Ruby-Sachs: Judge Makes Wrong Call in McInerney Trial (killed gay teen classmate)

[WillParkinson]

Ruby-Sachs: Judge Makes Wrong Call in McInerney Trial


A Ventura County Judge has ruled that the teenager charged with shooting Larry King during a high school computer class will be tried as an adult.

McInerney is fifteen years old - three years shy of the cutoff imposed on youth sentences (he was fourteen when the crime was committed). As I’ve stated before on this site, that cutoff is there to recognize the difference between rehabilitation possibilities for children and teenagers and those of adults. It also recognizes the difficulty children and teenagers have in making rational decisions.

McInerney announced to many of his classmates that he intended to kill Larry King. He did so in the middle of a crowded room, full of witnesses. And has, up until now, insisted that King had been sexually harassing him at school.

These are not the actions of a rational sane adult.

The rest of the short blog report is interesting.

http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-judge-makes-wrong-call-in-mcinerney-trial/

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Is any hate crime the action of a rational sane adult?

[BR_Parkway]

2. but if he'd texted pictures of himself to the boy, they'd both be "child

pornographers"

There really is no rhyme or reason anymore

[Toasterlad]

3. "Rational Sane Adults" Kill Gay People and Use the Gay Panic Defense All the Time

I don't know if California has a death penalty, but I'd happily pay for the privilege of frying this monster.

[dsc]

4. I am conflicted here

I think three years is too little but I don't particularly want to see him jailed forever either. If there were an option to jail him until say 25, that would be ideal. Between the two choices we actually have I don't know which one is right.

[mitchtv]

5. jail til 25 for murder ?

25 to life should be the price for cold blooded murder by a minor.

[dsc]

6. the average sentence for murder is less than 10 years

and jail until age 25 would be 10 years.

[Toasterlad]

9. So, Your Life Is Only Worth 10 Years In Prison?

I wasn't aware that I was that narcissistic, but I value my life a lot more than that. Seems to me if someone shoots me in the back of the head, especially if they only did it because I'm gay, they should have their life taken away from them just as they took mine. Life in prison is the LEAST that should happen to this monster.

[dsc]

10. I think the fact he is 15 matters some

I don't think he deserves what an adult would get.

[Toasterlad]

11. Well, That's Where We Disagree.

15 (or 14, for that matter, which I think he was at the time) is plenty old enough to know that you're not allowed to shoot people in the head. I was bullied quite a bit when I was a teenager, but none of my tormentors ever tried to kill me, let alone succeed.

The little monster planned his crime in cold blood and executed it the same way. He's an irredeemable piece of shit which humanity would be better off without.

[dsc]

12. I've been there too

and people do change. I can't see locking a kid away forever even in these circumstances.

[Toasterlad]

13. Too Bad Larry Won't Get to Change, to Grow

[TheWraith]

14. It's not "just 10 years."

This kid is going to be marked for life by what he did. Once he gets out, he's going to have no education, and no decent employer will want to touch a convicted murderer with a ten foot pole.

[Toasterlad]

15. Yeah, That Should Make Up For the Life He Extinguished. Please.

I feel so, so sorry for this murdering animal.:eyes:

[donco6]

17. Gee, poor thing.

*snif*

[rantormusing]

19. I agree with you

as horrible as this crime is, we have to stop charging kids as adults. Two barbaric acts don't make a right. This is one of the problems with how we perceive our criminal justice system.

[mitchtv]

20. un redeemable piece of dirt, and Nazi sympathizer

The only concession I'd make for his youth is to take the DP off the table

[rantormusing]

22. hes a Nazi because of bad authoritative influences

And he's not the first to be wrongly tried as an adult. This smells political now. He belongs in a mental health hospital until further notice to flush the harmful beliefs that he has been exppsed to

[cecilfirefox]

7. I don't think so personally. I think the judge hit the nail on the head. nt

[NMMNG]

8. McInerney knew full well what he was doing

He planned the murder ahead of time, got the gun and even went so far as to tell people, “You better say goodbye to him because you won’t see him again,”. Then he shot the boy in cold blood from behind. This was not a crime of passion but a planned execution.

And that ridiculous "gay-panic" bullshit? Give me a break. Should we allow every woman and teenage girl who receives unwanted advances from a guy, even if they rise to the level of "sexual harassment" to blow him away?

He's being tried as an adult, as he should be. His actions were in no way those of a child.

[xchrom]

16. +1 -- it was an execution

and that makes the crime VERY different from some are 'feeling' for here.

[Tyo]

18. This is my thinking too..

This kid didn't shoot Larry King on impulse, it wasn't done in a panic, it wasn't an unthinking gut reaction in the face of some sort of perceived "threat". It was a cool, considered and cowardly execution planned, apparently bragged about in advance, and carried out by someone who probably thought that he was doing the world a favor by taking Larry King out of the picture.

I don't have many heroes. Larry King is one of them. From what I read about him this guy showed more courage and heart and gave us more truth in his 15 hard years among us than I with my good luck and my privilege have in almost twice that amount of time or probably ever will.

[ThomCat]

21. So do we get rid of separate sentencing for minors all together

or do we keep it? It makes no sense to have it piecemeal, and pick and choose when to use separate sentencing guidelines based on when we Want to use them.

Either we think minors get leniency because they are young enough to reform, or we don't. Or we for all crimes below a certain level, for not for crimes above a certain level.

I think we need to work this out, pick a set of rules, and stick with it. Otherwise we're just a mob doing whatever our emotions tell us to do.


Personally, I think separate sentencing guidelines for minors make sense. I think minors should not be tried as adults. Minors don't have the same level of cognitive development as adults, and their level of cognitive development will change. The typical teen will see their personality change pretty substantially before they reach 18, and again before they reach full adulthood. Teens are influenced by peers, and by hormonal mood swings more than adults are. Those aren't defenses. Those are just differences. Minors aren't adults.

For these, and many other reasons, I don't think it makes sense to treat minors as adults.

[Jkid]

23. I would not mind sending him to an adult court to be tried by a jury.

Any offense that carries life imprisonment should be exclusively tried by a jury. But the judge should be restricted to sentencing him to as a juvenile.