McInerney Obsessed With Killing King, Psychologist Says

The night before he shot gay classmate Lawrence King, Brandon McInerney could think of nothing but killing him, a psychologist testified at McInerney's murder trial in California Monday.

Under cross-examination by the prosecution, psychologist Douglas Hoagland that McInerney had told him that on the eve of the February 12, 2008, shooting, "All I could think about was I wanted to kill" King, theLos Angeles Timesreports.

King (pictured, right) was 15 years old when McInerney (left), then 14, shot him to death in a computer lab at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif. McInerney is charged as an adult with murder and a hate crime; as there is no question that he pulled the trigger, testimony in the trial has centered on his motives, with the defense hoping the jury could consider a manslaughter conviction rather than murder.

Hoagland, called last week by the defense, had examined McInerney intensively and testified Friday that the youth had a well of suppressed rage brought on by verbal and physical abuse throughout his childhood. On Monday, however, "a prosecutor tried to shake the testimony of Hoagland," according to the Times.

King, who sometimes came to school in makeup and feminine clothing, had flirted with McInerney, and the day before the shooting he made a comment that, according to Hoagland, McInerney considered the last straw: "What's up, baby?" Hoagland testified that McInerney told him, "I sat and I thought about it over and over. It didn't calm me down. It made me more angry. All I could think about was I wanted to kill him."

Hoagland added that McInerney brought a gun to school February 12 but began to backpedal on his plan to kill King, then made up his mind after hearing King say he was changing his name to "Leticia." Hoagland told skeptical prosecutor Maeve Fox that McInerney then "snapped" and entered a "disassociative state" in which he shot King.

Testimony in the case, being heard in Chatsworth, Calif., is expected to wrap up this week, with the jury then beginning deliberations.