Brandon McInerney, an Oxnard teen who shot gay classmate Larry King after he said the boy was flirting with him, has accepted a plea deal and will spend the next 21 years in prison.
“Larry had a complicated life, but he did not deserve to be murdered,” Greg King, father to Larry, told the Los Angeles Times.
McInerney, 14 at the time, shot King twice in the head in a classroom. During the trial, McInerney told psychologists he had thought of killing King for some time before actually doing it.
The first trial, which portrayed McInerney as a white, anti-gay supremacist, ended in mistrial.
After some silence, gay rights allies and activists spoke out on the hung jury. Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network explained, “Brandon McInerney killed Larry King and should go to jail for his crime. However, the first trial subjected everyone — especially Larry and Brandon’s peers — to a painful spectacle that accomplished nothing.”
In the second trial, prosecutors did not pursue allegations of homosexual hatred based on the previously hung jury who did not believe McInerney was homophobic.
Prosecutor Maeve Fox closed the second trial by emphasizing the case was a “tragedy on all levels,” but the teen should be held responsible for his actions.
“What possible chance did the boy have against this defendant?” Fox asked. “He was killed by someone who was full of hatred.”
McInerney will be released from prison at the age of 38.
