Defense expert in McInerney trial testifies Larry King's death was not hate crime

CHATSWORTH — After the prosecution in the Brandon McInerney murder trial spent days building a case that he was a white supremacist, the defense tried to knock it down Wednesday.

If McInerney were a white supremacist, he might have grabbed a few more guns from the arsenal in his home and killed not only Larry King but also other minorities and a lesbian who were in the E.O. Green School classroom where King was shot in 2008, a white supremacy expert testified Wednesday.

But McInerney is not a white supremacist, said Randal Hecht, a retired police officer and hate crime expert who testified for the defense. He said King's death was not a hate crime.

McInerney, now 17, was 14 when he fatally shot gay classmate King, 15, in the Oxnard classroom. He is charged with murder and a hate crime.



McInerney's lawyer Scott Wippert spent most of Wednesday morning in court trying to discredit the way the shooting investigation was handled and the analysis by the prosecution's expert witness who said white supremacy beliefs influenced the shooting.

Hecht said authorities did not document exactly where in a bedroom in McInerney's Oxnard home they found items such as books on Nazis and movies on Hitler. Items seized during a police search often have their exact locations documented so ownership can be established, he said. If he had done the investigation, Hecht said, he would have tried to determine the owner of the items.

McInerney's brother has testified that a German Iron Cross and books on Hitler's SS youth found in the bedroom were his, not Brandon's.

Wippert asked Hecht why it was significant that many guns were found in McInerney's home.

Hecht said, "He could have taken more than one gun to school," some of which were more powerful than the lone "Saturday night special" McInerney did take.

Outside the presence of the jury, Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox argued the defense was misstating the evidence. She said police did try to identify who owned the items found in McInerney's bedroom, but early on in the case, family members stopped talking to police.

Fox said the defense is trying to draw out the case so it results in a mistrial.

Fox also objected to part of Hecht's testimony that the defense had not provided to her. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell agreed the defense had to provide Fox the information in advance — and then reprimanded the defense team.



Tension between the two sides has been building over the past six weeks. When they began exchanging harsh words after court proceedings were over Wednesday, a sheriff's deputy stepped between them and joked that he was going to have to light an aromatherapy candle to calm everyone.

The trial is being held in Chatsworth because of pretrial publicity in Ventura County.