In plea deal, youth gets 21 years for killing gay teen

Brandon McInerney avoids a retrial by pleading guilty to shooting Larry King. The jury deadlocked in the first trial, with some saying prosecutors were being too harsh in trying him as an adult.

where do you stand on the issue?
should children and teens be tried as an adult even in twisted cases such as this one?

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.

is a teen even capable of understand some of the issues including what a 'plea bargan' actually is?
does this punishment fit this crime?

man, i'm on the fense over this one.
more info in link

Personally I think that a 21 year prison sentence is worse than the death penalty.

reply to post by rubbertramp


Shooting someone in the back of the head is an execution. He deserves, an execution of his own. 21 years is a long time. I hope a gay inmate strings him up for the guards to find. Do a man's crime, expect a man's punishment.

reply to post by rubbertramp


I don't care how old you are, two shots to the back of the head? you should never experience another day of freedom in your life.

Death penalty is a cop out, make that boy live the rest of his life regretting the decisions he made.

Is he capable of making an adult decision?

i don't care, ask the dead boy with two bullet holes in the back of his head.

Wow this young man was so angry....

We need to prevent anger in young children. It leads to tragedies like this.

21 years for execution style of a gay teen ?

I say he got off pretty easy.

he has 21 years (probably won't serve full term) to think about his actions!


I would say its not harsh sentence at all.

yes, i agree that at first glance, the death penalty would be called for, but
lets just look at a possible scenario.
his father is extrememy racist and military special forces.
besides the racism, his father brought the war home with him and constantly discussed issues like 'blowing away those damn ragheads.'
along with constantly discussing his hate of gays.
is there a point where actual brainwashing comes into effect?

I am avidly against the death penalty. I agree 21 years in prison is much worse than death.

I would like to think that this person can eventually be rehabilitated, made to see the problems with their thought process, and eventually come to understand that all lives are equally valuable..Unfortunately this most definitely will not happen in the US prison system.

I do believe under different circumstances, however, most murderers could be rehabilitated.

It's kind of sad to think of a jr high student losing 21 years of their life in prison - but he took maybe up to four times that time away from his victim. He should be tried as an adult.

I think 21 years is a fair sentence. I think a better sentence would be life - but with the possibility of parole after 10 years. If we had a prison system that focused on rehabilitation instead of simple human warehousing, where most offenders become even more criminalized, I think people could potentially be restored to a level where it was safe to return them to society. Obviously this would have to be decided on a case by case basis, and would vary depending on the offender and their crimes.

reply to post by TinkerHaus


In a perfect world everyone would be rehabilitated.

However some people just can't be, people with extreme psychological problems, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

It's much easier, and cheaper just to place them in a prison and forget about them.

I don't really care if the kid was gay or not. Murder is murder and execution style murder, well..

I mean come on.

Yeah 21 years is ok, he should have been tried as an adult. If you are mature enough to find a gun, plan out an execution and go through with it, your an adult.

~Keeper

He should not be tried as an adult if he is not one. He cannot vote, consent to sex, enter legal contracts, buy alcohol, fight in a war, but he can be tried as an adult if it fits the system? Hypocrites.

If you want harsher sentences for teens, then the proper way is to increase penalties for juvenile offenders, not arbitrarily try him as an adult that he is not.

reply to post by Maslo


It's all about his mental state, not his age.

He's mentality capable of adult thought, clearly by the planning of this murder. Hence tried as an adult.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I understand the rationale behind it, does not make it any less hypocritical.

reply to post by Maslo


Its really not though, it's not like he's being sent a max security prison. He'll serve his time in a juvenile system until 21 and then be transferred to the appropriate place. With good behaviour he probably will get parole after 10 years.

The reason they don't have harsher punishment for juveniles is because these are one off cases. Most cases of murder between children not of age are accidental and aren't grounds for giving a child an adult sentence.

These sorts of cases are, therefore exceptions are made. There would be far too many instances of abuse and children going to harsher places, with harsher sentences if you made the change across the board.

Most important to remember is the decision to try a child as an adult is not a decision taken lightly.

~Keeper

The average IN TIME for basic murder is 7 years. After 21 years he will not even be able to be productive to society at all. All he will know is prison life, either commit suicide or re-offend just to go back.

reply to post by rubbertramp


obviously a hate crime
with possible religious justifications

let's see how well he can "pray the gay away" in jail

We have 7 Billion people on the planet. Kill him.. it's not like we can't spare the flesh.

Play nice or go away.

-- Evil Rogerstigers

I think the little punk is getting off easy, what he did was straight execution style murder. Life in prison or the death penalty would have been the only fair punishments in my opinion.

I think it's hypocritical.

As someone else said, legally he is NOT an adult. So legally, he can't be tried as one.

All this BS about trying people who are legally minors as adults is just ridiculous. You, the law, have stated that a person under the age of 18 is unable to make adult choices. There is no gray area with the law when it comes to buying cigarettes, going to a strip club, entering into a contract, consenting to sex, etc etc etc. So why should there be a gray area when criminal issues come up? There shouldn't.

The government is the one that made the choice that people under a certain age cannot function mentally as adults. So deal with it. They are just backtracking and being huge hypocrites when they try minors as adults.

If such BS is allowed, then they should allow 15 year old kids into strip clubs, buy cigarettes, go to war, have sex with 40 year olds, and so on if they can prove they are "adult enough"

And considering killing someone makes you an adult in the eyes of the law, then so should attending strip clubs, smoking cigarettes, etc etc.

I hate this d-bag for what he did, but that's not the point. The point is, the government and legal system tell us we have to follow the law to the T, there are no gray areas or shortcuts. They have to follow that exact same rulebook, until he turns a certain age he is a minor, and cannot be tried as an adult.

Don't like it? Then how about we erase the stupid age restrictions on LIVING LIFE, then there won't be an issue because the kid will be just as free as an adult, and able to face the same consequences.