Brandon McInerney pleas down to 21 years

[Zontar]

In plea deal, youth gets 21 years for killing gay teen - latimes.com

A teenager who fatally shot a gay classmate in the back of the head during an Oxnard middle school computer lab will spend 21 years in prison under a plea deal reached Monday, closing the books on a case that drew international headlines and ignited debate on how schools should handle sexual identity issues.

[kiersten]

Well 21 years isnt a life sentence, but at least its better than nothing & at least its a hell of a lot better than a not guilty verdict...

[Zontar]

Originally Posted by kiersten

Well 21 years isnt a life sentence, but at least its better than nothing & at least its a hell of a lot better than a not guilty verdict...

My personal analysis of the deal is a sort of balance between rehabilitation and justice. Brandon was still perhaps too young to understand the full gravity of what he did, but 21 years would certainly give him time to think twice about ever doing that again.

[kiersten]

While I can certainly see you point, I feel that kids that age are, to a certain extent, quite capable of understanding the consequences of a particular action like this, which all boils down to 'you pull the trigger & someone dies'. Even if the kid was unable to understand why it was wrong, he certainly understood what the consequences of pulling the trigger on a loaded weapong pointed at another human being's head would be. So in that respect, he knew he was going to end a life, which in my opinion entitles him to a life sentence. Im not saying that he shouldnt be rehabilitated & get counselling & all of that, Im all for that. At least if there was parole later on, he would have had all of that, but I do think he was old enough to know exactly what he was doing on some level, & then he made a conscious decision to go thru with his actions anyway. Just my personal opinion tho, & I always welcome different opinions & to have people disagree with me!

[Zontar]

Oh, I agree with you. I'm just trying to interpret what was going on in the judge's mind.

[Gerry]

According to CNN, he's getting 25 years. But still, that's nothing for the life that he took. Here's the complete story: California teen admits killing gay student, to serve 25 years - CNN.com

[Doctor Faustus]

^ What Gerry said.

If he hadn't admitted to the crime, 21 or 25 years would not have been justice. In those kinds of cases, life should mean life.

[British Lad]

Originally Posted by Doctor Faustus

^ What Gerry said.

If he hadn't admitted to the crime, 21 or 25 years would not have been justice. In those kinds of cases, life should mean life.

Well He is to young for it for him it will be life and when he come out of prison he going to have alot to make up for, besides if he know fully well what he was doing he would have just beaten him (its better then being dead), if he was an adult then yes he should get life, but he will miss out of the best years of his life so in a away that is life.

[Revan]

I don't know specifically how the court system works but the judge I believe doesn't HAVE to go with it and could still sentence him to life I think. The plea bargain simply is McInerney trying to get less time, doesn't mean it'll work (I think..)

[Kidd]

Originally Posted by Revan

I don't know specifically how the court system works but the judge I believe doesn't HAVE to go with it and could still sentence him to life I think. The plea bargain simply is McInerney trying to get less time, doesn't mean it'll work (I think..)

That's correct, but the article makes it sound like the DA approached the defense with this plea deal and not the other way around so the judge will accept it without a second thought. After the first mistrial I think it scared the prosecution that they wouldn't be able to convince a jury to convict Brandon since he was so young when this happened but they probably offered it to him and he accepted since lightning doesn't strike twice. He was legitimately risking life in prison without parole if he went to trial again.

The really cruel irony here though is that he killed King because King was allegedly coming onto him and sexually harassing him. Well, now he's in prison and if anyone has read Fish then they know what happens to pretty, thin, young white boys in a men's prison. Gay couples and homosexuality are absolutely rampant in our prison system, for both men and women. So he's really got it coming to him. I hope he never has a decent night's sleep again.

In my opinion this was obviously first-degree murder. If he was only three years older and had done the same exact thing a jury wouldn't have thought twice about it. He should have gotten life, and he should have considered himself lucky he wasn't placed on death row. A young face doesn't mean someone isn't culpable and capable of horrific evil.

EDIT: I don't think that the judge could sentence him to life though, because he's only pleading guilty to manslaughter charges, and I'm not sure if that carries life as a maximum punishment or not, but judges are not obligated to take plea bargains.

[Shevanel]

I think a lot of you people are harshly over-judging. Harshly. The kid is 17 years old. He killed someone because they were different. That's unforgivable, I know. But how does taking this kid's life away = justice? Eye for an Eye? This isn't ancient Babylon. This is a strangely liberal position for me to take, but he's not a serial killer, he's not a raving murderer, he was actually 14 when he did it. That to me tells me he didn't understand the gravity of the situation, echoing Zontar in earlier posts. Without even knowing anything else about him, that's enough. He ruined another kid's life by killing him. He ruined the kid's family and friends lives through the murder as well.

I definitely don't think he should be tried as an adult. 14 =/= Adult, whatsoever. I think this kid can turn his life around actually. Admitting to the crime takes guts, obviously pushed forth by the lawyer, and this kid had a troubled past.

Brandon David McInerney was born on January 24, 1994 in Ventura, California. His mother Kendra had a criminal history and was addicted to methamphetamine.[1][7] In 1993, Kendra accused her husband William of shooting her in the arm with a .45-caliber pistol.[1] In another incident, William McInerney choked his wife almost to unconsciousness after she accused him of stealing ADHD medication from her older son.[10] He pleaded no contest and served ten days in jail and 36 months probation on a charge of domestic violence. Between August 2000 and February 2001, William McInerney had contacted Child Protective Services at least five times about concerns of his son living with his mother.[7] In 2001, he filed a restraining order against Kendra, and in 2004, Brandon was placed in the custody of his father, as his mother had entered a drug rehabilitation program.[1]

Not that that justifies anything, especially murder. But let's say you're in his position; you certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of your life in jail, or even the next 20 or so years. He'll be in his late 30s when he gets out, if he's not murdered or doesn't commit suicide before, because Prisons are absolutely horrible places for a 17 year old to grow up. I really think it's completely fucked up that some of you are implying that you hope he gets sexually abused in jail, even though he will, he's 17 and perfect prey for the fucked up motherfuckers in prisons already.

No one deserves that. No one. 21 years is way more than just in the amount of time based on the situation. Like I said, he'll probably be in such torment if he isn't given protective custody that he'll commit suicide. That's the reality. In a sense, unless this kid toughens the fuck up, they've given him a death sentence. In name or not, sending a skinny white 17 year old to jail is a death sentence. The fact that the rapes are barely even attempted to be prevented is horrible in itself, but that's the way it is. If we want that to be changed, we need to have massive prison reform, which I fully support, but sadly the last thing anyone cares about is the funding for a bunch of criminals I guess.

This kid needs major rehabilitation programs, probation, and a shit ton of counseling, but I honestly wouldn't agree with anything more than 5 years in jail, let alone any jail time at all (especially if he was being sent to a Juvenile Detention facility instead, not that that would be much better).

In the end, this kid is not a hardened criminal. He's not spree shooting gays. It was a personal thing to him, again, not that it justifies it, but I would go as far to even say it's probably not a hate crime. But I don't know what's going on in Brandon McInerney's head, so I don't have the pure justification to say that. There are definitely reports however about Lawrence King harassing Brandon. Does that justify murder? No, not at all. But it adds to the equation.

But again, any kind of call for the rape and death of this minor because of one murder is completely fucking ignorant, I'm sorry to say. You wouldn't want to be raped, no matter what you did. Don't EVER wish such a thing on someone.

Feel free to disagree about the case, I don't care. But it is a fucking fact that you can't do that shit with hoping anyone gets raped in jail. You just can't. It's completely inhumane. Don't try to justify it.

+ YouTube Video

Pay particular attention to the story about the teen accused of arson who commits suicide in jail because of it.

[Kidd]

Originally Posted by Shevanel

Feel free to disagree about the case, I don't care. But it is a fucking fact that you can't do that shit with hoping anyone gets raped in jail. You just can't. It's completely inhumane. Don't try to justify it.

I'm not sure how much of this was directed at me but I do NOT condone rape in prison to make it perfectly clear and I definitely didn't say that I did if that's what you're suggesting. It's a statistical fact that he will probably be raped if he hasn't been already. I was just saying that he really messed up if his goal was eliminating homosexual interest directed towards him and no one can disagree with that. It's only going to get even worse from this point onward. He's walking into the metaphorical lion's den. What I meant by "I hope he never has a decent night's sleep again" was actually totally unrelated to what I was saying in that paragraph so I apologize for the lack of clarity there, but I still stand by every single word I said.

Honestly though, he won't get any sympathy from me and I genuinely find it abhorrent that you would even suggest that anything less than what this kid is getting is too much. He isn't getting enough as it is. He pretty blatantly committed first-degree murder here. I mean, just look at it;

1. Steals his father's gun.
2. Hides it in his backpack.
3. Waits until King sits down with his back turned.
4. Blows King's brains out.
5. Disposes the gun.
6. Evades arrest.

He knew exactly what he was doing and he knew it was wrong and it's proven by the covert element that he exhibited. That he got manslaughter charges and not the death penalty was determined exclusively by his age and that's a lucky stroke of timing more than anything else. His background, although unfortunate, doesn't elicit much sympathy from me either. I know plenty of people whose home lives have been significantly more traumatic than his own and they didn't shoot a child in the back of the head in a room full of other children--only a monster does something like that. I would also argue that this is a perfect example of a hate crime. Had King been a female we probably wouldn't even be discussing this right now. It was pretty blatant homophobia and by extension sexism as well. Let's not forget either that Brandon is an alleged Nazi sympathizer.

[Nomad187]

It was premeditated it was first degree murder. Anyone who says it was anything less or says they feel for him is a fucking idiot. And anyone who thinks because he was 14 excuses him because "he didn't know better" or anything like that is an idiot as well. He should have been tried and convicted as an adult. He knew full well what was going to happen when he pulled that trigger so he should suffer the consequences of his actions

[Shevanel]

Ah, the brilliant "If you do not agree with me, you're a fucking idiot" argument It holds so much water

And Kidd, I respect your decision about how you feel about the case, I was making more of a general statement since the whole "Yay, now he'll get prison raped" thing gets tossed around way too much, whether that's on here or on news site comment sections. I just don't see how hardening a young kid into a criminal through prison helps anyone at all. Nor do I see how his death would help anyone either. There's just a certain kind of blood lust that is incongruent with the Liberal ideals shared by many on this forum. Some may think if a gay kid killed a bully, that it would be justified. Of course it wouldn't be. Not saying that's how you probably think, but putting an example forth a certain hypocrisy that appears on this forum and others often.

[Kidd]

Originally Posted by Shevanel

And Kidd, I respect your decision about how you feel about the case, I was making more of a general statement since the whole "Yay, now he'll get prison raped" thing gets tossed around way too much, whether that's on here or on news site comment sections. I just don't see how hardening a young kid into a criminal through prison helps anyone at all. Nor do I see how his death would help anyone either. There's just a certain kind of blood lust that is incongruent with the Liberal ideals shared by many on this forum. Some may think if a gay kid killed a bully, that it would be justified. Of course it wouldn't be. Not saying that's how you probably think, but putting an example forth a certain hypocrisy that appears on this forum and others often.

I totally agree. I just wanted to air it out because I really do think that the prison system needs to be reformed too. I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea from my first post. What happens is a shame but I don't think counseling is the answer here and normally that is what I suggest for a lot of people--I intern at the local Ohio probation office. I genuinely think that he knowingly committed first-degree murder and he has to pay for it somehow. The answer is probably going to be a permanent assignment to the prison's pink ward where they house other LGBT prisoners and likely and actual rape victims but considering what he did, I can't imagine that working out any better than it would in the prison's general population. He might be looking at 20+ years of solitary confinement.

[Zontar]

Originally Posted by Shevanel

Ah, the brilliant "If you do not agree with me, you're a fucking idiot" argument It holds so much water

And Kidd, I respect your decision about how you feel about the case, I was making more of a general statement since the whole "Yay, now he'll get prison raped" thing gets tossed around way too much, whether that's on here or on news site comment sections. I just don't see how hardening a young kid into a criminal through prison helps anyone at all. Nor do I see how his death would help anyone either. There's just a certain kind of blood lust that is incongruent with the Liberal ideals shared by many on this forum. Some may think if a gay kid killed a bully, that it would be justified. Of course it wouldn't be. Not saying that's how you probably think, but putting an example forth a certain hypocrisy that appears on this forum and others often.

Your objections to his sentence speaks volumes more about the sorry state of our corrections system than the nature of the sentence itself.

All other things considered, twenty-one years secluded from society for a teen-age murder is more than an appropriate sentence. Prison rape is, of course, never a formal part of a sentence and shouldn't be happening to anyone to begin with.

[Shevanel]

Originally Posted by Zontar

Your objections to his sentence speaks volumes more about the sorry state of our corrections system than the nature of the sentence itself.
.

Yep, I suppose shit involving prison and prison sentences pisses me off. I may have forgotten to mention it, but I'm not super against the sentence he was given since those directly involved with the case know way more about it than I do. So yeah, I'd personally like every piece of information available, but that's obviously impossible. I'm just not super convinced at this point that 21 years in jail makes sense. It just, doesn't fix anything.

[djt820]

I'll have to take the liberal stance on this one. Like Joey said, it doesn't really fix anything. It just makes us outsiders pleased for some reason. Just a weird "eye for an eye" mentality.