VENTURA, CA - The district attorney will allow 15-year-old murder suspect Brandon McInerney to plead guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a lighter sentence, officials announced publicly today.
“It would bring (the sentence) down, from a maximum of 53 years to life, to 25 years to life,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox, who is prosecuting this case.
Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten approved making the offer, she said.
“The reason Mr. Totten authorized that offer is because we are keenly aware of this young man’s age. We are keenly aware of his developmental level, being that he was 14 years old at the time of the crime,” Fox said. “And, we are also keenly aware that he is a very dangerous individual.”
McInerney is charged with murder and a hate crime in the shooting death of classmate Larry King, 15, in an Oxnard classroom in February 2008. King dressed in a feminine manner and told friends he was gay.
The plea-bargain offer was made public today after a hearing was held at Ventura County Superior Court where McInerney’s lawyer Robyn Bramson told Judge John Dobroth that she and the other defense lawyer, Scott Wippert, weren’t ready for a preliminary hearing. Bramson said Wippert is in trial in another county.
Judge Dobroth reset the date to July 20, warning Bramson that she must be ready on that date.
Outside the courtroom and before going public with the plea-bargain offer, Fox expressed her frustration about the defense attorneys’ delays in moving the case along, saying that it has taken too long to get it to a preliminary hearing.
A frustrated Fox also threatened to take the case to the grand jury instead of opting for a preliminary hearing because of what she described as the slow pace of the case.
Going to the grand jury could only occur if Fox tacked on a special circumstance — an allegation that the defendant had been lying in wait — which would then allow prosecutors to circumvent a preliminary hearing.
Fox said she will consider going to the grand jury on July 20 if the defense lawyers are still unprepared to go to a preliminary hearing
Defense attorneys Bramson and Wippert got the case from the Ventura County Public Defender’s Office last year, and they have argued in court about not getting all the records and documents from the Public Defender’s Office.
Attorneys from the Public Defender’s Office deny the allegation, saying that they have given the defense lawyers every piece of paper they have in this case.
Fox said the decision to prosecute McInerney in adult court, rather than as a juvenile, was made because he needlessly and callously took an innocent life — “in front of a classroom full of kids,” she added.
Fox said that the district attorney’s office recognized that a sentence of 53 years to life in this slaying, in light of McInerney’s age and his lack of a previous criminal record, is “probably extreme” in this case.
“In recognition of this, Mr. Totten gave him the opportunity to plead to what the crime really is, a first-degree murder,” said Fox. “It’s really not a kind of a case where he is going to be found guilty of anything other than murder.”
If he is found guilty of second-degree murder, Fox said McInerney is facing 43 years to life because of the allegation that he used a gun.
from The Ventura County Star
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