Brandon's Brother: He Was Molested

The half-brother of teenage murderer Brandon McInerney claimed in court yesterday that Brandon had been molested by a male relative. And that mitigates his murder of gay teen Lawrence King somehow.

James Bing testified that McInerney’s father cried hysterically as he revealed the molestation that occurred when Brandon was about 9 years old. The older McInerney was upset because the family had dealt with the problem internally, sending the relative away for years, instead of reporting it to police and getting Brandon help, Bing told the courtroom. McInerney’s father, who is now dead, believed the memory of the molestation was what caused his son to react so violently when Larry King began dressing like a girl and flirting with McInerney at their Oxnard junior high school, Bing said. "He felt that it scarred him," said Bing, 24. "He felt guilty that he hadn’t done anything about it before."

Last month prosecutors asked the judge to rule that jurors should disregard King's sexuality when making their decision in the case. This was seen as a tactic meant to derail any gay panic defense.

LOS ANGELES: Prosecutors Seek To Ban Gay Panic Defense In King Case

Prosecutors in the trial of Brandon McInerney plan to ask the judge to have the jury disregard the sexual orientation of his murder victim, openly gay teen Lawrence King.

Attorneys for Brandon McInerney argue that their client, who was 14 when he gunned down Larry King in an Oxnard junior high school computer lab, was so humiliated by King's flirtation that it provoked him to kill his classmate. Gay rights advocates say the argument is a classic "gay panic" defense. The panic defense became a flashpoint following the 2002 slaying of Gwen Araujo, a Bay Area transgender teen who was beaten and strangled by three men. Defense attorneys for the suspects argued that their clients panicked after learning Araujo was a biological male and won a mistrial. When the suspects escaped first-degree murder convictions, legislators responded by passing a law designed to blunt the use of panic defenses.

McInerney's defense attorney maintains that the murder was "provoked" by King's "relentless sexual advances."