One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Heated Testimony & Altercation During Trial Of Teen Charged In Killing Of Gay Classmate
Photo by bloomsberries via Flickr
An altercation between the family of slain gay student Larry King and the family of a teacher giving testimony, took place this week during the murder trial of accused classmate Brandon McInerney, according to the LA Times. Dawn Boldrin, a former English teacher "broke down in tears as she described how she had given a strapless formal gown" to 15-year-old King who had been attending class at his Oxnard school "in women's spike-heeled boots and makeup."
As Boldrin testified, the defense displayed a large photograph of King, taken by Boldrin, holding up the lime-green chiffon gown and smiling broadly. McInerney's mother, Kendra McInerney, and Boldrin's 13-year-old daughter, sitting in the courtroom, also began sobbing. [...]But the most emotional testimony came as Boldrin...ventured into a previously taboo topic when she blurted out that King "had been beaten" before he was taken from his parents' home and placed in foster care.
The defense argues that King was pushed to a "breaking point" after being sexually harassed by McInerney. The prosecution contents that McInerney was a "budding white supremacist" and that the killing was partly motivated "by a hatred of homosexuals."
King was shot twice in the back of the head in a school computer lab in 2008. If convicted, 17-year-old McInerney, being tried as an adult, faces 53 years to life. Boldrin, who did not believe her actions with the dress were inappropriate, lost her tenured teaching position and currently works as a Starbucks barista.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
