First Witnesses Called In Brandon McInerney Trial; His Attorney Found In Contempt Of Court And Fined For Asking If McInerney Appeared “Remorseful” Following Point Blank Fatal Shooting Of Lawrence King

In Tuesday afternoon’s session of the Brandon McInerney murder trial, Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox presented her case by starting on the morning of Feb. 12, 2008, in the moments before everything forever changed at Oxnard's E.O. Green School, The Ventura County Star reporting that Fox's first witness was Catherine Womack, a language and speech therapist, who testified that she was working in her office across from classroom 42 when she heard two gunshots in quick succession. Womack told of how she rushed into the room and found King lying on the floor bleeding profusely. She said that when school psychologist David Rodriguez ran into the room moments later, she told him to get a phone and call for help. She thought King had attempted suicide at first. When McInerney's lawyer Robyn Bramson cross-examined Womack she focused on King's wardrobe. Womack said she wondered if it met school policy. Other teachers also were talking about his clothes, which sometimes included women's shoes, jewellery and makeup, she said. He had worn closed-toe, high heeled pumps to school and Womack said the dress code said closed-toed shoes were fine. Fox's second witness, Rodriguez, echoed much of what Womack said, describing in graphic detail what he saw when he came into the room. He ran back to his nearby office to call in a lockdown of the school and then back to try to put pressure on King's wound until paramedics arrived. When he saw a gun on the floor, he used his handkerchief to pick it up and put in out of reach in a nearby cabinet. Under cross examination, Bramson asked how he knew King and Rodriguez said he worked with him in elementary school and in the seventh grade, but the judge upheld Fox's objection that it was irrelevant. The rest of the day was spent with three officers and investigators who were the first responders in the case. They both and gave treatment to King and arrested McInerney, who was walking down the street talking on the phone a few blocks away. When McInerney's lead lawyer, Scott Wippert, asked Port Hueneme Police Sgt. Peter Freiberg if McInerney seemed remorseful, Fox objected. After the jury left for the day, Campbell found Wippert in contempt of court for asking Freiberg that question. During pre-trial motions, Campbell ruled anything McInerney said when he was arrested was not admissible. Campbell rebuked Wippert and fined him $500.