ‘hate crimes’ case, with implications across the United States and the wider world. Yet regardless of that, the fact remains that two young lives have been destroyed.