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Loading ...Prosecutor: Boy accused of Larry King murder owned White Supremist materials
10.02.2008 12:28pm EDT
(Oxnard, California) Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said that the discovery of white supremacist materials in the bedroom of the 14-year old boy accused of killing openly gay teen Larry King led to the murder charge being upgraded to include a hate crime charge and for the case to be tried in adult court.
“The discovery of these items in large part prompted the filing of the hate crime allegation in this case,” Fox wrote in a court filing this week.“[These are] not the type of things that are typically associated with the study of World War II. Rather, these items depict racist skinhead philosophy of the variety espoused by Tom Metzger, David Lane and others. They included hand-drawn sketches of swastikas, references to the ‘14 Words’ and the number 88, which is commonly used by skinheads to represent the words Heil Hitler and Hitler’s SS,” the filing said.
King was shot in the head during a morning class at an Oxnard school in February. More than 20 other students were in the room at the time. McInerney was arrested shortly after the shooting.
King died in hospital after his mother agreed to have life-support removed.
He was honored earlier this year at schools across the country as part of the National Day of Silence.
The prosecution document was submitted after McInerney’s current attorney, William Quest, asked the court to have the prosecutor furnish all files and confidential school records.
In an interview with the Ventura County Star newspaper Quest called the evidence “vague” and a “stretch” to suggest McInerney is a white supremacist.
“His best friends at school were blacks. His best friends at school were Hispanics. We have character references of teachers who are Jewish who will say that it is a stretch to say that very small amounts of drawings and scribbling of a 13- or 14-year-old, to say this guy is a white supremacist.”
“There are certain drawings and scribbles that I think are attributed to my client, a very impressionable young man who was studying Hitler and was writing a paper. He made some drawings of wartime Nazi Germany,” Quest told the paper.
It may be Quest’s last appearance for McInerney. The boy’s family has fired him and other public defenders and has hired a Los Angeles firm to represent McInerney.
A hearing has been scheduled for October 14. If convicted of all charges, Brandon McInerney could be sentenced to 51 years to life.
last time I checked, crimes against gays and lesbians were considered hate crimes as well. Why was the case elevated to a hate crime only after the supposed white supremacy materials were found?
I believe no certain person, no matter what the reason should have more rights than the other. That is not fair. The law is the law. If someone commits murder then they should be charged and punished for the crime.
What if a Gay person did something to the straight person? Would they get a lighter sentence because they were Gay?
This is a stupid prejudice law for one kind of a person and it should be outlawed.
Shame on America!
Crimes against Lesbians and gays are NOT ‘hate crimes’ unless it can be proved that homophobia (hatred of homosexuals) was the reason–or a contributing factor–for the perpetrator’s committing the crime. It goes to ‘motive’. This is NOT a case of ’special rights’. If a perpetrator assumes (incorrectly) that his victim is gay, and it can be proved that the crime was motivated by hatred of homosexuals, the perp can be charged with a ‘hate crime’ even if his victim was heterosexual.
On the other hand, if a victim (gay or straight) is robbed or murdered only for the usual reasons, he should NOT be charged with a hate crime. Some people–gay or straight–are robbed, assaulted or murdered not for being–or seeming to be–gay, but just for being a convenient target or for some entirely different reason than their sexual orientation, the perp shouldn’t be charged with a hate crime.
Joseph, there is a news flash there. Whether you’re killed for being gay, Catholic or just for wearing stripes with poka dots – YOU’RE JUST AS DEAD.
If someone intentionally does harm to another, I want them punished to the full extent of the law. I don’t care if they’re 9, 90 or 190; there is a price to pay.
The way hate crimes work, then YES. If you could prove that a gay person hurt a straight person because they were straight, then yes, they could be charged with a hate crime. Truth is, that just doesn’t happen though.
Furthermore, hate crimes don’t exist for the individual victim: they are an acknowledgment that some crimes are overt threats to the the rest of a community as well.
(Whether you’re killed for being gay, Catholic or just for wearing stripes with poka dots – YOU’RE JUST AS DEAD.)
A hate crime isn’t a crime perpetrated against you. It is considered a crime against society. So, double jeopardy doesn’t apply because they’re separate offenses which stem from the same acts.
It is similar to how they can nail you for robbery, concealed weapons charges, and assault with a deadly weapon (from a single incident). And that’s precisely what Chief Justice William Rehnquist – who’s certainly no liberal – said when the high court upheld the constitutionality of these laws. He also stated that since many other laws regulate conduct that “incites unrest in the community,” the freedom of expression matter should be subjected to a simple “rational basis” test. Do the states have a legitimate reason to restrict such behavior? The unanimous answer of the high court – including arch-conservatives Scalia and Thomas BTW – was: yes.
Essentially, murder is “malum en se” (evil in itself). There’s an indvidual victim and the underlying act is always wrong. The hate crime statutes, in contrast, are “mala prohibita” (evil by convention). A claim has been made – by the legislature and prosecuting authority – that such behavior constitutes a substantive threat to the moral welfare of society at-large. Therefore, the victim of hate crimes isn’t the dead person, but “The People” or (in the case of monarchies) “The Crown” itself.
WOW John, that simply is a frightening concept there. Seems we really are just one step away from thought police.
Crime is Crime is Crime. It’s either done with or without malice. I can assure you that I would want someone prosecuted to the same extent if they killed a gay friend or a straight friend.
He is obviously of the mind similar to that of Terry McVeigh, may he burn in hell for eternity.
It is all about machoism, money, and religion. And that is what gave our nation this tragedy.
Along with the right wing republicans who got elected on a platform of hating gays.
And the Alliance Defense Fund in AZ, anoher hate group, who seeing they were starting to lose re gays, have targetted the transgender community. So nice to see them get their faces smashed here in MD by the courts.
There ought to be a law – that hate crimes, and the people who cause them by getting others to do their dirty work, are all guilty of conspiracy in these events.
I heard King had been harassing the boy. If some queer had come onto be, I wouldn’t have shot the freak, but I sure woulda beat the pansy to death!!!!