McInerney, 17, did not speak at the hearing, but his attorney Scott Wippert said his client was sorry for killing King, 15.

Brandon McInerney

The family of Lawrence King said in court that they could not forgive their son's killer.

"You took upon yourself to be a bully and to hate a smaller kid, wanting to be the big man on campus," King's father, Greg King, said on behalf of his wife. "You have left a big hole in my heart where Larry was and it can never be filled."

In a deal reached with Ventura County prosecutors last month, McInerney agreed to avoid a retrial and to plead guilty to second-degree murder, as well as one count each of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. A mistrial was declared in September when jurors couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the degree of guilt.

Several jurors, in interviews with the media after McInerney's trial, said that he shouldn't have been tried as an adult.

Teachers and students saw a dispute growing between King and McInerney leading up to the February 2008 killing, which culminated in McInerney shooting King twice in the head in a computer lab at E.O Green Junior High School.

McInerney, then 14, had reached an emotional breaking point after King made repeated, unwanted sexual advances toward him and other boys, defense lawyers claimed.

The case drew widespread attention and raised questions about how schools should deal with students and sexual identity issues.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is openly lesbian, weighed in on her television show shortly after the shooting, telling her audience that LGBTQ persons shouldn't be treated as second-class citizens.

Because of pre-trial publicity, the trial was moved from Ventura County to Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.

Ventura County Prosecutors said the shooting was first-degree murder and that McInerney should be punished as an adult.

They argued the shooting was a hate crime, an aspect jurors rejected, after authorities found white supremacist materials in his home.

Defense attorneys, who unsuccessfully argued to keep the case in juvenile court, said it was voluntary manslaughter because McInerney lost control of his emotions. They said the teen was beaten by his father and was described as a bright student who lost his motivation.

King's father also blamed the school district for not doing more to address the brewing feud between the two teens and their son's flamboyant behavior.

"Instead of protecting him from himself and his poor impulse control, they enabled and encouraged him to become more and more provocative," Greg King said.

During the sentencing hearing, King's family and Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox wore buttons with the teen's face on it, while some of McInerney's supporters wore powder blue wristbands that read "Save Brandon."

After serving nearly four years since the murder and with the additional 21 years handed down Monday, McInerney will be released just before his 39th birthday. His murder conviction was stayed, and the plea deal agreed to after the mistrial called for him to be given the maximum sentence under California law for voluntary manslaughter — 11 years — and use of a firearm — 10 years, Fox said.

McInerney, who was only 14 years old at the time of the killing, was charged with shooting the then 15-year-old King twice in the back of his head, execution style.

Under terms of the deal, McInerney -- who has already served nearly four years in jail -- would be released by the time he is 38, reported the Los Angeles Times.

McInerney’s first trial ended with jurors split between convicting him of voluntary manslaughter and first-degree murder. Several of the jurors have since spoken in favor of a plea bargain, in order to avoid a second trial.

Prosecutors, in initially deciding to try McInerney a second time, had already dropped a key allegation that the shooting was motivated by a hatred of homosexuals, an accusation that several jurors in the original trial said they did not believe.

During the first trial, prosecutors portrayed McInerney as a budding white supremacist who hated homosexuals and was enraged by King's sexuality and aggressive flirtations.

The defense argued that McInerney was the product of a violent and dysfunctional home and had reached an emotional breaking point in response to King's advances.

Los Angeles Times

During the trial, Ventura County prosecutor Maeve Fox told jurors that McInerney became angry after King said either “love you baby!” or “what’s up, baby!” in a school corridor, and that he told a friend that he was going to bring a gun to school to next day.

According to court records, McInerney packed a .22-caliber handgun in his backpack the next morning, took a seat behind King during a first-period class, and shot him twice in the back of the head.

McInerney, who was charged as an adult, did not testify during the trial.

The vote was 48-44 in favor of Nathan's nomination to the Court -- among the 44 nay votes were five Democrats and all Republicans.

In an e-mail this afternoon following the Senate's confirmation, White House Director of Specialty Media Shin Inouye said, "The President welcomes the confirmation of Alison Nathan. She will serve the American people well from the District Court bench."

The Washington Blade reported that GOP Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who’s known for opposing pro-LGBT initiatives in Congress, both expressed concerns on the floor about Nathan’s legal experience.

“Ms. Nathan and Judge Hickey [Another nominee being voted upon for confirmation.] both have had limited experience in the courtroom,” Grassley said. “They have failed to meet even the minimum qualifications that the ABA uses in rating process.”

“It’s very hard for me to believe that I should vote to confirm a judge who’s not committed to following our law, who believes they have a right to scrutinize the world, find some law in some other country, bring it home, and use that law to make it achieve a result in the case they wanted,” Sessions said.

Nathan has previously served as a Special Assistant to President Obama and as Associate White House Counsel. At the time of her nomination in March, Nathan was serving in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York as Special Counsel to the Solicitor General.

Alison Nathan

Prior to joining government service, Nathan spent a number of years as an academic, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Fordham University Law School from 2006 to 2008 and later as a Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law from 2008 to 2009.

Nathan has also served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2001 to 2002 and as a law clerk to the Honorable Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2001. Nathan received her J.D., magna cum laude, in 2000 from Cornell Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review. She received her B.A. in 1994 from Cornell University.

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said, in a statement, that Nathan's "demonstrated intellect and dedication to public service is a model of achievement."

"She will join Judges Deborah Batts and Paul Oetken in the Southern District of New York as the only openly lesbian or gay federal judges. We look forward to the day when the makeup of the entire federal bench truly represents the diverse American public," Solmonese said.

Nathan lives in New York with her partner, Meg Satterthwaite, and their twin sons Oliver and Nathan,

Jurors, unable to reach a verdict, deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of finding Brandon McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

McInerney had been charged with fatally shooting 15-year-old King in a junior high school computer lab at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2008.

McInerney was stoic as the judge declared a mistrial, but after jurors left he smiled at his family members, some of whom he hadn’t seen in three years, and blew a kiss to his girlfriend. King’s family did not react and left the courtroom without commenting.

The mistrial brings to a close a trial that has been followed closely by gay-rights groups that have fought hard to protect gay and transgendered students from campus bullying.

But as the weeks of testimony continued and a more nuanced portrait emerged of what was happening at E.O. Green Junior High before the shooting, it also raised a host of thorny questions.

The prosecution says it was a calculated murder carried out in part because McInerney was exploring white supremacist ideology and didn't like homosexuals. Defense attorneys painted a different picture, that of a bright but abused 14-year-old who snapped after being sexually harassed by King.

Los Angeles Times

Both sides, however, agreed that McInerney, then 14, took a .22-caliber handgun to school, and shot King twice in the back of the head -- up to 30 students reportedly witnessed the shooting.

The jury, consisting of nine women and three men, said they took a series of votes with the last one being seven in favor of voluntary manslaughter, while five others supported either first-degree or second-degree murder.

McInerney, now 17, was tried as an adult, and declined to testify in his own defense.

Prosecutors must now decide whether to re-file murder and hate crime charges against McInerney.

McInerney, who is being tried as an adult, declined the opportunity to testify in his own defense.

Defense attorney Scott Wippert told the court that McInerney, now 17, made the choice not to testify.

At the time of the 2008 shooting, King had started dressing in women’s clothes, wearing makeup and making what McInerney construed as taunting sexual remarks.

The defense contends that McInerney entered into a “dissociative state” and was driven to a sudden irrational act by a violent upbringing and by what he felt as sexual harassment by King.

Los Angeles Times

McInerney, who was 14 at the time of the killing, shot King in back of the head in a computer lab at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2008.

His attorneys argued that McInerney was provoked into attacking him because King made unwanted sexual advances toward him.

Prosecutors said McInerney was fascinated with Nazis and other racist groups that are intolerant of gays and lesbians.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin later this week.

McInerney is accused of the 2008 execution-style shooting of 15-year-old Lawrence King, a gay classmate who often dressed in a feminine style, and who was shot the back of the head by McInerney in a computer lab at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2008.

In testimony this week, defense witnesses said McInerney was molested by a relative as a boy, a family secret that his older half brother didn't learn until two weeks after McInerney shot King, the half brother told jurors in a Chatsworth courtroom Wednesday.

James Bing testified that McInerney’s father cried hysterically as he revealed the molestation that occurred when Brandon was about 9 years old. [...]

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.

Los Angeles Times

Another defense witness, history teacher Arthur Saenz, testified on Thursday that the day before King was fatally shot, he saw McInerney and a group of friends outside the Oxnard school, and King was walking back and forth in front of them.

"He was kind of parading back and forth," his head tilted back and trying to call attention to himself, Saenz testified. King was wearing high-heeled women's boots and makeup.

The friends were laughing at Brandon, who had "a lot of anger and rage" in his expression as King walked by, the teacher testified.

Ventura County Star

Defense attorneys argue that McInerney was pushed to an “emotional breaking point” after being sexually harassed by King.

The prosecution contends that McInerney, then 14, shot King because he disliked homosexuals and was bothered by King's attention to him.

King, who dressed in a feminine style and told friends he was gay, was allegedly shot the back of the head by McInerney in a computer lab at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2008.

Defense attorneys argue that McInerney was pushed to an "emotional breaking point" after being sexually harassed by King.

The prosecution contents that McInerney was a "budding white supremacist" and that the killing was partly motivated "by a hatred of homosexuals."

Testimony in the fourth week of McInerney's trial on first-degree murder and hate crime charges has centered on the defense contention that McInerney, then 14, believed the school wasn't going to do anything about King's increasingly flamboyant dress and behavior.

The defense has argued that King was sexually harassing McInerney and was allowed to do so by school administrators who claimed to be protecting King's right to wear what he wanted as long as he didn't violate E.O. Green Junior High's dress code.

Los Angeles Times

McInerney’s lawyer, Scott Wippert, argued that King — and not his client — was the aggressor. He said King targeted McInerney for sexual harassment, making flirtatious remarks, and had humiliated him.

Gay rights advocates say the argument is a classic "gay panic" defense.

Witnesses have testified that King allegedly blew kisses at McInerney and asked him to be his valentine. On the day before the shooting, King allegedly shouted "Love you, baby!" to McInerney as they passed in a corridor.

McInerney told a friend he was going to bring a gun to school the next day, and he did. During a first-period English class, McInerney took out a Saturday night special and shot King twice in the back of the head, witnesses testified.

Up to 30 students reportedly witnessed the shooting.

McInerney is being tried as an adult, and if convicted could face a prison term of 53 years to life.

McInerney's attorney asked for a mistrial on July 25, citing poor sharing of evidence and witnesses by King’s attorney. The motion was denied by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell. This was the second request for a mistrial by the defense.

Paul Oetken

By a vote of 80-13, Oetken was confirmed with no opposition from Senate Democrats and a majority of the Republicans supporting his nomination as well.

Oetken, 45, will take his seat as a federal judge in Manhattan after President Barack Obama signs his commission, which could be as soon as this week, according to the office of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York).

Schumer, who recommended the appointment last year to Obama, praised Oetken's background and experience on the Senate floor shortly before the vote, saying "His confirmation will only improve the workings of one of the best and one of the busiest courts in the country."

Oetkin, a graduate of Yale Law School, served as associate counsel to the President in the Clinton White House and as an attorney-advisor with the Clinton Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Most recently, he has worked as senior vice president and associate general council for Cablevisions Systems Corporation. Oetkin served as a clerk for former Justice Harry Blackmun, one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s more liberal justices.

Oetken was nominated to the Court bu President Obama on January 26.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy praised Oetken as "a superbly qualified nominee," and hailed Obama for the ground-breaking nomination.

Oetken becomes the second openly gay judge in that federal district –- along with Deborah Batts. He will also be the third openly gay federal judge in the country — along with Emily Hewitt of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Batts and Hewitt were both appointed by President Clinton.

On Thursday, July 14, the the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Alison Nathan’s nomination to become a federal judge to the Senate floor. If confirmed, Nathan -- who is openly lesbian and nominated to a seat on the same court as Oetken -- would be the fourth openly gay individual nominated by the Obama Administration for a judicial appointment.

Ed DuMont, another openly gay nominee, is also awaiting confirmation by the Senate. Marisa Demeo was confirmed in 2010 to serve as Associate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court.s

Brandon McInerney (left), and Lawrence King

McInerney is charged in the 2008 killing of 15-year-old classmate Lawrence King at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif.

Prosecutor Maeve Fox says she will outline a straightforward case in opening arguments set to begin Tuesday in a Chatsworth courtroom. The Oxnard teenager carefully planned and carried out the Feb. 12, 2008, execution of his eighth-grade classmate, she said. He brought a gun to school, positioned himself directly behind King during a morning computer class and fired twice into the back of the 15-year-old's head.

McInerney then dropped the gun and walked out the door in front of two dozen horrified classmates and a teacher, Fox says.

Prosecutors have added a hate-crime allegation, arguing that McInerney's actions were spurred in part by a hatred of gays, in line with his alleged neo-Nazi sympathies. If convicted, he faces 53 years to life.

Los Angeles Times

McInerney’s attorneys argue the slaying was voluntary manslaughter provoked by King’s "repeated sexual advances."

The two boys had been sparring in the days before the killing, allegedly because King had expressed a romantic interest in McInerney, who was 14 at the time.

The killing triggered an emotional outpouring that included candlelight vigils across the country and a day of silence organized by GLSEN -- the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

McInerney is being tried as an adult.

Vaughn Walker

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired, told reporters he believes his sexual orientation was irrelevant to his decision-making in the high profile legal challenge to California's voter-approved Proposition 8.

"If you thought a judge's sexuality, ethnicity, national origin (or) gender would prevent the judge from handling a case, that's a very slippery slope," Walker said.

The [San Francisco] Chronicle first disclosed Walker's sexual orientation during the trial, a fact he had neither discussed publicly nor tried to conceal. He said Wednesday he'd been surprised that it hadn't surfaced earlier and had surmised that "every journalist had decided it was not news."

The disclosure prompted some opponents of same-sex marriage to accuse Walker of bias and demand that he disqualify himself. Walker noted Wednesday that no parties in the case, including Prop. 8's sponsors, ever made such a request, and said, "I never thought it was appropriate to recuse from that case."

- San Francisco Chronicle

Walker ruled against Proposition 8 in August 2010, declaring it "unconstitutional."

“Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians," Walker ruled. "The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite sex couples.”

His ruling now hangs in legal limbo while the California Supreme Court considers whether Prop 8 sponsors have standing -- the legal right -- to defend it on appeal since the state’s governor and attorney general refused to do so.

Walker returned to private practice following his retirement in February.

Brandon McInerney (left), and Lawrence King

McInerney is charged with killing 15-year-old classmate Lawrence King execution style during a computer lab class Feb. 12, 2008, at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif.

McInerney also is charged with a hate crime because he allegedly had adopted white supremacist views and King had identified himself as gay.

A police gang expert testified in a 2009 preliminary hearing that white supremacists consider gay people enemies of the white race.

McInerney, now 17, faces as much as 53 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges in adult court. Prosecutors have offered a sentence of 25 years to life if he pleads guilty to first-degree murder and the hate-crime allegation.

- Ventura County Star

The two boys had been sparring in the days before the killing, allegedly because King had expressed a romantic interest in McInerney, who was 14 at the time.

McInerney, who is being tried as an adult, allegedly shot King in the back of the head.

GOVERNORS OFFICE PHOTO

Gov. Deval Patrick (left) and Justice Baraba Lenk

"I am honored to nominate Justice Lenk to the Supreme Judicial Court," Patrick said in a statement. "She is a brilliant and thoughtful jurist, with a deep sense of justice."

If confirmed by the Governor’s Council, Lenk would be the first openly gay judge on the state’s highest court, reports the Boston Globe.

She would also be the only justice who was married as a result of the court’s landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004.

"I will bring with me the sympathy and understanding of one who has experienced a full life from both inside and outside the mainstream," Lenk said at a news conference announcing her nomination.

Alison Nathan

The White House announced last week the nomination of former Associate White House Counsel Alison Nathan for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Nathan is the fourth openly gay individual nominated by the Obama Administration for a judicial appointment.

“Alison Nathan is a distinguished individual who has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to justice throughout her career,” said President Obama in a statement.

“I am grateful for her decision to serve the American people from the District Court bench.”

Nathan currently serves in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York as Special Counsel to the Solicitor General, a position she has held since 2010.

Nathan joins Paul Oetken and Ed DuMont, also openly gay nominees, in awaiting confirmation by the Senate. Marisa Demeo was confirmed in 2010 to serve as Associate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court.

Sabrina McKenna

HONOLULU -- Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) has nominated lesbian judge Sabrina McKenna to the state's Supreme Court.

“I don't think I ever would have imagined achieving this kind of honor in my life,” McKenna said. “I do think that the world is changing, and I think that my appointment is an example of that.”

“I think the reason I am willing to have this interview is that I want the young people to know that it doesn't matter who you are,” McKenna said, telling reporters that she believes her sexual orientation is important to talk about.

McKenna, 53, who has spent the last 17 years as a family court judge, attended Tuesday's announcement in the governor's office with her partner, Denise Yamashiro, and their three children.

She said the message of her appointment is important for young people.

“Whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, be yourself.” McKenna said. ”Be honest with yourself, even if people reject you, just do your best and anything is possible if you work hard and try hard.”

Abercrombie, in announcing her nomination, told the gathered press corps that McKenna’s appointment had everything to do with her intelligence, temperament and legal knowledge, and nothing to do with her sexuality.

McKenna's confirmation hearing will coincide with the just-launched effort to pass civil unions in Hawaii, but legislators say that issue will not effect their assessment of her candidacy.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland ruled Wednesday that California state employees can sue the federal government over their same-sex partners’ exclusion from long-term health care benefits, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The judge denied a request from Obama’s Department of Justice to dismiss the case, opening the floodgates for lawsuits from gay federal employees around the country.

Currently, federal employees can enroll in federally-approved long-term health care plans. Employees of the state can buy coverage at below-market rates, use untaxed income to pay premiums and deduct future benefits from their taxes.

The California agency has refused to sign up same-sex spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies federal tax benefits to any state that covers them.

Judge Wilken claimed that DOMA is “robbing states of the power to allow same-sex civil marriages that will be recognized under federal law” and made it clear she would be challenging parts of the law.

While this story doesn’t specifically address our personal stories, we thought it important to share the fact that a major decision was made Wednesday, that is in line with the decision of Judge Vaughn Walker’s which overturned California’s Proposition 8.

With more and more judicial challenges to the bigoted Defense of Marriage Act, it’s only a matter of time before we see it overturned in U.S. courts.