King's Mental Records Won't Be Part of Trial

A California judge has ruled that records on the mental state of slain gay teen Lawrence King (right) will remain sealed during the trial of his accused killer, Brandon McInerney (left).

Attorneys for 17-year-old McInerney -- being charged with first-degree murder as an adult in the 2008 killing of 15-year-old King -- want to utilize King's private mental health records for the trial, reports Los Angeles's KTLA. Ventura County Superior Court judge Charles Campbell denied their request, saying the records have no bearing on the case. The case begins July 5 in Chatsworth, Calif.

Many students at Oxnard's E.O. Green Junior High School, which both King and McInerney attended, said the former expressed a romantic interest in the latter which may have driven the troubled McInerney to shoot King. Both boys had very difficult upbringings -- at the time of his death, King was living at a center for abused and neglected children, while McInerney allegedly had ties to Nazi groups and was raised in a home riddled with drugs and arrests. After sparring for weeks, McInerney shot King twice on February 12, 2008 in front of dozens of classmates and their teacher.

Read more about King in the 2008 Advocate cover story on his life and death here.