Pretrial hearing in Larry King murder case – latest update
Via the LA Times (link here)
After hearing testimony for three days, a judge Wednesday said a gay junior high school student in Oxnard was fatally shot in class “with the cold-blooded precision of an executioner” and that 15-year-old Brandon McInerney should stand trial for the crime.
[...]
On Wednesday, the judge also agreed to a newly added special circumstance that McInerney was lying in wait for King. The shooting took place 15 or 20 minutes into class. King was shot from behind.
After the hearing, prosecutor Maeve Fox said McInerney could face 53 years to life if convicted.
The Ventura County district attorney’s office has offered him a 25-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but he has not accepted the deal. On Wednesday, Fox said the offer is still on the table.
McInerney’s attorneys would not discuss their client’s reaction to the plea-bargain offer. They said they are planning to ask appellate judges to order the case into Juvenile Court, where sentences are lighter and more rehabilitative services are available. Although California law allows 14-year-old murder defendants to be tried as adults, attorney Scott Wippert said Ventura County prosecutors had “abused their discretion” in charging McInerney.
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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox
[...] Cross-posted at Questioning Transphobia [...]
Pretrial hearing in Larry King murder case – latest update « bird of paradox
July 24, 2009 at 3:06 am
This angry trans chica, who generally wants to see people who murder transfolks tossed away for a long time, is really creeped by that long a sentence for any 14 year old. When children act on hate, you know they learned it somewhere and life has not yet given them opprotunities to unlearn it. A 25 year sentence seems unlikely to offer those opprotunities, or make our society more worth living in for those of us who don’t quite fit.
jessl
July 24, 2009 at 9:51 am
Yeah, I have a position very similar to jessl’s — I am opposed to the whole “try children as adults to show we’re Tough On Crime” thing, while very much in favor of hate crime legislation protecting trans people.
On the other hand, as long as we have such a stupid concept — that 14-year-olds should be tried as adults — I am glad that, in this case, the option to do so was not dismissed because that could have sent a signal that there are certain people it’s “okay” to kill.
Caoimhe Ora Snow
July 24, 2009 at 11:09 am
Caoimhe-
Yes, but the practical effect of hate crime sentencing enhancements is that you’re gonna send the alleged perpetrator-regardless of their age-to a longer prison term. If you are going to try children as adults, I’d rather have them spend as less time as possible inside of prison, because that atmosphere isn’t going to help someone come to terms with whatever prejudice it is that landed them there in the first place.
Amanda in the South Bay
July 24, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I think its important to separate the two major issues here. The horrors of the prison-industrial complex and the cold blooded execution of a young gender variant person.
Feeling sorry for 15 year old alleged white supremacists with guns who slay vulnerable people is not going to bring people back from the dead. Nor is it particularly productive.
King is dead, and what people seem to be missing is that Brandon McInerney is dead too. The dog and pony dance of the trial and jail sentence is just pronouncement of the fact that he is dead as a functioning member of society. Let’s not fetishize Brandon McInerney to achieve closure on the loss of King, k?
Letting go of poor poor mistreated Brandon McInerney, who made and executed his choices with engineering precision is a good first step towards looking to the problems of the prison industrial complex, and how the problems it creates can be addressed for more than just this particular young man who chose to take life the way I chose what to wear today.
Justice will not be served by tossing this punk in jail for a few decades, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. The only justice possible would be King happily clomping off to school in heels, blissfully unaware of the what-might-have-been we’re discussing here today. But, that ain’t gonna happen, so as lousy for certain sensibilities as this is, we do the best we can with what we got, and if we don’t like it, we work to make the system better for the real justice I spoke of above.
Brandon McInerney made his choices, so let him learn an adult lesson:
Actions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are not as severe as the harm you inflicted.
With luck, he’ll have a half a century to think it over, and we’ll be without the company of a cold blooded killer for the same amount of time.
voz
July 25, 2009 at 8:42 am
what voz said.
lucullean
July 25, 2009 at 9:00 am
aren’t most kids who are tried as adults POC ?
why open THAT door any further for one or two instances?! we should be closing it.
also, children of any race are potentially a “marginalized” group, already, and exploitable
as is.this concept has BAD repercussions for society….
javier
July 25, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Javier,
I don’t think anyone here has argued against closing that door in general for the sake of this asshole. But the door isn’t going to be closed in time for Brendan anyway so why not focus on making sure he’s held accountable even if theres a lot of ugliness that will go along with it, its not as ugly as what he did or what others will more freely do if he isn’t held accountable.
Estrobutch
July 25, 2009 at 3:33 pm
as is this concept has BAD repercussions for society….
well, I think the point of interest should concentrate on keeping 14 year olds from slaying in cold blood, execution style, rather than coddling them after the fact. I might add that letting wannabe Neo Nazis walk around busting caps in people’s skulls at school is not something where prevention matters more than hand wringing about the perpetrator.
Once they’ve gone and done it, the time for such agonizing is long gone. Concentrate on preventing the next one.
voz
July 25, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Once they’ve gone and done it, the time for such agonizing is long gone. Concentrate on preventing the next one.
I’m with Voz on this one. Our prison industrial complex will not change before Brandon’s sentencing. He has already taken King’s life. We always raise complaints about the lack of justice in our so-called justice system after someone commits a hate-motivated crime. I completely agree with the complaints, but we need to concentrate our efforts on preventing THE NEXT child from taking another life because it is different from theirs.
Dawn.
July 26, 2009 at 2:05 pm