6 July 2011 Last updated at 01:07 ET

US teen Brandon McInerny in 'homophobia killing' trial

A US teenager has gone on trial in California accused of shooting dead a classmate because he was homosexual.

Brandon McInerney smuggled a handgun into a school near Los Angeles in February 2008 and shot 15-year-old Larry King twice from behind as he sat at a computer, prosecutors say.

They say the defendant, who was 14 at the time, was influenced by Nazi ideology.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder and to committing a hate crime.

The lawyer for the accused boy, now 17, does not deny his client pulled the trigger, but says he did it "out of heat of passion".

Defence lawyer Scott Wippert says his client had reached an emotional breaking point over unwanted sexual advances by the victim.

But the prosecution says the killing at EO Green Junior High School in Oxnard was inspired by white supremacist beliefs.

"The evidence in this case will prove to you that this killing was an execution," Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox told the jury.

After many delays, the case was moved to Los Angeles County for trial.

The defendant is being tried as an adult, and faces a life sentence if he is found guilty.