A state appellate court Wednesday denied without comment an appeal filed by lawyers for a 15-year-old Oxnard murder suspect seeking information on why the district attorney decided to prosecute him as an adult.
The appeal asked the justices to overturn a ruling by a Ventura County Superior Court judge who said prosecutors didn’t have to hand over documents that defense attorneys were seeking.
Lawyers for Brandon McInerney want to find out whether prosecutors exercised any discretion in making the decision to charge McInerney as an adult.
The appeal was filed in the 2nd District Court of Appeals on Feb. 6 by McInerney’s attorneys Scott Wippert, of the law firm United Defense Group of Studio City, and Robyn Bramson of Los Angeles.
“We are disappointed but not surprised,” said Wippert, adding that the denial wasn’t based on the petition’s legal merits. He said he is confident and expects to prevail at the state Supreme Court.
Wippert said McInerney’s lawyers plan to file a petition for review of the appeals court’s denial with the state’s highest court within a few days.
The decision by appeals court justices not to hear the case and deny the appeal came as no surprise, said prosecutor Maeve Fox.
“That’s what I expected to happen,” she said, adding that there is no legal authority for the attorneys’ request.
McInerney is being tried as an adult for the Feb. 12, 2008, killing of Larry King, 15, a classmate at E.O. Green School in Oxnard.
McInerney, who turned 15 last month, also is charged with discharging a firearm and a hate crime.
King, an eighth-grader from Oxnard, dressed in a feminine manner and told friends he was gay.
McInerney faces a sentence of 51 years to life if convicted of all the charges. He is in custody, with bail set at $770,000.
The defense attorneys were seeking the prosecution’s notes, communications, correspondence, internal memos and other documents they say will give them insight in to how prosecutors made the decision.
In court in December, prosecutors told Ventura County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Riley that defense lawyers aren’t entitled to this information.
On Dec. 29, Judge Riley ruled that existing case law cited by prosecutors at the hearing supported the district attorney’s position. She said the law requires that defense lawyers present specific evidence of abuse of discretion by prosecutors when they filed the case in adult court.
What do you think should happen to the murderer?
should he go to jail for life?
should they trial him as an adult?
larry_lohan@yahoo.com
