Lawrence King Murder Trial Begins

During opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Brandon McInerney, attorneys offered disparate accounts of what led up to the shooting death of Lawrence "Larry" King (pictured) in an Oxnard, Calif., classroom three years ago, the Los Angeles Timesreports.

Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox told a jury of nine women and three men in a San Fernando Valley courtroom that King was a victim of antigay bullying at the hands of McInerney, now 17, as well as other boys at the school. "Larry King for the first time in his life wasn't taking it anymore," Fox said. "And he started to give people what I prefer to call the proverbial chin. Only it was more profane. The proverbial 'f- you.'"

McInerney's defense lawyer, Scott Wippert, portrayed his client as a victim of sexual harassment by King and called McInerney "a confused, emotionally torn 14-year-old from a violent home who saw no other way out than to shoot Larry."

Read the L.A. Times report here.