Valentine Road chronicles the life, and death, of Larry King and his killer Brandon McInerney
In 2008 Larry King, a gay teenager from Oxnard, California was shot
in his computer class. His killer, classmate Brandon McInerney, put two bullets
in the back of Larry's head. The 15-year-old died two days later.
Valentine Road,
a documentary by Marta Cunningham, chronicles the bloody crime, the trial and
the lives of the teenagers.
The show premiered the 7th of October on HBO and has earned
positive reviews.
'Valentine Road is a profoundly disturbing and extremely
effective attempt to make us stop in our tracks and try to answer the questions
we so patly ask,' said the Los
Angeles Times.
Few facts of the case were ever in doubt. Larry, who was out and
known to wear makeup, came up to Brandon when he was playing basketball with
some classmates. Valentine's Day was near and the precocious boy asked Brandon
to be his valentine.
The next day Brandon killed Larry.
Three years later, Brandon was on trial as an adult. However, his
defense team made Larry's alleged "sexual aggression" the actual
reason for his death. The case ended in a mistrial.
The jury couldn't decide if the crime was voluntary manslaughter or
first- or second-degree murder. McInerney eventually pleaded guilty to
second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He'll spend 21 years in
prison.
'They made a murder victim the cause of his own murder. I've never
seen that before,' Homicide Detective Jeff Kay said.
As Gawker notes,
three pro-McInerney jurors freely admit to dismissing Brandon's obsession with
Nazi imagery. They also blamed the school and the dead child.
'The school was so pro-Larry King’s civil rights, but where were
Brandon’s civil rights,' the juror asked.
She went on to say the killing was Brandon's attempt to handle
something the school didn't.
'He was solving a problem.'
Shirley Brown, Larry's seventh-grade teacher, offers the following: 'I do believe in a heaven and a hell, and I do believe Larry
honestly did not have a clue, honestly, the consequences of his actions.' Brown
said.
'I relate to Brandon because I could see my own self being in that
very same position. I don't know if I would have taken a gun, but a good, swift
kick in the butt might work really well.'
Below is an advertisement for the film:
This is disturbing that they blamed a child for his own murder. It's a shame the adults are so ignorant...make that stupid and agree with the slaying of a child him asking the guy to be his Valentine. The fact they over looked Nazi imagery says alot about those who support the killer
ReplyDeleteyet we must love them anyway
Delete