New Trial for Brandon McInerney for the Cold-Blooded Murder of Gay Classmate

Brandon McInerney                            Lawrence King        

Brandon McInerney, the teenager accused of killing a classmate in California will be re-tried after the original trial failed to produce a verdict. In September the jury in the trial of McInerney failed to reach a verdict, forcing the presiding judge to rule a mistrial. This time the hate-crime charge is being dropped by Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Frawley to focus the trial on a first-degree murder charge, a special allegation of use of a handgun, and a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait.
 The news of the re-trial comes three years after King was shot twice in the back of the head at his Oxnard high school on 12 February 2008. McInerney, supposedly raised in a violent home, maintained that King made sexual advances towards him. However, McInerney came to school with a gun and shot King twice in the back of the head as fellow classmates watched on. Fairly clear that it was premeditated and thought out.

If convicted of all the new charges, McInerney would face a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.  A pretrial hearing is scheduled for 21 November.