Brandon McInerney

Lawrence Fobes King, also known as Latisha King (January 13, 1993 – February 13, 2008) was a 15-year-old student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, who was shot twice by a fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, and kept on life support until he died two days later. Newsweek described the shooting as "the most prominent gay-bias crime since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard", bringing attention to issues of gun violence as well as gender expression and sexual identity of teenagers. Following many delays and a change of venue, McInerney's first trial began on July 5, 2011, in the Los Angeles district of Chatsworth. That trial ended on September 1, 2011, when Judge Charles Campbell declared a mistrial because the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors decided to try McInerney again, but dropped the hate crime charge. On November 21, 2011, McInerney avoided the scheduled retrial by pleading guilty to second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. His plea resulted in a sentence of 21 years behind bars.