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Judge rules teen accused of murder may switch lawyers
Prosecutor wants teen tried as adult
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A judge ruled Tuesday that 14-year-old murder suspect Brandon McInerney may switch lawyers after determining that the boy wasn't coerced and understood what he is doing.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee said McInerney can fire his attorneys from the county Public Defender's Office and substitute lawyers from a criminal defense law firm, United Defense Group of Studio City, along with attorney Robyn Bramson of North Hollywood.
The Oxnard teen is being prosecuted as an adult in Ventura County Superior Court in connection with the shooting death of classmate Larry King, 15, at E.O. Green School in Oxnard.
McInerney is charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime in the Feb. 12 shooting. King, an eighth-grader, dressed in a feminine manner and told friends that he was gay.
Last month, McGee appointed Ventura attorney Willard Wiksell to determine whether McInerney understands whether it is in his best interest to switch lawyers.
McGee made his ruling Tuesday after Wiksell submitted his report to the judge, and a private hearing was held with lawyers from the Public Defender's Office, United Defense Group, Bramson and others.
The hearing excluded the prosecutor, Maeve Fox.
"It's none of our business who the defendant has as counsel. It's purely his decision," Fox said in an interview.
Fox said she has had discussions but "nothing substantive" with attorney Scott Wippert of United Defense Group.
McInerney faces a sentence of 51 years to life if convicted of all the charges. He is in custody, with bail set at $770,000.
Prosecutors said they charged McInerney with a hate crime after white supremacist literature and drawings were found in the boy's room at his house.
Fox referred to the material as a "trove of white supremacy-related" items.
"The discovery of these items in large part prompted the filing of the hate crime allegation in this case," Fox wrote in a court document.
McInerney's previous attorney, William "Willy" Quest, had called the prosecution's evidence "vague" and said it was a "stretch" to portray his teenage client as having white supremacist leanings.
Quest said McInerney has friends who are blacks and Latinos and will provide character references from teachers who are Jewish.
Quest said the homicide was not a hate crime.
The District Attorney's Office remains adamant about trying McInerney in the adult criminal justice system. To shore up its argument for taking that route, the office recently contacted state juvenile authorities, according to Fox.
In an interview Tuesday, she said she recently spoke to California Youth Authority experts who said that if McInerney is a model inmate in the juvenile justice system and gets all his "rewards" and "every single possible" good-time credit, he will serve little time for a murder conviction.
"The minimum he will do is three years and eight months," she said. "The baseline (in the juvenile justice system) is seven years for murder."
In the past, defense attorneys have strongly disagreed with Fox's contention that McInerney would serve little time in the juvenile system even if convicted of all charges.
In a related development Tuesday, the judge declined a request by Wippert, of United Defense Group, to issue a gag order against Quest and the Public Defender's Office, where Quest works.
Wippert said he doesn't want Quest or the Public Defender's Office to discuss the case and its evidence with anyone, especially the media.
Quest and his office told the judge they opposed the gag order request. In an interview, Quest said he had "ethical obligations" as a lawyer and officer of the court.
"I also have a First Amendment right. So I think it was overbroad and vague," he said.
United Defense Group's Web site states that it assembled a team of top trial attorneys, investigators and legal experts.
Wippert declined to comment on whether United Defense Group would pay out of its own pocket to hire experts and investigators as part of McInerney's legal defense.
Posted by alovebug06 on October 15, 2008 at 6:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Another delay in this case..
Posted by Ms_California on October 15, 2008 at 7:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Figures....
Posted by cmnelson7890 on October 15, 2008 at 7:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That's Fair!
Posted by lawabider on October 15, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This was NOT a white supremist hate crime at all... This prosecutor is stretching... Is he up for re-election right now?? Gay kid sexually harrasses straight kid. 13-year old, hormonal CHILD does not know how to stop the harrassment. CHILD kills CHILD... Two children FAILED on all levels by the adults in charge of them. GIVE PARENTING BACK TO THE PARENTS -- AND, PARENTS, WAKE THE *BLEEP* UP ALREADY!!!
Posted by 6bucks on October 15, 2008 at 7:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! A juvenile can take a persons life now-a-days and get as little as three years and eight months.
Seven years tops.
Life won't have any value at all in a few years if we as a society keep this up.
No wonder kids today don't hesitate to use a gun or kill.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on October 15, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
lawabider , I agree completely!
Posted by socal2310 on October 15, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Prosecutors, want to have their cake and eat it too. You can't prosecute teachers who have consensual sex with teenage boys and then turn around and say that those same teenage boys are equally culpable as adults.
Ryan
Posted by bbofvta on October 15, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
r.gyurkovitz:
Perhaps if the shooting had been consensual, you might have a point. But, it wasn't!
It was planned (premeditated) by someone using a mind that sure seems to be developed to an adult level, at least in this arena. A lot of difference between that and your issue.
Please bring only apples to this argument. No oranges allowed
Posted by exheaven1 on October 15, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't for get about the proposition we will be voting for soon in regards to youths being tried as adults...voice your opinion in that respect.
It may not be a hate crime in the sense of 'race' but it is against ones lifestyle choices.
Posted by shaver_one on October 15, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
McInerney found a gun...made sure it was loaded...took it to school...found his victim...walked up behind his victim...popped him once in the head and once in the back...fled the scene...tried to ditch the gun.
What part of guilty don't you understand?
Posted by brown_eyes on October 19, 2008 at 6:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ok where does it say we cannt take pride in wat we are...im mexican so im brown pride all the way..and wat about black ppl wen they say black power, so now this kid be happy he's white..this state is all twisted..as soon as mexicans and blacks can take pride and and its ok but as soon as a white person says im white and proud or white pride the race card is pulled...need we forget mexicans are the only ppl still in any slavery out there in the fields.. once again he shot the kid for sexual orientation stop sayn a race crime
Posted by vceader on October 20, 2008 at 5:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
lawabider,
I find your logic and those who openly agree with you absoloutely disturbing to say the least.
First off this young MAN was not 13 years old, he was 14. Not that 1 year makes any difference but lets be frank, he wasn't exactly a babbling toddler who couldn't speak his mind or control his bodily functions. I doubt he was wearing a bib and a diaper on the day of the murder.
Secondly, hormonal, gay, straight, sexual harassment however you want to paint the picture. The fact still is that this young MAN walked in to a class room and placed a loaded gun to the back of another young MAN's head and pulled the trigger. Not once, but twice.
This young MAN knew that he could have notified his teacher, counsler, parents, the police, anyone if he felt there were unwanted sexual advances taking place. But he didn't. Instead this young MAN chose to take the life of another human being. It's not acceptable. No matter how you and your warped logic want to paint the picture, he did not have that right. You can blame the parents, the school, the gay kid, god, your dog, your wife, but you can't change the outcome. McInerney pulled that trigger. He now has to face the consequences of his actions.
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