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?

Larry King Murder Trial Opens With Anti-Gay Arguments

The long-awaited trial of Brandon McInerney for the February 2008 execution-style murder of Lawrence King opened on July 5th with the prosecution and defense painting very different pictures of the two teenagers involved.

The los Angeles Times is covering the trial (quite well) and started by summarizing prosecutor Maeve Fox's opening statement.

Fox, a veteran Ventura County prosecutor, led the jury through a 90-minute outline of the case, starting by flashing a large photograph of a cherubic-faced King on a projector. She next showed the defendant's booking photos, portraying a tall and muscular McInerney with shaved head, taken within hours of the killing.

McInerney was angry with King, she said, because King had decided he was no longer going to take the bullying that he had been subjected to for years. Slight and "very effeminate," King had only girls for friends and was shunned by the boys, Fox said.

But after King was removed from his home and placed into a children's shelter, he underwent a change in attitude, the prosecutor said. He became more confident in school and started wearing high-heeled boots, makeup and jewelry along with his uniform. School rules did not prohibit this.

King knew it was within his rights to assert a budding feminine identity, and he took full advantage, she said.

"Larry King for the first time in his life wasn't taking it anymore," Fox said. "He started to give people what I prefer to call the proverbial chin, only it was more profane."

The defense attorney is Scott Wippert who has already been held in contempt by the judge for mentioning McInerney's statements to police that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell had previously ruled would not be heard by the jury.

Wippert's 30-minute opening statement focused on both of the boys' troubled backgrounds and on McInerney's inability to deal with the humiliation of having an openly gay boy flirt with him at school. In contrast to the district attorney's slide show presentation, Wippert simply stood before the jury and talked, occasionally consulting his notes.

McInerney reached an "emotional breaking point" and saw no other way to stop the sexual harassment by King, Wippert said. His own violent and dysfunctional family offered no help, and school officials had made it clear that King was permitted to flaunt his sexuality, even if it was disruptive, the defense attorney said.

He called the prosecution's allegation that McInerney was acting out of white supremacist beliefs a red herring. He said that the Nazi iconography and copies of Hitler's speeches found in the boy's room were related to his work on a World War II paper.

There was no hate crime, just the frustration of an adolescent with nowhere to turn, he told the jury. "Why would a student complain when everyone knows about it and no one is going to do anything about it?" he posited.

Wippert suggested that a psychologist will testify that McInerney was in a dissociative state at the time of the shooting, not in touch with the reality of what he was doing. He also told the jury there is evidence that King had been making inappropriate sexual comments at school since the fifth grade.

"He did shoot Larry King," Wippert said of his client. "He did this out of a heat of passion, and that is voluntary manslaughter."

MadProfessah has been following this case very closely for years. Involuntary manslaughter would be a travesty of a result. I am a strong opponent of the death penalty and also do not approve of trying 14-year-olds as adults but since California passed Proposition 21 passed allowing the practice McInerney should be tried to the fullest extent of the law. There is no question McInerney executed Larry King (with a gun, no less!), and that the boy's sexual orientation and gender identity was involved in Mcinerney's decision to end Larry King's life.

Jury Selection In Gay Teen Murder Trial Begins

On February 12, 2008 teenager Brandon Mcinerney shot fellow teenager Lawrence King in the back of the head during an early morning class at E.O. Green Elementary School in Oxnard. Now, more than three years later a jury is being selected in the murder trial, as the defense has rejected all plea deals.

The Ventury County Star reports:

Defense attorney Scott Wippert said the plea bargain was "absurd and very far from the truth," and that his client is guilty of voluntary manslaughter and not premeditated first or second degree murder.

Wippert said the chance his client would get paroled whether he served 25 or 53 years is slim to none.

"The plea offer they are making is very illusory," Wippert said. "They are trying to convince the public by making such an offer that they are looking out for Brandon and they are giving him a chance. If they wanted to give him a chance, they would give him a determinant offer."

Wippert said his client was pushed by a tumultuous home life and constant sexual harassment from King.

"These were two very troubled young men," Wippert said of his client and King. "That doesn't justify what (Brandon) did, but it explains how distraught he was when the constant harassment occurred at the school and the overall anguish in his life that led to this horrific act. That is what created the heat of passion in his mind. He committed a horrific act, but outside of that, he is a really good kid." 

Amazing. Somehow Lawrence King is going to be made into the aggressor, even though Brandon went home and got his dad's gun and put a bullet in the brain of a classmate, in front of 25 other students and the teacher. I understand the defense wants to make this case about King's actions and not Mcinerney's, but surely there are some places even a defense attorney won't go? We'll see.

The LGBT community will be watching this case very, very closely.

LEA Releases Statement Praising EQCA ED Pick

The Latino Equality Alliance released  a statement praising Roland Palencia's selection as the new Executive Director of Equality California:

Latino Equality Alliance Official Statement

on the Selection of Mr. Roland Palencia
For Executive Director of Equality California

 May 16, 2011

“The Latino Equality Alliance congratulates the Board of Equality California, the largest LGBT advocacy organization in California, on its selection of Mr. Roland Palencia as its next Executive Director.  In a post Proposition 8 world, the selection of aperson of color with executive experience and professional fundraising skills coupled with an extraordinary trajectory as a community leader is a bold move and a “game changer” in our struggle for LGBT justice, “ said Ari Gutierrez, Co-Chair of the Latino Equality Alliance.

We know Mr. Palencia to be a pioneer activist and a highly respected community leader for the LGBT and Latino communities.  As an activist, Mr. Palencia is passionate in his advocacy for the disenfranchised and never hesitates to take a public stand for an affected community in times of crisis.  In these times, when coalition efforts and executive experience across diverse communities is desperately needed, Mr. Palencia brings the precise blend of diverse background, deep community ties, and organizational expertise that make him uniquely suited to lead Equality California.

            As a business executive, we know Mr. Palencia to be a visionary leader that challenges the status quo to grow the organization and in an effort to serve its constituents best.  Whether its legislators, government officials, funders, or community members Mr. Palencia helps them understand the challenge at hand and secures needed support.  He has a successful track record in developing sustainable multi-million dollar non-profit organizations that have impacted thousands of lives, including those of underserved LGBT communities, immigrants, youth and persons impacted by HIV/AIDS. 

“Roland Palencia is a coalition leader adept at weaving many communities and movements together, especially where they intersect, and is able to connect with leaders from various movements in an effort to gain community-wide support. He is an excellent choice to lead EQCA and our LGBT movement,” said Eddie Martinez, Associate Director of the Wall/Las Memorias and Co-Chair of the Latino Equality Alliance.

CA-36: Rep. Harman Announces Retirement

U.S. Rep. Jane Harman

Congressmember Jane Harman, Democrat representing California's 36th Congressional District, announced on Monday that she will be resigning from Congress to assume leadership of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Congressional seats are not subject to term limits and become available very rarely. The last open seat was the 33rd Congressional District seat won by Karen Bass in a barely contested race in June 2010. The last contested  Congressional seat was the 32nd Congressional District seat won by former State Assembyperson Judy Chu over former State Senator Gil Cedillo.

The names which have been bandied about as replacements for Harman are Los Angeles Councilmember Janice Hahn, Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Assemblymember Warren Furutani.