LOS ANGELES – A police detective insists a California teenager charged in the shooting death of his gay classmate was influenced by a local street gang and white supremacy beliefs.
The Ventura County Star reports (http://bit.ly/qMXFzD ) Simi Valley Detective Dan Swanson's testimony on Wednesday comes on the 25th day of trial for 17-year-old Brandon McInerney.
Prosecutors allege he was driven by white supremacist, anti-gay beliefs when he shot 15-year-old Larry King in 2008.
McInerney is being tried as an adult on first-degree murder and hate crime charges.
A defense attorney questioned why Swanson thinks McInerney was a gang member when he is not charged with a gang crime. Swanson replied that because the gang and white supremacists have a history of committing violence, he believed those were the influences that spoke to McInerney.
