Lawrence "Larry" King wasn't sexually harassing fellow eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney in the weeks leading up to King's shooting death, prosecutors contend in court documents.
McInerney was the aggressor, teasing the effeminate King for weeks and vowing to "get a gun and shoot" him, according to a prosecution brief. Multiple students provided accounts of a growing hostility between the two boys, the document shows.
Their dispute ended in tragedy a year ago today when McInerney allegedly armed himself with a .22-caliber revolver and shot King in the back of the head twice in an Oxnard classroom as the school day was beginning.
"In the days before the shooting, the defendant tried to enlist others to administer a beating to Larry," Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox wrote in a "statement of facts" filed with the brief. "When that failed for lack of interest, he decided to kill Larry."
Prosecutors said they provided their most detailed account to date of the events leading to the classroom killing to counter the defense's argument that murder charges against McInerney, then 14, were improperly filed in adult court.
Defense attorney Scott Wippert contends that Ventura County Dist. Atty. Gregory Totten abused his discretion in deciding to try McInerney as an adult rather than filing charges in juvenile court. Fox said she filed the statement of facts in December to show that the case was filed properly.
The Ventura County Star published details from the document this week.
"It was an absolutely brutal crime, with premeditation and deliberation," Fox said Wednesday. "He was familiar with firearms and had fired that gun before. He knew what he was doing."
Wippert said the prosecution filing was a "one-sided version of the facts." He said it was meant to sway the jury pool before the case reaches trial.
"We don't know if any of this version of what she says happened will ever go before a court of law," Wippert said. "It was irresponsible to release it."
The one-year anniversary of the shooting is being marked in Ventura County by a candlelight march and vigil organized by a local gay-rights group. Similar memorials are being planned across the state, said Jackie Downing of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network in San Francisco.
"We also had a conference in Fresno over the weekend with 275 students dedicated to preventing further tragedies like this," Downing said. "They talked a great deal about Lawrence."
