The verdict is in. Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox is taking no prisoners. There will be no survivors when she’s finished with Brandon McInerney. How do I know this? She basically told me as much when I spoke with her after court this afternoon.
I’d seen that kind of look before, during the days when I banged heads with the agencies of state criminal prosecution. It’s a look of sheer drive mixed with the determination to do a job right. To prosecute “the accused” to the best of one’s abilities. To convict and to put away.
Only this time, Fox’s prey is a little different than the average criminal she’s used to facing. It’s a young boy that sits on the other side of the table. Although, not so little anymore, Brandon McInerney is still just a kid. Fourteen and counting.
THE DEFENDANT
Brandon sat with his back to me in Department 26 at the Ventura County courthouse in Ventura. His hair was slicked back like 14-year-old boys like to do, and he had a white T-shirt on as he sat head bowed before the Hon. Douglas W. Daily. Brandon’s attorney William Quest had filed a demurrer attacking the Complaint as being an unconstitutional violation of Brandon’s right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
In this case, the cruel and unusual punishment involves Welfare and Institutions Code Section 707(d), which substantially widens the District Attorney’s authority to file charges against minors 14 years of age and older in superior court, rather than juvenile court, without any judicial determination as to the fitness of the juvenile.
THE PROSECUTION
I caught up with Ms. Fox after today’s hearing and tried to confirm through her my belief that her boss, Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten, had invited public feedback regarding how his office might handle this case. After all, they did have the discretion to charge Brandon as an adult or a juvenile. But when I spoke to Fox, her attitude was quite sincere when she bluntly stated that this was the first she’d heard of that.
Ms. Fox assured me that she had been the one to file the charges against Brandon, and that she had filed them as she believed the law required her to charge. In other words, Fox was taking full responsibility for charging Brandon as an adult, and there was no need to hear from the public on the matter. What was done was done, and that’s that, public outcry or not.
THE CHARGES
Ms. Fox charged Brandon with Count I, murder, which carries a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life with no possibility of parole. She also charged him with a gun enhancement that carries a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life with no possibility of parole and a hate crime enhancement that carries a 1 to 3 year consecutive term. That’s 51 mandatory minimum years of Brandon’s life. The kid who, if three weeks younger, would never be considered fit for adult court, is now headed for the death sentence.
But the rub is that if this truly were Ms. Fox’s sole decision, she made a very bad one. Because she had the discretion to charge Brandon as a juvenile. She did not have to put the first nail into Brandon’s cross. This prosecutor intentionally chose to send Brandon McInerney to California’s adult prison system, a place where children are beaten, raped, and commit suicide, a place where children do not survive.
THE DEFENSE
When I spoke to Brandon’s attorney during a recess in the hearing, there was strain in his voice as we talked about the difficulties that lie ahead for his client’s case. The law is the law, and the defense will have their day in court. The prosecutor will parade her witnesses before the jury. One after another after another, each witness will verify each fact and confirm each element of the prosecution’s case. There will be swift justice.
Brandon will be convicted, because Brandon is guilty. Brandon committed a horrible act. He murdered Larry King. And now, it’s time for revenge. Thanks to the way the Ventura County District Attorney, through Senior Deputy Maeve Fox charged this case, Brandon has been handed what equates to a death sentence. There will be no rehabilitation. There will be no second chances with this system. The Ventura County District Attorney has made sure of it.
For more on Brandon McInerney please read related articles:
- Brandon McInerney: Ventura County’s Sacrificial Lamb
- Brandon McInerney is Worth Saving
- Brandon McInerney’s Legal Court Brief for July 24, 2008
- Let’s Not Destroy Brandon McInerney
- Another child is dead: So, how should we respond?
I opened my eyes not knowing where I was, where I lived, or even my name. All I knew was the absolute terror and my nearly dead body’s scream of agony.
But for survivors the world becomes a place where you hold all your life experiences in comparison to being beat to death.
A rose, a sunrise, a friends hug.
That’s what it is like to survive hate crime.
I pray that Lawrence’s experience was not as horrific. I pray as he transitioned to life with our creator, he found love and peace.
Brandon is among us on this planet, sharing our lives. Brandon should willingly ask for the maximum penalty to dissuade others from parroting his life.
This action would set into motion for Brandon a process that will allow him to forgive himself and eventually find freedom that no prison bars can contain.
I am going to send a donation to help Brandon McInerney and I am praying the courts will have mercy upon him. I cannot help but care for this young man who I believe is wondering why he cross paths with Larry. The truth is both Larry and Brandon were troubled boys, but Brandon was trying to get through and Larry was searching for meaning, acceptance and sympathy. The teachers knew Larry was out of order, but they allowed his behavior. Thus, Larry disturbed the other students and they had no rights. Larry tantalized the boys and he embarrassed Brandon. Brandon did not have a right to attend school in peace. So, Larry is gone and to cover for the mistake the educators made, Brandon must spent his life in prison. I think the educators and parents should go to prison for Brandon. We have to listen to children, and all students have rights. If you need a uniform policy, then you write one, if you need some rules to keep order then write them too, but you just do not say Oh he is discovering his sexuality and he has gay rights. Larry should have been sent home for his taunts as many times as required. I cannot understand the principal for encouraging him and not supporting her educators. Brandon McInerney should not be responsible for the adults failing to intervene when they saw what was going on and heard the students complain, but allowed it all to unfold.
Having taught in an adult prison, I agree that it is no environment for a child. Our society needs to understand that under no circumstances should a child be prosecuted as an adult. Our understanding of the developmental neurology of the adolescent brain confirms that children do not process information like adults. This is simple revenge and political posturing on the part of the prosecutor, and she should be ashamed of herself.
It seems to be the way we in CA think re kids being sentenced as adults is the way to go. There are more kids in the US being tried as adults in only one state, PA. This trend needs to stop! NOW
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[...] more on Brandon McInerney please read related articles: – Brandon McInerney, Our Sacrificial Lamb – Brandon McInerney is Worth Saving – Brandon McInerney’s Legal Court Brief for July 24, 2008 – [...]
Sacrificial lamb to what? Oh poor Brandon, he is getting a death sentence for HANDING OUT A DEATH SENTENCE TO SOMEONE ELSE. I know you mourn the jailing of your shining example of hetero masculinity for doing something I’m sure in secret you would love to do yourself, but welcome to the law mister man! That’s what he gets! If he was worried about being asked out by a gay person in school he is going to learn a lot more about it in jail ^_^ ! P.S. If this were a story about Brandon shooting another straight kid in a dispute, I doubt you’d care half as much; your article barely conceals your distaste for the MURDERED party.
Your words are extraordinarily hateful, filled with ignorance, and I wonder how you survive with such a miserable attitude. I don’t want any fourteen year olds or anyone else for that matter to get murdered or hurt. Why would I? In the same light, it’s too late for me to do anything for Larry. And his purported sexuality has nothing to do with it.
But we do have a chance to love and support and change Brandon, so my energies are put into what might be possible to achieve. I don’t just hide behind my computer and shout out hatred to anyone I disagree with. Try love, you might be amazed at how it can change the ignorance of what you say.
Here, let me highlight some choice blackbox phrases:
“..too late for me to do anything for Larry.”
Like what? Try to brainwash him straight? Guess what, it doesn’t work that way.
“And his purported sexuality has nothing to do with it.”
There isn’t anything “purported” about it there big guy, and it has everything to do with it. Including the extra 3 years your little killer will get for commiting a hate crime. Regardless of what you’d like to think, gay males aren’t just secretly straight people waiting to be found. Everyone isn’t like you, learn to deal with it.
“…California’s adult prison system, a place where children are beaten, raped, and commit suicide, a place where children do not survive.”
Junior High is like that for young gay people thanks to folks like Brandon. Now he will know what it is like to be dominated while adults (guards) willfully turn their eyes away.
“I don’t just hide behind my computer and shout out hatred to anyone I disagree with.”
Aww, are you asking me politely and in so many words to step outside? How cute! I didn’t realize however that I was hiding.
In conclusion, you are the worst kind of bigot: One hiding behind a message you only selectively support. At least I’m “man” enough to say exactly what I think!
What a hate-filled human being you are. And sarcastic and cynical, and I do feel sorry for you. And what is it we used to say back in school: Sticks and stones can break… Well, maybe that’s a little too complicated for you to understand. You’ve indeed got ugliness to espouse.
But let me try to help you for a second. Really, just stick your ego in the freezer, shut that insecure trap of yours for a second and listen to me. I wish you love and peace at all times. Did you hear that? And I mean it. I wish nothing but love and peace upon you at all moments at all places. I do the same for Larry and his family. I do the same for Brandon and his family.
There is a place out there, all around us, a vibration that we can tap into, a state of being, called love. Become it. Leave the ego at home. And everything you do from now on do it from that incredible space of the highest vibration. Love. Then listen to what you’ll sound like. You’ll realize you’ve become a whole new person.
Now, you’ll be a part of the solution. Instead of allowing your self-drawn hatred to create more ugliness in this world, hence, the problem. I wish you the very best in all that you do, sincerely…
I have to wonder how this boy’s father feels now about having taught his son that it was better to be thought a killer than a queer?
I know what it’s like to go to a school where people hate me for my sexuality because they simply don’t understand it. So you know what I do? I flaunt it and simply lay it out there for everyone to see. It’s the only way for people to get over their homophobia and I believe that is exactly what Lawrence had done. He didn’t deserve to get shot for being open about his sexuality.
I completly stand behind the prosecutor in charging McInerney as an adult – he took a life, he doesn’t deserve his own. You can’t change people like him, those who would choose to kill someone simply because of their sexuality. The world is better off with people like Brandon behind bars.
I am not trying to sound rude or hateful by my comments but truly, how many people have had to go to a school where you are hated because of something you can’t control? Where most of the school screams slurs at you and no one does anything? No one should have to live in constant fear for their life because of something as simple as sexuality. When that hatred becomes so overwhelming as to do what McInerney did it is unacceptable. How can there truly be people saying he does not deserve life in prison? I am for the death penalty but he doesn’t even deserve that mercy. I hope he spends his life in jail, thinking of what he did to Lawrence King.
First of all..
I find the idea that you are writing a book about this despicable, it seems to me that you are seeking only to bring in money to yourself and to a family that allows ease of access to Firearms and as per evidence shooting manuals, and training videos.
Witness’s claim to have heard Lawrence King saying “I love you” after receiving a death threat from Brandon.. That doesn’t sound like making a sexual advance to me, that sounds like compassion.
Don’t get me wrong I understand the concept of pressure that the students who are uncomfortable or scared of that must be feeling, but that’s why we should explain to our children the differences in people not hide them from it or shelter them.
I’m not so sure about public education of Same Sex or Transgenders in Elementary, but maybe it would lessen some of the hate crimes, and unfortunate sentencing of the youth that commit these crimes out of fear.
Why do we care about this kid? I think we should lock Brando up, and his parents. They couldn’t teach a kid not to shoot another boy in the head, twice? And they get to walk the streets? No folks – you can be a homo-hater, and still see the ‘wrong’ in this act by Brandon.
(I swear, the fact there are people out there who show support for this murder and his nutty family is proof there are nuts everywhere)
The wisdom of your ego bleeds through your hate-filled words. Maybe the ugliness of your judgments need a jump-start in a mirror.
Talk about ego… wow. What world do you live in Stolen Boy? Peace, love, and rainbows? WTF?!? At least some of us realize that the world we live in is utter crap. We don’t pretend it’s going to get any better. The tide of chaos and destruction get worse the more people we create here on Earth. I don’t hate my neighbor nor do I go out of my way to harm my neighbor, but I at least realize that the world is not full of people who don’t hate or harm their neighbor. In the most base form, humans are animals and some animals need to be put down. Stop bleeding for the sick animals and work on the animals that haven’t committed a capital crime. That, at least would be a good use of your talents. Work on the at risk teens that could commit a crime and not the ones who have dealt out hate and ugliness you mock here. How many of the people you mock here have committed a capital crime? You defend murderers and mock good people… throw your own ego in the freezer and listen to the people you attack as opponents to your worthless cause.
See, I haven’t given up on humanity. I don’t mock anyone. I believe right now, at all times, we can stop wishing destruction upon others, recognize the grace within each. The only ones I question are those who seek no alternative other than the destruction of another or others. There are amazing alternatives available to us, we just have to search for them and implement them.
And, we have to do it right now. Not everyone is in touch with this realization, though. Look around you, and what do you see? Now, your vision is to destroy those you, or society, deem unworthy, to save the rest of us. How do you believe this type of social philosophy works in reality, though?
Did you ever hear of the belief that our present consciousness creates our ultimate reality. Or, might you believe in the opposite? That all of life is a reaction to our surroundings. Well, it doesn’t work that way. Through our present thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and desires, we actually create what we experience. Life then ultimately becomes a mirror to our ugliness, or, the beauty we generate. So, if we begin to actually put the ego judgments and labels aside, for a moment, and quit coloring our beliefs as to other Beings we don’t even know, we begin to recognize the connectivity of all things.
We stop spinning around as a separate judge of others, determining man’s fate with our own minds. Yes, in deed, one should take a look in that mirror of life to see who really is doing the talking, and who’s ego might be in need of some readjustment. On that point, we most certainly do agree.
Again you attempt to pull us up to the cloud with rainbows you live on. You used a bunch of psychological colorful fluff to what end? I will admit that I didn’t understand maybe 50% of what you said. The point I made was that you seem to have an ego of your own and pass judgments on those you don’t agree with by calling them ugly, sarcastic, and whatever other colorful fluff you can come up with. We were created through whatever powers you believe in to be able to think for ourselves and make judgments based on what someone does or doesn’t do. We created laws and we follow those laws. When someone breaks those laws be it child or adult, they pay for it. Again, why do you support those who have already failed? You could support the ones who still have a chance and don’t have to die or spend the rest of their life in prison. Saying those children who are to be put to death or have committed such a heinous crime as murder should be given a second chance just seems to lack common sense. I don’t want those children who were willing to commit a hate crime to get out and be given the chance to kill my child just because he/she chose to be gay. They lost their right to a normal life by taking someone else’s right to live. If you’re going to reply could you at least keep it at a lower college level of reading? Not all of us are doctors or majors in psychology who appreciate big words to fluff up conversation. Thanks
I forgot to ask: what exactly is it you suggest the justice system should do with these children who have taken life away from someone else? What is your master plan?
I have to be honest, I’ve only learned of the McInerney case because I am doing a speech on trying children as adults. I think a lot of people need to do some research before they start condemning a child for his mental inequities. Piaget and Erikson did some amazing studies on the development of our mental capacities and maturity. This boy McInerney did a horrible thing. It is never ok to take the life of someone else. Unfortunately, McInerney’s cognitive skills are not fully developed. If someone with a mental disability that caused them to act like a 14 year old child, even though they were 30, were to kill someone else because they felt taunted by them, would you recommend life in prison for them or rehabilitative therapy? Yes, McInerney deserves to be locked up, but he also deserves rehabilitation. If we destroy hope of getting the help that is needed then we will lose more than just that one individual, we will eventually lose our society.
I was a little disturbed by the phrase “The only ones I question are those who seek no alternative other than the destruction of another…” Forgive me, but does this phrase not describe the very person (Brandon) it is actually being used to defend? Besides, a person should not be automatically labeled as “hate-filled” or “ignorant” simply because they wish to see justice prevail. And I suppose I’ll catch some heat for this one, but a 14 year old (although not yet an adult) is still capable of discerning between right & wrong and comprehending consequences for his actions. People keep referring to this adolescent as a child. Come on now – he’s not five.
Brandon, unfortunately, would have grown up to be a trouble maker anyways. Although, he is very young to have such a harsh punishment at this time. I wonder who taught him to dislike feminine males so much to want to kill one?
this is tragic all the way around. how does someone hate the idea of “being a valentine” so much that it is worth killing someone for? what about telling the other boy no and walking away? even hitting him , though it would not have been right would have been more a a “normal” response.
i feel brandon needs to pay for what he did, but at the same time i would hope that he would get the counseling that he so obviously needs to understand why this had to happen.
brandon deserved everything he got. the only “stolen boy” or “scarifical lamb” is the poor King boy. He was KILLED by this bastard teenager because he was gay.. this murderer doesnt deserve any slack
Racism and homophobia have no bounds. If the shoe were on the other foot–the latino gay boy shot the white boy once, twice to make sure he’s dead–then we wouldn’t be seeing articles such as this one.
We were all 13-17 once, and we all know that we weren’t clueless little children. We knew what violence, murder, and death meant. So did Brandon, the murderer.
I completed agree that this child is being used for political posturing. He deserves another chance and rehabilitation. You don’t change hate with more hate. He should do a reasonable amount of time but also undergo therapy. He was barely 14 when he committed this crime and his life was so full of violence and hate from the time he was a born. America has thousands of minors in prison for life. In the rest of the world combined there are less then a dozen children in prison for life. The American justice system is all about punishment with no rehabilitation and it is clear our system does not work. The teachers and parents of both of these young boys failed them. I’m sorry this Larry was murdered, but that sort of hate isn’t born it is taught and it can be untaught. I was openly bi-sexual in high school in a small town in the south. I was bullied and teased. Slammed into lockers and defamatory graffiti about me was sprayed on the walls of the bathrooms. My little brother was also teased and bullied and had to fight his way through high school when kids would ask him if he was a “fag like your sister”. I still do not wish this young boy a life spent in prison. I think it’s a horrible injustice a child that young was put in the adult prison system. Revenge is not part of who I am I guess. I’d much rather see him rehabilitated and unlearn hate while he serves a lengthy sentence but is still released early enough to have a another chance at life.
Where is your compassion for King and his family? You seem to have an endless well of sympathy for a nazi bigot who murdered an innocent child for daring to be different, but when it comes to the victim where is that same sympathy? Does King’s family not deserve justice for their murdered child? Do not gay kids everywhere have the right to feel like they have a right to be who they are without fear of being murdered? Trying Brandon as a child would validate what he did and possibly send the message that if you kill a gay boy, you’ll only get 7 years (They can’t hold you past 21 as I understand it). I have some sympathy for Brandon and he ruined his life, or more accurately, his parents ruined his life by raising him to be a hateful bigot, but that does not excuse what he did. Not one bit. I hope he gets mandatory life without parole. A message needs to be sent that we will not tolerate gay children, or any children for that matter being murdered, even by other children. The stolen boy is Larry King, not Brandon and I suspect you share Brandon’s homophobia to even suggest that he’s any kind of victim in this case. I don’t wish for Brandon to be hurt or tortured in prison, nor do I hope he gets killed or anything like that, but I do hope and pray for justice for Larry. Justice that can only happen if Brandon is sent to prison forever.
This gay boy,paraded around and taunted an already distressed child.With everyone laughing at the heterosexual.What a gaggle of sick and deranged americans we have created.Where are the charges of sexual harrassment?Where are the charges of complicity on the school?
Paul and others like you make me sick.
You claim to be so loving? Really? Then why is it that you continually call other people names? You are constantly pointing the finger at others calling them hateful, egotistical, insecure, sarcastic, cynical, miserable, and stupid (which you insinuate by saying other posters can’t POSSIBLY understand the COMPLICATED things you are saying). Guess what?
THAT IS NOT LOVE. You say you aren’t mocking anyone . . .but you absolutely ARE.
You talk about sticks and stones . . . do you remember the one about glass houses? When you start walking the walk you talk . . . then maybe someone will start listening.