Source: Ventura County Star
White supremacist material found earlier this year in a search of the 14-year-old suspect's room helped prompt Ventura County prosecutors to add hate crime charges against Brandon McInerney, the Oxnard boy accused of shooting of an eighth-grade classmate.
McInerney is accused of the February shooting death of his classmate Larry King, 15, at E.O. Green School in Oxnard. He's being prosecuted as an adult in Ventura County Superior Court and faces a sentence of 51 years to life if convicted of all the charges.
King had told friends he was gay. Many reports have indicated that McInerney may have targeted King because he was gay, but prosecutors have not previously offered explanations of the hate crimes enhancement added to the charges against McInerney.
In a court filing, Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox described the material found by an investigator in McInerney's room as a "trove of white supremacy related" items, Ventura County Star reports.
The materials are "not the type of things that are typically associated with the study of World War II," Fox added. "Rather these items depict racist skinhead philosophy of the variety espoused by Tom Metzger, David Lane and others. They included hand drawn sketches of swastikas, references to the 14 Words' and the number 88, which is commonly used by skinheads to represent the words Heil Hitler and Hitler's SS."
In an interview Wednesday with Ventura County Star, McInerney's attorney William "Willy" Quest, called the prosecution's evidence "vague" and said it was a "stretch" to portray his client as a white supremacist.
"His best friends at school were blacks. His best friends at school were Hispanics," Quest said. "We have character references of teachers who are Jewish who will say that it is a stretch to say that very small amounts of drawings and scribbling of a 13- or 14-year-old, to say this guy is a white supremacist."
Fox submitted the document in response to a request by Quest for background information about a police gang expert who is expected to testify in the case.
In a related civil case, the Hueneme School District and Ventura County government have rejected claims for damages filed in August by King's family.
King's parents and his younger brother, Rocky King, alleged that county and school employees knew the youth was vulnerable because of his "perceived sexual orientation" but failed to protect him.
Both agencies have denied any responsibility for the boy's death, Ventura County Star reports.
State law requires plaintiffs seeking damages from public agencies to file claims first. If they're denied, the plaintiffs have six months from the date of rejection to sue.
Source: School shooting suspect had white supremacist material | Ventura County Star
County, school district reject King family claims | Ventura County Star