California teen to be retried in gay student murder

Brendon McInerney is accused of killing Lawrence King (pic) execution-style in their Southern California junior high school classroom in ’08. A jury deadlocked on its decision after a previous trial, so he will be retried on murder charges. McInerney was 14 and King was 15-years old when he was killed. Openly gay King was seated in the middle of the classroom with two dozen students and their teacher when McInerney allegedly shot him in the back of the head, authorities said. McInerney won’t be charged with a hate crime in the new trial because the prosecutors want to simplify the case for the jury. If convicted of all the new charges, McInerney would face a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

[via CNN.com]