Prosecutors vow to retry teen who killed gay classmate
September 2, 2011 |  2:02 pm

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/prosecutors-vow-to-retry-teen-who-killed-gay-classmate.html

Prosecutors vowed Friday to immediately retry an Oxnard middle school student who shot a gay classmate, maintaining that the incident was a premeditated murder and a hate crime despite doubts by some jurors in the initial trial, which ended with a hung jury and a mistrial.

However, Ventura County prosecutors said they are considering whether to again try Brandon McInerney as an adult -- a choice that legal experts believe made it harder for them to win a conviction.

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Posted on Advocate.com September 02, 2011 07:40:00 PM ET
Prosecutors on McInerney: We're Retrying Him
By Neal Broverman

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/09/02/Prosecutors_on_McInerney_Were_Retrying_Him/

A plea deal for Brandon McInerney looks less likely, as prosecutors in Ventura County, Calif., announced today that they intend to retry the case of the 17-year-old, who more than three years ago fatally shot gay teen Lawrence King twice in the head.

I don't understand this verdict at all.

Oh we get constant proof that juries - particularly in LA - are just nuts sometimes.  And the entire thing is caught in a legal minefield.  They should have charged him as a minor, with voluntary manslaughter and I bet they would have taken that plea, but... he was 'laying in wait' as they legally call it, and that automatically triggers a charge as an adult for murder one (as it should, BTW).  It will be interesting to see if they can find a way around it, voluntary manslaughter is 25-life, and I'd be OK with him getting out when he's 40.  That ought to mess up his life enough.

Quote from: spacial on September 03, 2011, 08:24:29 AM
I don't understand this verdict at all.

spend some time around criminal defense and it makes absolute sense.  The case simply illustrates yet another reason why 'hate crime' enhancements can complicate prosecutions...try the conduct for what it was- one ->-bleeped-<- pulling the trigger to kill a victim.  Skip the gymnastics about motivation...

I'm with you on the hate crime crap, its 'feel good' stuff that in the end is counter-productive.  Just charge them with what you can prove and sentence them hard.

Well the jury split, not on guilty/not guilty,  but on Manslaughter vs. Murder.  And your average adult has a hard time attaching an adult charge of murder one to a 14  year old.  Particularly with the idiot hate crime enhancements.  You have an additional burden of proving that he did this, not because he hated this one kid, but because he hated an entire group.

I keep getting the feeling that the problem with US law is the lawmakers seem to want to micromanage it.

Surely the decision to try someone as an adult should be based upon individual circumstances, not some detail of the actual charge. Children are children, even when they do really bad things. It's not the act, it's the motive and the personality behind it. Children have very maliable personalities, so those that become really mean can be reformed, while adults tend to be more set.

The custom, in the US for electing judicial authroities is very strange. It's things like this and that that make me so glad I'm a Briton.

Quote from: tekla on September 04, 2011, 07:22:58 AM
You have an additional burden of proving that he did this, not because he hated this one kid, but because he hated an entire group.

Hate crime enhancements are an interesting thing.  It doesn't matter if he disliked a group or a person, to convict him of a hate crime he would have had to perceive a group or person to be something that was protected under law and because of that chose to do what he did.  He didn't shoot King solely because he perceived him to be gay, he shot him because he was unable to properly cope with the attention he received from King.  These are two very different things.

If you have any doubt, you must not judge.  The jury did as they were instructed, that's all.

Quote from: Ann Onymous on September 03, 2011, 11:11:43 AM
spend some time around criminal defense and it makes absolute sense.  The case simply illustrates yet another reason why 'hate crime' enhancements can complicate prosecutions...try the conduct for what it was- one ->-bleeped-<- pulling the trigger to kill a victim.  Skip the gymnastics about motivation...

Must agree with this. A crime is a crime, whether it was motivated by hate, greed, or whatever else. The important thing is to get the criminal behind bars.