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The facts are these:

On February 12th 2008, in Oxnard, California, at E.O. Green Middle School, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney (pictured right) walked in late to computer class, approached 15-year-old Lawrence King (pictured left) and shot him twice.  Brandon dropped the gun and left the school.  Within seven minutes, Brandon was arrested.  Within an hour, Lawrence was pronounced brain dead but kept alive for two days so his organs could be donated.

Over three years later, on July 5th 2011, in Los Angeles, California, in Chatsworth, the trial of Brandon McInerney finally began after multiple venue changes and Brandon’s release from juvenile detention.  The trial will conclude next week.

Now, we depart the land of facts for the murkier areas of circumstance and guesswork.

This trial has been alternatingly carnivalesque and unbearable to watch.

The prosecution makes the case that Lawrence was gay, wore high heels and makeup sometimes to school and drew the ire of Brandon, whom the prosecution claims was involved in gang activity of the white supremacist persuasion.  They are charging him with premeditated murder and hate crime violations.

The defense is making the case that Lawrence relentlessly sexually harassed Brandon, who was hair-trigger sensitive after years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse from his father.  They are pushing for manslaughter.

This is where my dissection of the trial becomes difficult for me to emotionally navigate.

Gays have been victims of the “Gay Panic” defense for decades.  “He looked at me weird in the locker room, a twinkle in his eye, so I curb stomped him.  (harrumphs of understanding among the bluebeards in the jury)”  It’s been used so many times that it’s making it near impossible to discern actual, dangerous sexual harassment from a gay person from just childish “I think you’re pretty” bashful eyes.  There are so many prejudices to be taken into account; how can we trust someone isn’t blowing it up?

But gay panic or legit sexual harassment aside, Brandon still murdered Lawrence.

The reason this distinction of sexual harassment is important is in the future prevention of problems of this nature.  Did Brandon face this harassment, report it and face no help from the liberal gay agenda-pushing lesbian principal?  No, nothing was reported, so all we have is differing witness testimonies saying everything from Lawrence innocently smiled at Brandon in the hallway to Lawrence following Brandon into the bathroom and throwing him a “You know you want me.”

Some say Lawrence simply wearing women’s accessories was enough sexual harassment.  Months prior to the shooting, teaching staff was put on notice that because of California’s diversity programs, they couldn’t prevent Lawrence from wearing these things, unless they were becoming too big a distraction in the classroom.

Lawrence’s father blames Asst. Principal Joy Epstein, an out lesbian, for encouraging his son’s make-up wearing to further her gay agenda.  The King family went so far as to file a claim against E.O. Green in August 2008, alleging that the school’s allowing Lawrence to wear feminine clothing led to his death.

Is this a grieving family looking for another person to blame?

I don’t think so.  From what has been revealed about the King and McInerney families in court documents (not to mention their behavior in the trial itself), I believe we are dealing with the disastrous effects of two seriously damaged households.

If Mr. King believes the girly clothing led to the shooting, why didn’t his family put a stop to it?  Why leave it up to the school to do something?

The answer is they didn’t.  My answer is they didn’t because they’re deadbeats.  All of them.  The Kings and the McInerneys.  White trash, meth-addicted, broken people factories.

Lawrence was adopted by the Kings at age two.  His biological father abandoned his wife, Lawrence’s mother, who was a drug addict who failed to care for her son properly.  A year before his death, Lawrence was removed from his adoptive home and transferred to a group home after he alleged that his father was physically abusing him.  Mr. King denies this.  Mr. King denies a lot of things.  He denies his son was gay, despite the child coming out at age 10.  He claimed Asst. Principal Epstein could have put a stop to that too, but didn’t because of, you know, her gay agenda.

Is King’s family history a little too happy for your liking?  Well, buckle up, because Brandon McInerney was born to Kendra, meth addict, and William, frequent family abuser.  I’m going to try to track the custody of Brandon as clearly as I can:  In 2000, William choked Kendra unconscious after discovering she stole their eldest son’s ADHD medication.  He went to jail for a couple weeks and was kicked out of the house.  Between August 2000 and February 2001, he contacted Child Protective Services five times over concerns with Kendra watching his kids.  In 2001, he filed a restraining order against Kendra.  He regained custody of Brandon in 2004.

Aaaaaaand that’s when the sexual abuse began.

But that’s only if you believe the defense attorney and two-thirds of the McInerney family.  The other third, not including Mr. McInerney who passed away while Brandon was in juvie, claims the other two-thirds are LIIIIIAARRRS!

In the thirty-plus days of the trial, a few family members have already been banned from the courtroom, on grounds of being unruly hill-people.

But seriously, this murder is all the teachers’ fault, you guys, okay?  It’s totally not because the Kings raised a gay child in a home of neglect and abuse that made him desperate for attention, positive or negative, which brought about his death by a severely broken boy, who only knew yelling, meth and “this’ll be our little secrets.”  Nope.  It’s the teachers.

As for the white supremacist allegations, Brandon was found having Nazi memorabilia in his room (always a great sign), but true white supremacy is looking unlikely as Brandon had friends who were black and Latino.  Plus, in a true Maury moment, Brandon’s older brother appeared in court to claim the Nazi crap was his.

It reminded me of a line from a TROOP! Sketch, where a solemn pitchman advertises a Nazi plate collection: “For just three payments of $19.95, you too can own this piece of regrettable, yet HIGHLY collectible history.”

Unfortunately, the only stones left unturned in the trial come down to “should Lawrence have worn the girl clothes or not?”

Dawn Boldrin, the computer teacher who witnessed the shooting, took time out of her busy “being haunted” schedule to testify.  She brought a rare moment of tenderness and class to the proceedings.  Although to be fair, she could have achieved this by simply not throwing a chair.

Ms. Boldrin expressed fondness for Lawrence, and it was clear that she had become something of a confidante for the boy.  She sensed, likely correctly, that Lawrence was going through a gender identity crisis.  She knew that his wearing women’s clothes was becoming a burgeoning tense issue at school, for him and everyone.  She and her daughter gave him a green homecoming dress, for use outside of school.  She described him as “emotionally immature” and even told him to “use makeup sparingly.”

She tried to teach the boy restraint and judgment.  One of the last things she told him at the start of class, minutes before the shooting: “I also told him he needed to respect others as much as he wanted their respect for being gay.  Your classmates are young and this is hard on them, and you maybe need to not be so pushy with it.”

Ms. Boldrin testified that she didn’t feel she had crossed a line giving Lawrence the dress because he had already been wearing similar clothes for months now.  Also, Lawrence had been in a more accepting environment in the group home, rather than his adoptive home, which had forbade it.

However, Mrs. King disagreed and started shouting profanity at Ms. Boldrin and her 13-year-old daughter in the courtroom.  BOOM!  Another family member banned.

Was Brandon a white supremacist?  Probably not.  He was merely broken from years of abuse.

Was Brandon being sexually harassed?  Probably yes.  Lawrence was aggressive.

Was this sexual harassment of great quantities?  Probably not.  Lawrence was just a horny, attention-seeking kid who didn’t know boundaries.

Was this a hate crime?  I don’t think so.  I think this has a lot less to do with “gay” then we think.  Brandon was looking for some meager amount of control over his chaotic life.

Was this first-degree murder?  AB-SO-FUCKING-LUTELY.  It was premeditated.  Try him as an adult.  He’s done.  Lock him up, the poor bastard.

Now let’s all go home and hug our kids.

Court statements and notes culled from The Advocate, Towleroad, Huffington Post and the E.O. Green School Shooting Wikipedia page.