Teen Accused of Anti-Gay Murder Had Racist Literature

Ventura County, Calif., prosecutors have decided to add a hate crime enhancement to the premeditated murder charge against 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, who allegedly gunned down gay junior high school classmate Lawrence "Larry" King, 15. The move came after investigators discovered what they described as a "trove" of neo-Nazi literature and drawings in McInerney's bedroom.

According to a court document filed by Senior District Attorney Maeve Fox, the materials seized from McInerney's room included white supremacist literature and drawings concerning "a racist skinhead philosophy of the variety espoused by Tom Metzger, David Lane and others." Metzger and Lane (who died in prison last year) were well-known racist leaders.

McInerney is awaiting trial as an adult for the Feb. 12 murder of King, who was shot in the head in a classroom full of students at E.O. Green Junior High School. McInerney fled the scene after the shooting and was apprehended a few blocks away. Witnesses said that King, who had recently revealed that he was gay and started to wear makeup and jewelry, had a verbal confrontation with McInerney regarding King's sexual orientation the day before the killing.

McInerney's public defender contended that his client had the items only because he was researching a term paper on Adolf Hitler.

The accused killer turned 14, the legal cutoff for charging a juvenile as an adult in California, less than a month before the murder. He could face 50 years to life if convicted, plus one to three years for the hate crime enhancement.