The Hate Crime Charge May Have Helped Derail The Lawrence King Trial

[Shana A]

The Hate Crime Charge May Have Helped Derail The Lawrence King Trial

By:           Daniel Villarreal
On:           Sep 2, 2011

http://www.queerty.com/the-hate-crime-charge-may-have-helped-derail-the-lawrence-king-trial-20110902/

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said they knew that the Lawrence King murder case would end in a mistrial, but is the prosecution's decision to try Brandon McInerney for a hate crime to blame?

The entire trial was really over this one question: did McInerney kill Lawrence in a pre-meditated fashion (1st degree murder) because King was gay (a hate crime) or did he commit the murder in the heat of passion (voluntary manslaughter)? Considering that McInerney went home, got and loaded a gun, and then waited until computer class to kill Lawrence, the prosecution had a good case to show his level of premeditation.