Brandon McInerney has agreed to spend the next 21 years of his life in prison for fatally shooting gay middle-school classmate Lawrence King three years ago.
McInerney’s attorneys argued during the trial that school officials could have done more to prevent the violence from taking place in the first place.
McInerney, who was 14 years old when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot King twice point-blank, will be kept behind bars until he is 38 under the terms of the deal reached today by prosecutors.
The victim’s mother, Dawn King, revealed for the first time yesterday that she had contacted school officials just four days prior to the shooting in an effort to get their assistance in toning down Lawrence’s behavior. Authorities had removed the boy from the Kings’ residence two months earlier due to domestic issues.
She said she was told that it was within her son’s civil rights to explore his sexual identity.
“I knew, gut instinct, that something serious was going to happen,” she said. “They should have contained him, contained his behavior.”
School administrators sent a memo to all teachers, advising that they give King his space, but to immediately report any safety problems. Teachers at the trial stated that when they attempted to growing tensions between Lawrence King and several boys, administrators at the school turned a blind eye.
Brandon McInerney shot Lawrence King in a school computer lab at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard in February 2008 after days of conflict between the boys.
Students and teachers at the trial testified that King had been dressing in women’s clothes, wearing makeup, and flirting with male students.
Related articles
- McInerney pleads, gets 21 years for Oxnard gay-student shooting (abclocal.go.com)
- Lawrence King’s Murderer Brandon McInerney Pleas Guilty, Gets 21 Years (lezgetreal.com)
- McInerney Pleads Guilty to Second Degree Murder (queerlandia.com)
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