“Other Voices” is a new section on American Justice Notebook web site, which will be launched on Tuesday with a column by Attorneys Robyn Bramson and Scott Wippert, who represented Brandon McInerney who had just turned 14 years old when he killed a classmate.
The attorneys’ column titled “Brandon McInerney Redemption” looks at the aftermath of the McInerney murder case and California’s law about trying juveniles as adults.
McInerney was convicted of murdering 15-year-old Larry King a classmate at E.O. Green School in Oxnard California. The tragic shooting drew the attention of the national media.
On Feb. 12, 2008, McInerney clasped a gun with two hands, close to his chest and shot King in the back of the head at close range during a computer lab classroom. McInerney walked up to him and shot him, again, in the head and ran out of the classroom, a witness told police.
Shortly after the slaying, allegations surfaced of bullying, sexual identity, schoolyard teasing and taunting, gun violence, white supremacy and school teachers and administrators who were aware of the problems between the two boys but failed to do anything about it.
Worse, both boys came from troubled family backgrounds.
Prosecutors quickly moved to try McInerney as an adult for first degree murder involving a hate crime. McInerney was facing 53 years to life. The trial began in July 2011.
There were eight weeks of testimony with almost 100 witnesses, and the jury had been deliberating since August 26, 2011. It ended in a hung jury on Sept. 1 with seven jurors voting for a lesser felony of voluntary manslaughter or second degree murder. Five jurors were split between first-degree or second-degree murder.
On September 2, 2011, the District attorney’s office said they would retry McInerney. On Oct. 5, 2011, prosecutor Maeve Fox dropped the hate crime charge.
On November 21, 2011 McInerney reached a plea agreement with the district attorney and plead guilty to second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm.
He was sentenced to 21 years behind bars, with no credit given for time served prior to the trial and no credit will be given for good behavior.