Lawrence Fobes King, also known as Latisha King (January 13, 1993 – February 14, 2008), was a 15-year-old trans biracial student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, who was shot twice by a fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, and kept on life support for two days afterwards.
Newsweek described the shooting as "the most prominent gay-bias crime since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard", bringing attention to issues of gun violence as well as gender expression and sexual identity of teenagers.
Following many delays and a change of venue, McInerney's first trial began on July 5, 2011, in the Los Angeles district of Chatsworth. That trial ended on September 1, 2011, when Judge Charles Campbell declared a mistrial because the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors decided to try McInerney again, but dropped the hate crime charge. On November 21, 2011, McInerney avoided the scheduled retrial by pleading guilty to second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. His plea resulted in a sentence of 21 years imprisonment.
Involved parties
Lawrence 'Latisha' King Lawrence 'Latisha' Fobes King was born on January 13, 1993Pringle, Paul, Salliant, Catherine (March 8, 2008). "A deadly clash of emotions before Oxnard shooting." Los Angeles Times pg. A1. at the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California, to a 15-year-old mother who was addicted to crack-cocaine and alcohol. King was half African-American. Her biological father had abandoned his wife, and her mother, who was unable to care for King, resorted to prostitution to support her children and her drug habit. Two years later, King and her newborn brother were adopted by Gregory and Dawn King.
King was prescribed medication for ADHD and, according to Gregory King, had been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, a condition in which a child fails to develop relationships with his or her caregivers. She was also forced to repeat the first grade. By the third grade, King began to be bullied by her fellow students due to her effeminacy and openness about being gay, having come out at ten years old.
At the age of twelve, King was placed on probation for theft and vandalism, after taking food from the refrigerator in the home where she was living. In 2007, she was removed from her adoptive home and placed in a group home and treatment center named Casa Pacifica after she alleged that her adoptive father was physically abusing her, a charge Gregory King denied.
King found a marginally more accepting environment at E.O. Green Junior High School in the seventh grade. She hung out with a group of girls, but was still ridiculed by boys in her gym class. Boys openly bullied her when she began attending school wearing women's accessories and clothing, high heels and makeup. King's younger brother Rocky also suffered bullying because of his relationship with Latisha.
Some teachers believed King's manner of dress to be distracting, and therefore a violation of school dress code. California anti-discrimination law prevents discrimination based on gender, including gender expression, so she was not prevented from dressing to her preference. In addition to dressing in feminine clothing, King had begun to ask to be called Latisha in the week and a half prior to the shooting.
The school issued a formal notice via email to every teacher on January 29, 2008. Written by eighth-grade assistant principal Sue Parsons, it said, in part:
In the months before the shooting, King began to respond in kind to sustained harassment from her peers. She would tell boys in the locker room that they looked attractive, according to a classmate's mother, or ask if she could sit at the popular boy's table in the cafeteria. Some boys reported to a teacher that she would tell them, "I know you want me," in the halls between classes. In court documents, prosecutors described these behaviors as a response to increasing aggression from other boys, particularly Brandon McInerney, with whom King had had a number of "acrimonious" verbal disputes in the weeks prior to the shooting.
Brandon McInerney Brandon David McInerney was born on January 24, 1994, in Ventura, California. His mother, Kendra, had a criminal history and was addicted to methamphetamine. In 1993, Kendra accused her husband William of shooting her in the arm with a .45-caliber pistol. In another incident, William McInerney choked his wife almost to unconsciousness after she accused him of stealing ADHD medication from her older son. He pleaded no contest and served ten days in jail and 36 months probation on a charge of domestic violence. Between August 2000 and February 2001, William McInerney had contacted Child Protective Services at least five times to express concern about his son living with his mother. In 2001, he filed a restraining order against Kendra, and in 2004, Brandon was placed in the custody of his father, as his mother had entered a drug rehabilitation program.
The shooting In July 2008, Newsweek reported that a day or two before the shooting, King walked onto the basketball court in the middle of a game and asked McInerney to be her Valentine in front of the team members, who then made fun of McInerney. Later that day King was seen walking back and forth in high-heeled boots and makeup in front of McInerney. According to a teacher, a group of boys were laughing at McInerney who was getting visibly upset and assistant principal Joy Epstein, noticing McInerney's reaction, wagged her finger at her. When McInerney endured teasing because of the incident, he attempted to recruit other students to assault King but no one expressed interest. He then told one of King's friends to say goodbye to her "because she would never see [King] again".
On the morning of February 12, 2008, McInerney was witnessed repeatedly looking at King during a class in a computer laboratory. At approximately 8:15 a.m. local time, McInerney drew from his backpack a .22-caliber revolver belonging to relatives and shot King twice in the back of the head. Following the shooting, McInerney tossed the handgun on the floor and walked out of the classroom. He was apprehended by police five blocks away from the school campus about seven minutes later.
King was transported to St. John's Regional Medical Center where she was listed in serious condition. She was declared brain dead on February 13 but kept on life support for two days so that her organs could be donated.
Response Vigils and marches were organized across the United States following King's death. Condolences were expressed by, among many others, Judy Shepard,Wilson, Craig (March 11, 2008). "Mom's mission: Stop hate crime; Matthew Shepard Foundation toils to keep momentum", USA Today, p. 11B. Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese,"Slaying of Gay Oxnard Student Spurs Diversity Education Bill" , Gay Wired, February 19, 2008. Senator Hillary Clinton, and television host Ellen DeGeneres. A thousand students in the Hueneme School District, where E.O. Green is located, marched to pay tribute to King on February 16, 2008, four days after the shooting.
A new diversity education bill was introduced on behalf of King by California Assembly person Mike Eng, saying, "We need to teach young people that there's a curriculum called tolerance education that should be in every school. We should teach young people that diversity is not something to be assaulted, but diversity is something that needs to be embraced because diversity makes California the great state that it is." The bill would require mandatory classes on diversity and tolerance in California school districts."Mike Eng announces tolerance-promoting Bill" (streaming video)
A local vigil in Ventura, California, was organized one year after King's death. The Day of Silence for 2008, which is intended to protest LGBT harassment and occurred on April 25, was specially dedicated to King. King's father, Greg, was reportedly unconvinced his adoptive son was gay, as Latisha had only recently told him that she was actually bisexual. Greg believes that Latisha was sexually harassing McInerney, and has expressed concern that King is being made a poster child for gay rights issues.
Some teachers also showed some sympathy for McInerney, with one stating, "We failed Brandon. We didn't know the bullying was coming from the other side—Larry was pushing as hard as he could, because he liked the attention." Hundreds of students from the school signed a petition requesting that McInerney be tried as a juvenile.
Criticism of the school In August 2008, King's family filed a claim against E.O. Green Junior High School at Ventura County Superior Court, alleging that the school's allowing King to wear makeup and feminine clothing was a factor leading to her death. According to the California Attorney General's Office, however, the school could not legally have stopped King from wearing girls' clothes because state law prevents gender discrimination.
According to a Newsweek article published on July 19, 2008, some teachers at E.O. Green alleged that assistant principal Joy Epstein, herself openly gay, was "encouraging King's flamboyance to help further an 'agenda' ". When Epstein was later promoted to principal at another local public school, King's father described it as a "slap in the face of my family". The superintendent, Jerry Dannenberg, stated that Epstein received the promotion because "she was the most qualified person for the new principal job".
Pretrial legal proceedings In February 2008, McInerney's lawyer, William Quest, was considering asking for a change of venue.Ventura County Star – "Change of venue in shooting considered" , venturacountystar.com; accessed January 11, 2018. On July 24, 2008, Judge Douglas Daily of Ventura County Superior Court ruled that McInerney would stand trial as an adult, with the decision being appealed. On August 7, 2008, in the same court, McInerney pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder and a hate crime. A preliminary hearing was set for September 23, 2008, which had been rescheduled for October 14, 2008.
On September 23, 2008, the court appointed Willard Wiksell, a lawyer from Ventura, guardian ad litem for McInerney. Previously, McInerney's family took steps to fire his lawyer, William Quest, of the Public Defenders Office and hire the United Defense Group, a criminal defense law firm from Los Angeles. However, the Public Defenders Office filed a petition stating that the United Defense Group might not have McInerney's best interests in mind.
On October 14, 2008, after the court received a report from the appointed guardian ad litem and determined that the defendant had not been coerced into changing representation and knew what he was doing, the Ventura County Superior Court allowed McInerney to fire his Public Defender, William Quest, and the Public Defenders Office, and hire the United Defense Group together with attorney Robyn Bramson as his attorneys. The court also denied a motion to gag the defendant's former representatives from the Public Defenders Office from speaking about the case, especially to the media.