Former Vice President Testifies That Lawrence King Made Inappropriate Remarks That Constituted Sexual Harassment

Lawrence King made inappropriate sexual remarks that constituted sexual harassment and pushed a student up against a wall, a vice principal testified today, The Ventura County Star reports, but how much of a disruption that was, and whether it was significantly worse than what goes on with many eighth-graders, was a subject of courtroom debate as the trial of Brandon McInerney wrapped up its fifth day. McInerney, 17, was charged with murder and a hate crime after King, 15, was shot twice in an Oxnard classroom in 2008. The defense has been arguing that McInerney, who comes from a violent, troubled home, was pushed to violence after King harassed him repeatedly. King wore makeup and high heels to school and had told people he was gay. Joy Epstein, a former vice principal at E.O. Green School, testified this afternoon that King had been in trouble for making inappropriate sexual comments. McInerney's lawyer, Scott Wippert, pointed to the student handbook that says any student who threatens another will be suspended and asked why, after King made such statements, he was not suspended or given detention. Epstein, who took long, calming breaths between answers, said there are levels to discipline without resorting to suspension and that King was appropriately dealt with. She, like some others who have testified, said she was not aware of any issues between King and McInerney or that they even knew each other. When Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox asked if the name calling and shoving that King was part of were anything beyond typical eighth-grade behaviour, Epstein replied no. Epstein said that after a substitute teacher expressed concern about the way King was dressed, she talked to other administrators about it and they determined he was within his rights to do so. Earlier Monday, Dawn Boldrin, the teacher in the classroom on February 12, 2008, when King was fatally shot, continued her testimony. Boldrin, who began testifying Friday, has been deliberate in describing McInerney as a nice kid who had not caused any problems. Boldrin, however, was much more forceful in her opinion about the Oxnard middle school in the aftermath of the shooting. "I was having a difficult time with depression and fear," she said of the months after the killing. "I know for a fact that the school has done nothing to make the classroom safer for anyone. They have not done anything to prevent this from happening again." Boldrin said she no longer works at the school, which is part of the Hueneme School District, and that she was forced to quit. "I wouldn't want to go back to the school where they treat students and me like that," said Boldrin, who had befriended King and gave him a green homecoming dress in the month before he was killed. She said she never asked anyone's permission to give King her daughter's used homecoming dress, because he had started wearing makeup and his guardians seemed okay with the change. "It seemed like the foster care he was in was not condoning it per se but at least allowing him to finally do what he wanted to do instead of fighting him on it," she said. Under cross-examination this morning by Wippert, Boldrin said students were doing a report about World War II and that the boys were apt to draw swastikas or other Nazi images, although most likely did not know what they were doing. Prosecutors are trying to paint McInerney, now 17, as a white supremacist who disliked gays. When Fox showed Boldrin images of white supremacy that police found in McInerney's notebooks, she said they were not something that would be found in the school books. During her testimony this morning, she smiled at McInerney, who was wearing a baby blue sweater vest. Wippert also sought to discredit a student who testified last week that McInerney called her the n-word and that she saw him hanging out with white supremacists in a nearby park. Boldrin said that like many eighth-graders, the girl was prone to exaggeration. Boldrin said the park is frequented by Hispanic gang members and she never saw any white supremacists hanging out there.