Source: Los Angeles Times, Ventura County Star

The arraignment of Brandon McInerney, accused of the fatal shooting an Oxnard schoolmate, was postponed again Thursday and rescheduled for June.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee granted the delay requested by McInerney's lawyer, William Quest, Ventura County senior deputy public defender.

The 14-year-old from Oxnard is set to be tried as an adult in the classroom killing of Larry King, a 15-year-old who sometimes wore lipstick and told friends he was gay.

Earlier, Quest said in an interview that he is working on a legal motion attacking the constitutionality of trying his client as an adult. The attorney said it will be a "very in-depth" legal issue pertaining to serious constitutional matters.

Quest wants time to prepare and submit his legal motion before his client is arraigned.

McInerney made a brief court appearance Thursday. He has been held in Juvenile Hall in lieu of $700,000 bail since the shooting. Ventura County prosecutors have announced their intent to try him as an adult.

Under state law, juvenile offenders can be incarcerated until the age of 25 and then must be released. If he is convicted as an adult, McInerney would face 50 years to life, with an additional three years for a special hate-crime allegation, LA Times reports.

Several gay advocacy groups appealed to the prosecutor in April to try the young man as a juvenile.

Outside the courtroom, Quest told reporters after the hearing that he is "very happy" that a host of gay- and lesbian-rights groups issued a statement last month calling for McInerney's case to be moved to the juvenile criminal justice system.

But Quest declined to elaborate during the impromptu press conference on his reasons for believing his constitutional challenge would be successful. Many states have similar laws allowing authorities to try juveniles as adults in cases involving allegations of serious felony crimes.

"I'll let the motion speak for itself," Quest said.

McGee set the arraignment for June 12.

In an interview with the Star before Thursday's hearing, Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said the district attorney is prosecuting the case in adult court, but that could change."As this case progresses, we are going to continue to keep our minds open about what the appropriate disposition is," Fox said.

"As an adult (defendant), there is such a wide range of discretion that we can exercise," she said. "As a juvenile, if we sent him back to juvenile court, basically, he is going to get out when he is 21. That's one of the factors we're looking at."

Fox said McInerney, if convicted, could be locked up until his 25th birthday, but state juvenile detention facilities are so overcrowded that he would be let out earlier.

In press interviews earlier this week, Quest blamed Larry King and the school for the shooting.

On Feb. 12, McInerney shot King in the back of the head with a handgun as first-period classes were beginning, according to police. McInerney's inability to see another way to solve his problem is partly the fault of the school system, his attorney said.

"Brandon is not some crazed lunatic," Quest said. "This was a confluence of tragic events that could have been stopped. If there is partial blame in other places, let's not throw away Brandon for the rest of his life."

The attorney said that it was King who caused turmoil on campus by coming to school wearing feminine makeup and accessories, according to an LA Times report.

He accused school administrators of "nurturing" King as he explored his sexuality.

"We think there will be evidence that the school, with the actions of Larry, didn't quite know how to deal with it," Quest said.

School Supt. Jerry Dannenberg strongly disagreed with such allegations. "School officials definitely were aware of what was going on, and they were dealing with it appropriately," Dannenberg said Wednesday. King was constitutionally entitled to wear makeup, earrings and high-heeled boots under long-established case law, Dannenberg said.

Quest argued that educators should have moved aggressively to quell rising tensions between the two boys, which began when King openly flirted with McInerney, said Quest.

Ventura County Star reports that Quest is also working on another theory for his defense: Blame the brain.

A growing field of neuroscience research suggests teenagers take more risks, don't focus on consequences and tend not to reason things out because there's too much going on in their heads.

The studies show brain maturation continues many years longer than scientists once thought. Researchers think an overabundance of gray matter and still-strengthening connections between different parts of the brain may influence how teens behave, though the exact link isn't understood.

A tug-of-war over whether the science belongs in the courtroom seems likely to emerge in the nationally publicized case of Brandon McInerney, the Star reports.

"We're going to do everything we can to make it a part of the defense because we think it's extremely relevant," Quest told the Star. "The crux of homicide is you have this intent to kill. It's thought out and coherent. If there is something that, given your brain development, puts you in a state that is not coherent, it mitigates that intent."

But as lawyers and juvenile justice advocates try to push the research into the debate on whether any minors should be tried as adults, others, including scientists involved with the research, push back. They say brain science is still marked by too many unanswered questions to be used as a defense for a murder or assault.

"You'd be hard pressed to draw that connection," said Dr. Arthur Toga, director of the neuro-imaging laboratory at UCLA. He worries science is being twisted into an excuse for violence.

"I personally believe in individual responsibility," he said.

The arguments have been presented before in a Ventura County courtroom, but Fillmore lawyer Mike Ford isn't sure anyone was paying attention. About two or three years ago, Ford submitted an article on brain research at a sentencing hearing. He hoped the science would persuade a judge to lessen punishment for an 18-year-old client convicted of knifing someone in a fight.

It didn't work. Ford's client was sentenced to seven years in state prison.

"Judges are insufficiently informed about the implications of the underdeveloped brain," said the lawyer, arguing research suggests teens in the grip of emotion may not understand real-life violence is different from a video game or television.

Full article: Arraignment in school shooting is postponed | Ventura County Star
Lawyer blames school in shooting of gay Oxnard student | Los Angeles Times
Brain maturation may be defense in teen's murder trial | Ventura County Star