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1. It appears that in most jurisidictions you have to be 21 to buy a handgun or ammunition, and 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun from a shop. Also, under-18s are banned from possessing a handgun or ammunition, and it is illegal to provide a handgun or ammunition to minors.

   However, it's okay to give an under-18 a rifle or shotgun even if s/he can't buy one on their own at a shop. My point simply is that under no circumstance should an under-18 be allowed the possession of a shotgun or rifle to use if they purportedly could go psycho on a moment's notice as the LGBT leadership in the this case contend.

   Posted by: History of Gay Bars | Apr 16, 2008 12:36:55 PM

   
   

2. Well, the District Attorney won't change his mind. If he does, he'll be an ex-District Attorney in November.

   Ventura County is a pretty conservative area by California standards. And if there's anything conservatives hates more than fags, it is DAs who don't go after violent criminals with the full arsenal at his/her disposal. I don't think it should surprise us that counties where the community encourages bigotry, are also the ones to punish hate crmes most harshly after the fact. It;s a way of shifting responsibility away from the churches and schools themselves.

   It's part of the hypocriscy we've come to accept here in America. I support an adult trial because I believe this was pre-meditated murder rather than manslaughter (and I explained at the time why I thought so). But there's a political dimension to that as well.

   Posted by: John | Apr 16, 2008 12:44:39 PM

   
   

3. ANON, EXCELLENT explanation. The best I've ever read.

   Sorry DENNIS, you're still wrong on the facts. Hate crimes prosecution is not nearly as simple and etherial as you make it out to be. Hate crime designation is actually quite difficult to accomplish. The defendent has to have made a verbal, and publicly witnessed expression of his/her intent in order to even be considered for hate crime enhancement. Even then judges/state's attorneys/lawyers don't always grant a hate crime enhancement.

   I used to be against hate crimes laws too. I discovered that I, like some people here, misunderstood what they actually are, what they actually do and how they are actually applied. After being educated I came to support hate crimes laws.

   Having said all that I have to say that I do support the appeal of this gay coalition. This kid should certainly be punished but I disagree that he should be tried and punished as an adult. He is young enough to be rehabilitated from the hate and bigotry that he was TAUGHT by surroundings. If we don't throw him away, and we actively work to educate him, he will likely become a gay rights advocate with a VERY powerful story to tell. If he's locked away for life in an environment that just makes him more angry, more homophobic and more evil, how does that change what happened to Lawrence? How does it benefit society? How does it benefit the gay community?

   I also love how this act of compassion from these "heathen" gay groups shows the so-called "Christian" groups "who have been so unChristian throughout all of this) for who and what they really are.

   Posted by: Zeke | Apr 16, 2008 1:29:14 PM

   
   

4. What the kid did was terrible and he should pay for his crime as juvenile and not an adult.

   This idea of judging children as adults is nothing more than a Right-wing revenge fantasy that has eclipsed the progressive movement's success in changing attitudes that led to children being executed for crimes. Children do not have the mental capacity of adults. Period. The adult brain is not fully formed until one reaches one's early twenties.

   Unless this kid had a history of sociopathic behavior, it makes no sense to put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Come on. How many of can say that they are the same person as an adult of say 27 as they were as a child of 14 or 15?

   Put the kid in jail; treat him with lots of therapy; and let the psychiatrists judge his ability to return to society.]\56

   Posted by: noah | Apr 16, 2008 2:29:05 PM

   
   

5. "Moreover, some of these apologists for Brandon McInerney have really missed the mark; the fag killer was not involved in some silly "boys-will-be-boys" misguided prank out of impulse; rather, with pre-meditation he carried a gun to school with the specific intent of murdering another human being which he in fact carried out. What the hell was "impulsive" about this? There was nothing "juvenile" about this perpetrator other than the fact that he was a couple of years shy of being allowed to joining the United States Marines."

   No one is apologizing for McInerney. The kid is a killer who deserves to be punished for his crime. The question is how should he be punished. Just what kind of sentence to do you think he should receive? Thirty-years? The death penalty?

   Vengeance is an appealing idea but what will it actually give us in this case if this kid can be rehabilitated? As I understand it, juveniles can be held up to age 25. If they are deemed mentally ill, they can be held until such time as they are deemed fit.

   Frankly, I think more anger needs to be directed at the adults who foster views that dehumanize people. Why hasn't someone shoved a microphone in the face of the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan or James Dobson? Aren't they the monsters who constantly push homophobia? What about Karl Rove or George Bush who used virulent anti-gay propaganda to win elections? How much have their words and actions led to or will lead to continuing death and destruction?

   
   As for someone being 18-years-old and allowed to become a marine, it's always struck me as predatory to make children fight the wars for adults. Look at the young people who bravely sacrificed their their lives in Iraq based on a lie? Most of those kids are from the underclass and go into the military not only for patriotism but also because it might be the only way to achieve a better life.

   Posted by: noah | Apr 16, 2008 2:30:08 PM

   
   

6. @Noah

   My problem with the position taken by those who purport to represent the LGBT community is that it fails to recognize that what Brandon McInerney did was clearly "adult" in every meaning of the word save for the happenstance of his age at the time he committed the crime.

   The undisputed facts are that Brandon planned and thought out his crime in advance of its commission, took deliberate steps to acquire, conceal and transport the gun to school, and then in accordance with his pre-meditation shot his victim exactly as intended. If Brandon McInerney's crime should not be tried as an adult, then I cannot conceive of any circumstance in which a juvenile ever would be qualified to tried as an adult.

   And no, I do not want the death penalty for Brandon McInerney simply on the principle that I am against all death penalties. And frankly, what punishment he should receive is not a consideration whether he has the capacity to be tried as an adult. Indeed, at sentencing, should he be found guilty, then the trial judge can take into account all of the mitigating and/or aggravating circumstances underlying the crime.

   I mean goodness: seventeen-year-olds can join the armed forces, according to Hillary Clinton children are raised in a proud tradition of guns, and indeed many teenagers responsibly use guns in accordance with the law. Accordingly, I do not see the problem with holding Brandon McInerney responisble as an adult for murdering someone with a gun. Perhaps his age may be a mitigating issue at sentencing in the event he is found guilty but it has no bearing on the fact he knew fully well -- as well as any adult -- both what he was doing and the consequence of his action.

   Posted by: History of Gay Bars | Apr 16, 2008 2:55:47 PM

   
   

7. Since when is ACLU a "gay group"???????

   Posted by: dezboy | Apr 16, 2008 4:15:49 PM

   
   

8. Since when is ACLU a "gay group"???????

   Posted by: dezboy | Apr 16, 2008 4:16:18 PM

   
   

9. All this talk about teenage brains and impulse control defies a basic concept of justice: children are judged by how their behavior compares to the behaviors of other children the same age. While many teens may wreck cars or steal cash from grandma or stomp on frogs, blowing someone's head off with a pistol is something relatively few teenagers do. McInerey's actions are way, way out of line with the way the overwhelming majority of kids his age behave. Yet all teens have "unevolved brains." Therefore, McInerey does not get a pass based on his anatomy, since so many others teenagers with same shitty brains don't kill people. McInerey's CHARACTER is the problem.

   Then there's the whole argument of how distraught McInerey was before he shot this other kid. Well, don't you think most murderers are emotionally overwrought before they stab someone to death or go on a shooting spree? This fact changes nothing, and it should not earn him even a second of consideration.

   Lastly, justice should be about punishment (or reward) first - rehabilitation comes in second. Justice cannot be served if your desire to make the world nicer or safer outweighs your motivation to be fair - even if being fair makes the world more dangerous, incites mobs, lynchings, wars, whatever. In fact, it is that very excuse that has been used to oppose so many civil rights movements over the years. "I realize you should have the right to vote, but there will be riots!"

   I say try McInerey as an adult. If he's smart he'll cop to murder three.

   Posted by: Yeek | Apr 16, 2008 5:05:52 PM

   
   

10. “Karen Franklin [is] a forensic psychologist whose dual interests in psychology and the law brought her to question the roots of anti-gay hate crimes. Her interviews with perpetrators and with San Francisco Bay Area college students provide badly needed empirical data on the nature and extent of negative reactions to gays. Franklin does not find one motive for anti-gay violence, but many, with ideological opposition to, and plain hatred of homosexuality, only one among them. In Franklin’s view, the focus should be on cultural norms—an attitude that SOCIETY GIVES PERMISSION FOR ANTI-GAY VIOLENCE—rather than on individual psychology.” - “Assault on Gay America,” Frontline, PBS.

    These 27 mostly LGBT groups are murdering 15-yr. old Lawrence King all over again.
    Most of these goddamn "Love Us We're Liberals" demand LGBT inclusion in hate crime laws in the morning and, come the same afternoon, are demanding that King's killer not be tried as an adult as the law has long allowed. Is teenage homohate any LESS hate? Is King any less DEAD because the person who SHOT HIM TWICE is 14? And it's NOT about punishing him it's about sending the message to others that assaults on gays WILL be punished accordingly.

    Such pussy feelings and actions as this herd of fools is demonstrating are the EXACT reason gays are still groveling for first class citizenship over half-a-century after the first enduring gay groups were formed in the US. Brandon McInerney isn't the "child" here—they are!

    While many of these groups have a great deal of accomplishment to be proud of, only the Safe Schools Coalition has done ANYTHING of any consequence to combat hate crimes, to prevent them from happening. Most of them simply periodically cry crocodile tears while using pictures of such victims as King and Matthew and Gwen Araujo ad infinitum to fund raise to perpetuate their own existence.

    The nature of trials and sentencing is as much, if not more, about sending a message to others that such crimes won't be tolerated, as it is "punishment" of a specific offender. We have gone from a society in which kids having access to, let alone using, guns was virtually unheard of to one in which kids are killing other kids and adults everyday—PRIMARILY BECAUSE of the Pollyanna attitudes of such groups as these.

    In addition to Lawrence King, at least FIVE other LGBTS have been murdered in the last year alone:

    Ryan Keith Skipper, 25, stabbed twenty times before dying March 14, 2007
    Sean W. Kennedy, 20, killed May 16, 2007
    Satendar Singh, 26, killed July 1, 2007
    Talib Stewart, 25, stabbed multiple times in the chest and throat before dying February 9, 2008
    Lawrence King, 15, killed February 12, 2008
    Simmie Williams, 17, shot to death February, 22, 2008

    —TEN YEARS after the world was outraged about the murder of Matthew Shepard and such groups as these were saying the same kind of limp dick crap they ooze in their current statement: “We must respond to this tragedy by strengthening our resolve to change the climate in schools, eliminate bigotry based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and hold schools responsible for protecting students against discrimination and physical harm." Their grade after ten years: FFF for Fat Fucking Failures!

    These 27 arrogant, clueles groups—all privileged adults who don't have to face the terror of going to school every day as Lawrence King did—wiped their hands in his blood and used it to scrawl a letter to the prosecutor’s office pleading for leniency for his premeditated murderer—and anyone who sends them another dime will, too! I urge everyone to write them and demand that they stand up for the victim as much as his killer—and to realize that their action is sending the message that killing someone simply because they’re gay is no big deal—GUARANTEEING future murders of LGBTs of all ages.

    American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties; American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California; Ally Action (CA); Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE; national); Community United Against Violence (San Francisco); Different Avenues (DC); Equality California; Gay Straight Alliance Network (CA); Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD); Human Rights Campaign; LAGAI – Queer Insurrection; Lambda Legal; LifeWorks Mentoring (Los Angeles); Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center; National Black Justice Coalition; National Center for Lesbian Rights; National Center for Transgender Equality; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National; Safe Schools Coalition; San Francisco LGBT Community Center; Sylvia Rivera Law Project (New York); TGI Justice Project (CA); Transgender Law Center; The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (NY); TransYouth Family Allies, Inc.

    King
    Williams
    NEXT
    NEXT
    NEXT
    NEXT
    NEXT
    ....

    Posted by: Leland Frances | Apr 16, 2008 6:34:53 PM

    
    

11. To those who say that it's an adult crime, or it's the same as an adult crime, or in the words of the verbose Leland Frances "Is King any less DEAD because the person who SHOT HIM TWICE is 14? And it's NOT about punishing him it's about sending the message to others that assaults on gays WILL be punished accordingly." the answer is - yes - they are different crimes, different acts, and different homohate. While it's true that King is no less dead, that's a red herring - we don't punish deaths, we punish murders.

    But I submit that the crime was less of a murder, less of a gay bashing, than if the same act had been committed by an adult. Why? Because of our (naive) intuitions about responsibilty, culpability, and control over one's actions.

    Suppose an evil hypnotist brainwashes Leland into murdering Larry. Is Leland guilty of murder? Of course not - though Larry is just as dead. Suppose the hypnotist instead brainwashes Leland into having vicious hate for gays such that, at some future time, he would kill Larry. Is Leland guilty of a hate crime or murder? Still no.

    Now suppose that instead of an evil hypnotist, we have naturally occuring - and I confess, I lack the biological knowledge to give a good account here - chemicals and hormones that cause similar effects. Perhaps not to the point of hypnosis, but feelings that are nonetheless out of Leland's control. That is the situation here, to at least some (noticable) degree.

    What follows from this? Certainly, kids should be kept away from guns. Only Americans would be in a position to debate that on a forum. More sensibly, all people should be kept away from guns - we were not designed (nothing theological follows from my use of that term) to make good decisions in the presence of such devices. Should we charge Larry's killer as an adult? Of course not, he didn't have the same control over himself. It would be as if we addicted to you to heroin, then charged you with a crime when you couldn't fight the urge to go get some.

    But should we keep the killer locked away? This is entirely a question of public safety, and as such it must be entirely pragmatic. Will he kill again? Will his brain develop normally (viz. give him a greater measure of control)? These are questions only trained professionals can answer - nobody here is in such a position. Some have suggested adult sentences are useful deterrents. But this is a naive view. Since young brains are very poor at understanding consequences, there is no deterrent effect - young Christian boys are told they will go to ETERNAL HELL for a variety of acts, all of which they regularly engage in. How many of you were told your *SOUL* would be condemned for laying with another man? Jacking with your friend? Trying some weed? And yet you did it.

    So there is no juvinile deterrent. It might deter adults from committing similar crimes, but then we risk becoming criminals ourselves - exploiting the young killer to protect ourselves from other adults.

    
    Let me just make something clear. To posters like the following: " the fact he knew fully well -- as well as any adult -- both what he was doing and the consequence of his action." I say this: you are as fucking stupid as the Christians who say that a flat Earth was created by god in 7 days and set intelligent design into motion. Claims like this fly in the face of every single piece of available evidence. Every. Single. Piece. Go find a job at the Discovery Institute.

    Posted by: ANON (Same as above) | Apr 16, 2008 8:14:41 PM

    
    

12. not too much more than two weeks before larry king's execution-style murder, he had started to wear nail polish, high-heeled boots, and make-up. the day before he was killed (feb. 11), he had an argument with brandon mcinerney and some other boys. one of the boys was heard to shout at larry, "you better watch your back!".

    the following morning while larry and the other 20+ students were settling in for their first period class, 14 year old mcinerney pulled a gun he had secreted into school and shot twice, hitting larry in the head. no words were exchanged between the two boys. mcinerney bolted from the room and fled.

    larry was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. at one point, he was responsive to hospital staff. but, his condition worsened. the next day, valentine's day, feb.13, he was declared brain-dead. at the request of his father, the boy's body was kept alive until his organs were harvested on feb 15, because, the father said, larry would have wanted it that way.

    so that is the long and the short of it. in dying, larry became the gift that will keep on giving. he will at least live on, even if within the hearts and bodies of others. we will never know what gifts he may have given had his young life not been snuffed by hatred and bigotry in the form of mcinerney.

    in my mind, a 14 year-old boy who has a school-yard argument with a classmate one day, then goes home, goes to sleep, wakes up the next day and proceeds with the quotidian activities common to children throughout the world (well, except for the fact that he secrets a gun somewhere on his person or belongings) prepares for school, gets to school, then, in a classroom full of students, shoots that classmate in the head without warning -- without giving his victim a chance to defend himself, is already a psychopath. psychopaths are incorrigible; there is no redemption to be had.

    in california, 14 is the legal cutoff for charging an adolescent as an adult, and prosecutors have the option of charging underage suspects as adults. i believe this is apt in this case. this was not a crime of passion where, in the heat of the argument, mcinerney picked up an object and hit king, causing his death. this was a crime that involved premeditation and malice aforethought (in this case, conduct with a depraved heart).

    mcinerney committed a vicious act, a crime that by anyone's standards is heinous. he should be tried as an adult. let the judge and jury take into account any mitigating or extenuating circumstances.

    Posted by: nic | Apr 16, 2008 8:16:34 PM

    
    

13. Sean’s last wish
    Gay man’s killer should be the last homophobe to get away with murder.

    JEFF MAROOTIAN
    The Washington Blade
    Friday, April 11, 2008

    "SEAN WILLIAM KENNEDY would have turned 21 on April 8, but his life was taken from him last May when he was beaten to death while walking home from a bar in Greenville, S.C.

    After an evening of fun with friends, you’re happy as you walk toward the comforts of home. A car speeds up beside you. An unfamiliar man jumps out. He calls you a faggot and punches you in the face knocking you out. As you fall, unconscious, your head cracks on the curb.

    Stephen Moller, who issued that blow to Sean’s head, later left this voicemail for a friend of Sean’s: “You tell your faggot friend that when he wakes up he owes me $500 for my broken hand.”

    As punishment, Moller will likely serve less than a year in jail for an act of violence motivated by hate and fear. Less than a year for ending the promising life of a mother’s son, brother to loving siblings and a friend to many.

    In Sean’s case, the prosecutors claim they cannot prove “malicious intent” — that Moller intended to kill Kennedy.

    So, they have formally charged him with involuntary manslaughter. While this carries a maximum sentence of five years, Moller will likely be set free with little to no time actually served."
    

    Posted by: Leland Frances | Apr 16, 2008 8:19:09 PM

    
    

14. "in my mind, a 14 year-old boy who ... [describes circumstances of murder] ... is already a psychopath. psychopaths are incorrigible; there is no redemption to be had."

    Whether or not someone is a psychopath is a matter for science, not you, to determine. If he is the next Michael Myers then, on pragmatic public safety grounds, he should of course be locked away. But none of us have access to this knowledge - it is a purely biological question.

    As for redemption - what are we, Christians now? Leland, maybe that's how they do things at the Discovery Institute, but I'd prefer to have science and truth on my side instead of empty rhetorical nonsense.

    Posted by: ANON (same) | Apr 16, 2008 8:26:22 PM

    
    

15. Try him as an adult. All this talk of compassion here is inane. You don't offer compassion where there is no remorse. If warranted, compassion can come in sentencing. Compassion can come after he's served out his sentence and is returned to the community.

    This was a cold calculated execution. It was not an impulsive action of a teenager. He doesn't seem to warrant treatment as a juvenile who can be rehabilitated.

    Lawrence King's life was worth more than at most 6 years in juvenile detention. Remember the victim. His sentence was death.

    Posted by: queendru | Apr 16, 2008 9:20:11 PM

    
    

16. GLBT groups who call for leniency for this racist homophobic killer are as wrong headed as they can get. The ideas of non-violence, turning the other cheek and forgiving ones enemies are a betrayal of our struggle and particularly so in the midst of a growing campaign of violence inspired by political and religious leaders against us.

    Adopting positions like that gives a green light to the thugs. This call for clemency sends a mistaken message, that it’s we, not the bigots who should bear the cost of their bigotry. We are NOT going to get any sort of justice in matters like these until comprehensive Federal Hate Crimes and Hate Speech laws with harsh penalties are in place. That’s not going to happen with Democrats and/or Republicans controlling the government. As the election campaign progresses it's becoming clearer that, irrespective of fantasy and wishful thinking, both major parties are cesspools of bigotry.

    A little rough justice will be served by harshly punishing McInerney but to be honest the only punishment that fits his crime is the death sentence. No matter how much time he gets or whether it’s in the adult or juvenile systems, the little sack of shit is going to discover ‘God’, get ‘reborn’ and ask for parole. If he gets an indeterminate sentence he’ll be out before we know it. Nationally the average time served for murder is 5.5 years and in California it averages a little less than 3.5 years.
    

    Posted by: Bill Perdue, RainbowRED | Apr 16, 2008 9:32:25 PM

    
    

17. ANON (SAME), are you addressing me, or leland? you quote me, but you mention leland. whatevah!

    there are some things that are self-evident. if a person is capable of planning and executing a dispassionate murder, that person is not "right in the head." how am i wrong?

    surely, you are not suggesting that regardless of legal constructs, we, as a society should become immured in the esoteric purview of science? if so, our hands are tied.

    of course, we should grant science (psychiatry and neuro-scientists) time to decipher the origins of sexism racism, bi-polarism, bisexualism, transgenderism, and any other -ism you can come up with; but when it comes to a clear and present danger as demonstrated by the 14 y.o. boy who is capable of this enormity, we need to be rational and reasonable.

    if the neighbor's pitbull gets loose and attacks the girl across the street, should we ruminate over the whys and wherefors while it mauls her? and once she has been mauled to death, should we consider that maybe the beast was mistreated by its owner? give me break.

    look up the home-lives of these two boys. you will find that neither had an ideal rearing. you will find, however, that the victim had it much worse than his killer. more than that, i do not care to speculate. what has become more and more apparent, however, is that -- no matter how counter-intuitive it is -- it was the boy who had an easier life that became a killer.

    redemtion, btw, is not a word peculiar to xtianity. (you are not the "anon" who claimed to have argued cases before the supremes, right?).

    from american heritage dictionary:

    redemption; the act of redeeming or the condition of having been redeemed; recovery of something pawned or mortgaged.

    the payment of an obligation, as a government's payment of the value of its bonds.

    deliverance upon payment of ransom; rescue.

    and finally, christianity; salvation from sin through jesus's sacrifice.

    anyhoo, i will no longer respond to cravens who comment under "anon."

    Posted by: nic | Apr 16, 2008 11:56:21 PM

    
    

18. "if the neighbor's pitbull gets loose and attacks the girl across the street, should we ruminate over the whys and wherefors while it mauls her? and once she has been mauled to death, should we consider that maybe the beast was mistreated by its owner? give me break."

    Of course we do.

    Proposition XYZ states: we hereby declare the possession of a pitbull to be illegal, under penalty of blah.

    Pro: pitbulls are dangerous! Look at the recent mauling - that animal attacked that girl for no reason!

    Con: that particular pitbull attacked because it had been beaten for 5 years and the girl threw a stick at it, resembling the treatment of its abuser - but normal pitbulls do not attack children.

    The argument turns on precisely the point you wish to deny. QED loser.

    Posted by: ANON | Apr 17, 2008 12:28:26 AM

    
    

19. A teenage boy with a complete lack of foresight murders another teenage boy out of hate. So a group of grown men take that boy and call for his execution; or at least, for some "rough justice". All of this out of hate - nobody has once said the boy has some untreatable illness. All that's been said is that they are angry about what's been done, and they are angry at those who disagree with them. So out of hate, some grown men with a complete lack of foresight murders, or at least removes the life of, a teenage boy.

    Congratulations NIC, Bill Perdue, and the rest of you. You're no better than monsters like Brandon. In fact, you're worse, because he's a child - we pity his mistakes. You're an adult - we are disgusted by yours.

    America: The civilized world awaits.

    Posted by: ANON | Apr 17, 2008 12:38:41 AM

    
    

20. Just put him away, so he cannot harm anyone anymore!

    Posted by: River | Apr 19, 2008 9:18:17 AM

    
    

21. I wish we could stop beating the issue to death (pun entirely intended). Trying McInerney as an adult is or isn't fair. He goes behind bars for too long or too short a time. We all feel better. Someone new dies next week. We feel bad again.

    The fact remains that our society purports that it's okay to (1) talk about people because they are different, (2) handle a gun (3) without adult supervision, through (item X) kill people as an expression of anger, confusion, goading, and/or hate. Yes, the kid's a murderer, yes the case should be handled. Don't waste energy on that.

    Energy expended on imposing consequences (treating symptoms) is never effective. In this case, people die, and THEN we talk about making an example of the killers. Energy expended on identifying and combating society's mores that make hate acceptable (treating causes) is the only way the Brandon McInerney's and Lawrence King's of this world will have some peace in the safe, supportive environments they deserve. Support organizations like the Safe Schools Coalition, or better yet, Get Involved with kids Yourself.

    Posted by: Tim | Apr 20, 2008 3:32:26 AM

    
    

22. The whole issue of trying McInerey as an adult (or pleading for the DA not to) is simply a PR ploy.

    Both the prosecution and the defense know that if you get a good-looking white kid on the stand who bursts into tears and blubbers about how sorry he is, the chances of getting all twelve members of a jury to convict him on murder one are questionable at best.

    The DA will lose huge amounts of credibility if the case goes to trial and they actually lose - they just aren't going to take that kind of chance. Therefore, McInerey will be offered a deal before the case even gets close to trial, and he will take it, and he'll be back home by the time he's 22 years old at the latest.

    You don't have to like it, but that's the way it is.

    Posted by: Yeek | Apr 20, 2008 10:56:53 AM

    
    

23. There's a couple of facts we've forgotten here.

    What do Lawrence King's PARENTS AND FAMILY WANT? This to me is the prime issue. The gay groups can proselytize all they want, but what is it really of their business?

    And what about the kids that Lawrence was brutally murdered right in front of? Those kids are probably experiencing nightmares, stress, and untold years of therapy ahead of them. I knew someone who witnessed a two-plane midair collision and saw body parts raining down out of the sky, and she was in therapy for over twenty years. These are children who witnessed a horrible murder. What about them?

    And I'm with the person above who said the murderer had to PLAN all this--how to get the gun, how to shoot it, how to get it to school, and where and when to do it. Don't tell me that kid didn't know what he was doing b'c his 'brain was underdeveloped'.
    

    Posted by: devilgirl | Apr 21, 2008 8:41:04 AM

    
    

24. "Before then, kids aren't fully able to reason right and wrong in longterm views: things seem like the end of the world, when really they can be quite trivial in the grand scheme of things."

    Ryan, please tell me you weren't saying murder is trivial. And please, let me assure you, at 14 I knew murder was wrong, and I bet so did all of the people posting here.

    Posted by: devilgirl | Apr 21, 2008 8:46:22 AM

    
    

25. He should be tried as an adult and given the death penalty.
    Make an example of him and people should learn that it is not right to kill your fellow human being. Maybe this way parents will try harder to teach their children to respect life and other people’s rights.

    Posted by: E. | May 4, 2008 9:30:42 AM

    
    
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