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Los Angeles teenager sentenced to 21 years for killing gay classmate

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles-area teenager was sentenced Monday to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of a gay classmate.

Brandon McInerney, 17, didn't address Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell, but his lawyer said the teen deeply regretted pulling a .22-caliber revolver out of his backpack and shooting Larry King twice at pointblank range.

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The boys were classmates at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif., and McInerney shot King in a school computer lab Feb. 12, 2008, a day after King, 15, passed McInerney, 14, in a school hall and called out, "Love you baby."

McInerney will be kept behind bars until he is 38 under terms of an agreement struck by Ventura County prosecutors.

The trial was moved to Los Angeles from Ventura County because of pretrial publicity.

In an unusual arrangement, McInerney pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter after the judge declared a mistrial in his first trial. In return, prosecutors agreed not to go forward with a second trial, which could have resulted in a life sentence.

Several jurors from McInerney's trial said they believed the district attorney's office was being overly harsh in trying McInerney as an adult. Several showed up Monday wearing "Save Brandon" bracelets, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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At the sentencing, King's father, Gregory King, spoke to McInerney on behalf of his wife, Dawn.

"You took upon yourself to be a bully and to hate a smaller kid, wanting to be the big man on campus," he said. "You have left a big hole in my heart where Larry was and it can never be filled."

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