On Brandon McInerney – by Christiane Cook
The latest about the juvenile Brandon McInerney, a 13 year old from Ventura, is as follows:
He is sentenced to life in prison. His lawyer tried to have the case dismissed and refiled in Juvenile Court. Brandon, who is tried as an adult, was accused of a hate crime because he shot a gay schoolmate. His attorney’s arguments are that the victim had been harassing him with romantic advances for months and no one had helped Brandon when he asked for help. The fact that McInerney had a difficult childhood should also have been taken into consideration, his attorney argues. The age of the boy should have been taken into consideration, along with the fact he had no juvenile record. The judge rejected the attorney’s request for a dismissal and a new trial and the attorney is ready to appeal the decision.
This is also a civil right case because it is a “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Filed under: Human Rights/Civil Rights/Individual Rights
You have your facts wrong on several levels.
First of all, Brandon was 14 when the murder took place, he is now 15.
Secondly, Brandon has not yet even gone to trial. His current attorneys petitioned the court to have the case MOVED to juvenile court rather than adult court. That petition was denied, so as it currently stands, Brandon will be tried in adult court for the murder of Lawrence King.
All of the things you mentioned that should be taken into consideration have been. What you failed to mention, was that it was also taken into consideration that Brandon had nearly 24 hours to reconsider his threat to kill Larry and still made the decision to bring the gun to school the next day and shoot him twice, in the back of the head, in front of a classroom full of students, as well as the teacher.
You failed to mention that, while nearly a year younger than Larry, Brandon was a good 8″ taller than Larry and had a black belt in karate. Larry was small and feminine. Brandon had other physically violent/aggressive options at his disposal with which to take out his (rightful OR wrongful) anger at Larry, but chose the most lethal one of all.
Brandon was mature enough to plan to murder Larry, uncontrollably self-centered and angry enough to bring the gun to school the next day and carry out his plan in front of more than 20 witnesses and conscious of the consequences enough to flee the classroom and attempt to evade police immediately following the shooting.
There are many issues at work here… but having an intelligent, humanistic discussion of those issues requires first having something akin to the bare minimum facts of the case. I repeat… Brandon McInerney is still in custody AWAITING trial.
It is possible that my paper didn’t give the facts right.
But you have no right to assume that a 13/14 child is evil, as your note suggests, and will not change.
You don’t suggest any possible rehabilitation. A child does change and should never but never be condemned to life in prison, a possibility which was mentioned when Brendon was first tried., according to my paper. Your note indicates a very harsh view of justice I do not share.
Dr.Christiane Cook, Ph.D. J.D.
Second commentary. I heard about Brandon’s case in connection with the discussion of a CA bill that would have made it impossible to condemn a child to more than 25 years in prison. Brandon was mentioned as a child (whether 13,14 or 15 is irrelevant) who might receive a life sentence.Whether he is tried in juvenile or adult court is relevant because he might more easily receive a life sentence if tried as an adult. … I have worked with juvenile delinquents and found that they were not mature enough to fathom the seriousness of their crimes. If your punitive attitude
prevails at his trial, I fear he will have no chance to receive less than a life sentence.Such cruelty in the Justice system disturbs me deeply. Dr. Christiane Cook, Ph.D. JD.
ya well he did not have a blackbelt… he never made it that far… i knew him and he was one of my clesest friends…. and he is now serving 50 years until he gets retried when he turns 18.
he was not aggressive or selfcentered and his childhood greatly affected the chioces he made…
and is the reason he was able to get the gun
It seems to me that some of you have forgotten that there is a child who will never have the option of having a life. It was taken away from him, remember? I am tired of the excuses. This was a premeditated hate crime. Not everyone who has a rotten childhood kills people. A bad childhood should not be used as an excuse for this type of behavior. Yes there is anger and outrage. As well there should be, but to say that somehow it is ok to allow this person to not stand trial as the adult that he has acted like is ludicrous. There are consequences for behavior. He made his bed. Now he gets to sleep in it. wake up. The idea that there is even conversation around this makes it legitimate for others to go out and do the same. We as a collective have allowed this to happen. I am saddened by this, but there needs to be an end to the killing and if this is the only way that people get it then so be it.
I never even heard of this stoy unil i saw it on a website. I do not agree that he should be sentenced to life in prison but how do we know that he wouldnt do it again? I mean he planned to kill Larry at the age of 13/14, in school and in front of others. Its very hard to say. Sometimes it would be better for Brandon to be in prison but then maybe not. If I could I would sit down with Brandon myself to get some answers. People to change. Larry does deserve justice though!
first of all, i dont believe a 14 year olds brain has matured enough to know the full actions of murder. brandon was wrong for doing what he did, but we do need to think about the acts leading up to that sad day. brandon did try to get help and no adult did anything to stop what was going on. i feel that brandon just might have felt this was his only option. I believe he can get help and be a changed person.
“…i dont believe a 14 year olds brain has matured enough to know the full actions of murder.” - Dawn
What a bunch of bunk. My daughter is only 7 and she knows the difference between something that’s living and something that’s dead. She understands what could potentially happen if someone is shot with a gun. She doesn’t have to understand the specifics, but she does know that a gun can be used to kill someone.
For those of you who believe that a young man who was reading neo-Nazi publications and watching a training video aptly titled “Shooting in Realistic Environments” is innocent of his methodical and premeditated actions, need a serious wake up call. It has been proven in many studies that children nowadays are much brighter than they were several decades ago due to technological advances.
In Brandon’s case, he was very close to achieving a high level of martial arts status. According to one of you, he did not have anger issues. In lieu of this baseless point, he pulled the trigger…twice. If the first shot didn’t wake him up after he saw his classmate fall to the floor, I’m thinking the second shot wasn’t intended as an “I’m so sorry for my actions, let me help you up.”
Seriously, wake up people.
Your sheltered ideals don’t work in the real world. For those of you who rebuke this fact, take a walk through Compton, California at night and see if you still hold the same belief after you’ve been assaulted by a 13 year old with a Smith and Wesson 9mm semi-automatic.
There are two children involved here. What if Larry was you? What if Larry was your child? You would be fine with loosing your life, or the life of your child…because the one who shot him was just a boy with his whole life ahead of him? Our societies would be in chaos if we didn’t teach the old and the young that they are accountable for their actions. Drug dealers and other criminals have used youths to carry out violent crimes because they teach them that their sentences will be light because they’re minors who will be absolved once they became adults. So there is no accountability. But, when children learn the consequences of taking a life can in tern cost them their freedom for the remainder of their lives and that they can’t get away with such a violent crime. Maybe in the future knowing that will save the life of the victim and the perpetrator….I still have a hard time with the fact that he premeditated the murder…and shot that kid twice in the back of the head execution style. You know some youths don’t care about the cost of their actions and commit the crime anyway…that can be a sign that person was bent on becoming a killer.
I strongly agree, what if it were your child, you would not be asking to have mercy on the killer.. and another thing to consider.. 15 years old.. that is old enough to drive… so why is it not old enough to be tried as an adult? He knew exactly what he was doing, had plenty of time to think about it, and not only shot the boy once.. but TWICE? and he should not be sentenced to 50 YEARS?? well at least he will have 50 YEARS unlike Larry who never had a chance, and yes I believe that it is the parents fault for raising their child with hate.. BUT.. my parents also raised me with hate, and when i was 15 i knew better than to take a gun and shoot someone in the head twice with it… i knew what MURDER WAS.. i knew that there would be a consequence for the reset of my life, 11, 15, 20, or 99 … you know what a gun does.
Lawrence did not deserve to die. He has no chance at rehabilitation.
Brandon still has his life. He threw a lot of that away when he chose to kill Lawrence. The homosexual panic defense is indefensible.
Society threw both of these young lives away by letting homophobic violence go on for too long. You can object to someone being gay all you like but your right to object stops where the other persons right to live begins.