Prosecution Tears Apart McInerney’s “Gay Panic” Defense

[Shana A]

Posted on Advocate.com August 25, 2011 04:35:00 PM ET
Prosecution Tears Apart McInerney's "Gay Panic" Defense
By Neal Broverman

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/08/25/Prosecution_Tears_Apart_McInerneys_Gay_Panic_Defense/

In closing arguments in the trial of accused killer Brandon McInerney, Ventura County, Calif., senior deputy district attorney Maeve Fox today worked to discredit McInerney's "gay panic" defense and referred to it as character assassination against 15-year-old Larry King, whom she called the victim of a cold-blooded execution.

"Let's just say it, this defense is gay panic," Fox said. "For the past six weeks, there's been this giant smoke screen." The real reason for the shooting was "the defendant hated Larry King for who he was."

[tekla]

I just don't get how you plead 'panic' when it's already been proven that it was ongoing, and HE BROUGHT THE GUN, that fact in this cases is the killer.  You don't pick up a gun and take it with you for no reason.

[spacial]

On the face of it, the case seems pretty simple.

The killer, admits he took a gun and shot this boy dead. To seek to defend this by claiming he was panicing seems strange. Panicing about what? Panicing that he might be pursuaded to indunge in gay sex? Panicing that this seemingly smaller child might rape him? That doesn't even begin to adress the point made by Tekla, that the admitted adction of the killer don't really seem to amount to panic.

I must be missing something here but I can't quite see what his defense is.

Or perhaps it's just to give him an opportunity to launbch an appeal later, claiming his lawyers didn't represent his arguments properly.

[V M]

But doesn't everyone who is suffering from gay panic get up in the morning, take a loaded gun to school and shoot another student twice in the head in a classroom? Oh yeah, that was just a random act of violence due to a panic situation... Yeah right

I hate to see someone go to prison at such a young age, but this guy is a cold blooded murderer who acted out of hate    Just my opinion

[tekla]

Well the entire notion of a gay panic defense (which I've yet to see work, perhaps Ann O might know of a case but I don't) is starting out saying "kid you're ->-bleeped-<-ed, we're just going to try to get you a little less ->-bleeped-<-ed," because that defense has to start out admitting that that you killed the person and we're down to arguing intent.  The trial is pretty much 99% over at that point.  It's not a way to 'get off', it's a beyond desperate attempt to get a murder one charged dropped to manslaughter, which still has some pretty heavy time attached.

[V M]

Yeah, I understand he's still looking at 20 or so years even if the charges are reduced to manslaughter