Brandon McInerney To Be Retried As An Adult, Hate Crime Charge Dropped

Prosecutors announced today that they will be retrying teenage murderer Brandon McInerney as an adult and with no hate crime embellishment to the charges. A mistrial was declared last month after some jurors refused to convict McInerney as an adult. Those jurors have since formed a support group for McInerney.

Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell set a Nov. 21 trial date, according to Fox, but it’s unclear if it will be held in Ventura County. The first trial was moved to Los Angeles County due to pretrial publicity. McInerney was 14 in February 2008, when he is accused of killing King at E.O. Green Junior High School during a computer lab class. Prosecutors contend McInerney embraced a white supremacist philosophy that sees homosexuality as an abomination. Police found Nazi-inspired drawings and artifacts at his house, and a white supremacist expert testified at trial the hate-filled ideology was the reason for the killing.