MATTHEW SHEPARD

'Matthew Wayne Shepard' (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was an American student at the University of Wyoming who was fatally attacked near Laramie, on the night of October 6 – October 7, 1998 in what was widely reported by international news media as a savage beating because of his homosexuality. Shepard died from severe head injuries at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, 1998. His murder brought national attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.
His two assailants, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, were convicted of the crime and imprisoned. Henderson is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and McKinney is serving the same but without the possibility of parole. Killer of Gay Student Is Spared Death Penalty; Courts: Matthew Shepard's father says life in prison shows 'mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy.' Julie Cart

Contents

Background

The attack

The trial

ABC's ''20/20'' report

Hate crime legislation proposed

Public reaction and the aftermath

See also

References

External links

Background

Shepard, eldest son of Dennis Shepard and the former Judy Peck, was born in Casper. He attended Crest Hill Elementary School, Dean Morgan Junior High, and the first two years of high school at Natrona County High School. He was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Shepard spent his junior and senior years of high school at The American School In Switzerland, where it is said that he enjoyed travel in Europe, having learned German and Italian. After graduating in 1995, he attended Catawba College and Casper College before he relocated to Denver. Shepard then became a first-year political science major at the University of Wyoming and was chosen as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council.
He was described by his parents as "...an optimistic and accepting young man ...[who]... had a special gift of relating to almost everyone. He was the type of person that was very approachable and always looked to new challenges. Matthew had a great passion for equality and always stood up for the acceptance of people's differences."^[1]

The attack

Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard met McKinney and Henderson in a bar. According to McKinney, Shepard asked them for a ride home. Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, pistol whipped, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area, and left to die. McKinney and Henderson also found out his address and intended to burglarize his home. Shepard was discovered by a cyclist eighteen hours later, still alive but unconscious.
Shepard suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. As he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held by the people of Laramie.^[2]
He was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on October 12, 1998 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins^[3][4][5][6]. Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim's shoes and wallet in their truck.
^[7]
The two men had attempted to get their girlfriends to provide s. ^[8]

The trial

During court cases both of the defendants used varying stories to defend their actions. They attempted to use the "gay panic defense", arguing that they were driven to temporary insanity by Shepard's alleged sexual advances toward them. At another point they stated that they had only wanted to rob Shepard and never intended to kill him.
The prosecutor in the case charged that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust to rob him.^[9] During the trial, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price (the pair's then-girlfriends) testified under oath that Henderson and McKinney both plotted beforehand to rob a gay man. McKinney and Henderson then went to the Fireside Lounge and selected Shepard as their target. After befriending him, they took him to a remote area of Laramie where they robbed him, beat him severely (media reports often contained the graphic account of the pistol whipping and his smashed skull), and tied him to a fence with a rope from McKinney's truck. Both girlfriends also testified that neither McKinney nor Henderson were on drugs at the time.^[10][11]
Henderson pleaded guilty on April 5, 1999, and agreed to testify against McKinney to avoid the death penalty; he received two consecutive life sentences. The jury in McKinney's trial found him guilty of two counts of felony murder. As it began to deliberate on the death penalty, Shepard's parents brokered a deal, resulting in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Henderson and McKinney were incarcerated in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins but were transferred to a Nevada prison due to overcrowding. ^[12]

ABC's ''20/20'' report

In late 2004, ABC's Elizabeth Vargas conducted an investigation into the murder for the television program ''20/20''. Though Vargas primarily relied on personal interviews with people involved with the matter, the report was billed as exploring "New Details Emerging in [the] Matthew Shepard Murder".^[13] At the fore was the possibility that the murder had in fact been motivated by drugs rather than Shepard's sexual orientation. McKinney, Henderson and Kristen Price (McKinney's girlfriend) claimed in these interviews that the attack was a result of heavy drug use, a robbery and a beating gone awry. ^[14] Price, in her interview with Vargas, ultimately openly remarked: "I don't think it was a hate crime at all. I never did." This statement contradicted Price's first interview with "20/20" in 1998, wherein she said (of McKinney and Henderson's attack): "They just wanted to beat him bad enough to teach him a lesson, not to come on to straight people, and don’t be aggressive about it anymore.” ^[15]
Retired Police Chief of Laramie, Commander Dave O'Malley -- who was also interviewed by ABC and criticized the 20/20 report -- pointed out that the drug motive does not necessarily disqualify the anti-gay motive: “My feelings have been that the initial contact was probably motivated by robbery because they needed money. What they got was $20 and a pair of shoes ... then something changed and changed profoundly... But, we will never, ever know because Matt’s dead and I don’t trust what they (McKinney and Henderson) said.”^[16]

Hate crime legislation proposed

Henderson and McKinney were not charged with a hate crime, as no Wyoming criminal statute provided for such a charge. The disturbing and brutal nature of Matthew Shepard's murder prompted calls for new legislation addressing hate crime, urged particularly by those who believed that Shepard was targeted on the basis of his sexual orientation.^[17][18] Under current United States federal law ^[19] and Wyoming state law,^[20] crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation are not prosecutable as hate crimes.
In the following session of the Wyoming Legislature, a bill was introduced defining certain attacks motivated by victim identity as hate crimes, but the measure failed on a 30-30 tie in the Wyoming House of Representatives.^[21]
At the federal level, then-President Bill Clinton renewed attempts to extend federal hate crime legislation to include gay and lesbian individuals, women, and people with disabilities. These efforts were rejected by the United States House of Representatives in 1999^[22]. In 2000, both houses of Congress passed such legislation, but it was stripped out in conference committee.^[23]
On March 20, 2007, 'The Matthew Shepard Act' (), was introduced as federal bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress, sponsored by Democrat John Conyers, with 171 co-sponsors. Matthew's parents, Judy and Dennis, were present at the introduction ceremony. The bill passed the House of Representatives on May 3, 2007. Similar legislation is expected to pass in the Senate,^[24] () but President Bush has indicated he may veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.^[25] This would be President Bush's fourth veto.

Public reaction and the aftermath

The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas, led by Fred Phelps, picketed Shepard's funeral as well as the trial of his assailants.^[26][27], displaying signs with slogans such as "Matt Shepard rots in Hell", "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" and "God Hates Fags".^[28] When the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to display any sort of religious message on city property if it was legal for Casper's Ten Commandments display to remain, Phelps made attempts to gain city permits in Cheyenne and Casper to build a monument "of marble or granite 5 or 6 feet in height on which will be a bronze plaque bearing Shepard's picture and the words: ''"MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."'' ^{[29][30][31][32]}
As a counter protest during Henderson's trial, Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard's, organized a group of individuals who assembled in a circle around the Phelps group wearing white robes and gigantic wings (resembling angels) that blocked the protesters. Police had to create a human barrier between the 2 protest groups ^[33]. While the organization had no name in the initial demonstration, it has since been ascribed various titles, including 'Angels of Peace' and 'Angel Action'.^[26][27] The fence to which Shepard was tied and left to die became an impromptu shrine for visitors, who left notes, flowers, and other mementos. It has since been removed by the land owner.
People in the entertainment industry expressed their own outrage and responded in various ways to the attack:

★ Ellen DeGeneres hosted Shepard's memorial services in Washington, D.C.

★ Three films were made about the Shepard's story: ''The Laramie Project'' (based on the play of the same name), ''The Matthew Shepard Story'' and ''Anatomy of a Hate Crime.'' ''The Laramie Project'' and ''The Matthew Shepard Story'' both won numerous awards. Shepard can also be seen in the documentary ''Dear Jesse'' in a brief interview, released to the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on October 10, 2 days before he died.^[36]

★ Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, wrote to Judy Shepard expressing her sympathy and her belief that civil rights include gay and lesbian rights.

★ Radio DJ Howard Stern invited members of the Westboro Church on to ''The Howard Stern Show''. The show's cast and callers proceeded to insult and discredit the church's members. The group has appeared on the show several times since; each time Stern makes numerous comments denouncing the group and its cause.[2]

List of compositions written about or dedicated to Matthew Shephard
Artist	Composition title	Work	Date	Notes
Melissa Etheridge	Scarecrow	''Breakdown''	1999
Elton John and Bernie Taupin	American Triangle	''Songs from the West Coast''	2001	with backing vocals by Rufus Wainwright
Suzzy Roche and Maggie Roche	Sounds	Zero Church	2001	based on a poem by Karen Bashkirew
Cyndi Lauper	Above the Clouds	''The Body Acoustic''	2005	Judy Shepard was involved in Lauper's tour behind the album.
The Suicide File	Laramie	''Twilight''	2003
Janis Ian	Matthew	from Billie's Bones	2004
Daniel Catier	What's it Gonna Be?	Revival	2004
Dorianne Laux	For Matthew Shepard	from Facts about the Moon	2006
Tori Amos	Merman	''	2006
Amy Ray	Laramie	''Stag''	2001
Written by Thea Hopkins, performed by Peter, Paul and Mary	Jesus Is On The Wire	''In These Times''	2004
Kristian Hoffman	Scarecrow	''&''	2002	Performed as a duet with Wainwright
This Ship Will Sink	Dear Matthew
Best Revenge	Sacrifice
Good Riddance	Cheyenne
Thursday	M. Shepard	''War All the Time''	2004
Protest The Hero	Fear and Loathing in Laramie	''A Calculated Use of Sound''
Hamell on Trial	Hail	''Tough Love''	2003
Trivium	And Sadness Will Sear	''The Crusade''	2006	Roadrunner Records Australia
Non-Prophets	That Ain't Right	Hope		[37]
Brian Houston	The Ballad of Matthew Shepard	''Sugar Queen''	2006
Randi Driscoll	What Matters		2006	[38]
Andrew Spice	Matthew
Rishma Dunlop	Copper Moon	Poem		Suzanne Northcott created a painting of the same name based on the poem.
Andrea Gibson	Dive	Poem
if thousands		''Lullaby''		Includes the sound of Shepard's father reading his son's eulogy.
Jessica Weiser	After the Rain	''After Silence''	2002	The intro to the song uses news reports about the case.
Ron Sexsmith	God Loves Everyone	''Cobblestone Runway''	2002
Michael Gott	Matthew and James	''Love Can Move The World''	2002	"James" refers to hate crime victim James Byrd Jr.
a balladeer		Poster Child	2008	Dennis Shepard's speech was the inspiration for this song

See also

★ ''The Laramie Project'' play

★ ''The Laramie Project'' film

★ ''The Matthew Shepard Story'' film

★ Violence against LGBT people

★ Matthew Shepard Foundation

References

1. Matthew Shepard Foundation webpage
2. University of Wyoming Matthew Shepard Resource Site
3. CNN Coverage of Matthew Shepard
4. The New Gay Struggle Richard Lacayo
5. CNN Coverage of Matthew Shepard
6. Pourde Valley Health System
7. New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder
8. http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/13/wyoming.attack.02/index.html CNN Press Release
9. Henderson pleads guilty to felony murder in Matthew Shepard case
10. The Daily Camera:Matthew Shepard Murder
11. Girlfriend: McKinney told of killing Robert W. Black
12. http://www.wyonews.com/news/more.asp?StoryID=103925 Wyoming News
13. New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder
14. New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder
15. Rewriting the Motives Behind Matthew Shepard’s Murder
16. Former police chief angry about 20/20
17. Mother of Hate-Crime Victim to Speak at Colby Press release.
18. Open phones "Denounced nationwide as a hate crime" at 1:40 elapsed time.
19. Investigative Programs: Civil Rights: Hate Crimes
20. Map of State Statutes
21. The "Hate State" Myth Robert O. Blanchard
22. President Clinton urges Congress to pass hate crimes bill: GOP aides predict legislation will pass House, but won't become law
23. House Democrats Condemn GOP Rejection of Hate Crimes Legislation Press release.
24. Simon, R. Bush threatens to veto expansion of hate-crime law, Los Angeles Times, 2007-05-03. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
25. Stout, D. House Votes to Expand Hate Crime Protection, New York Times, 2007-05-03. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
26. Suspect pleads guilty in beating death of gay college student
27. The Whole World Was Watching
28. Matthew Shepard Online Resources - Hate Speech - Rev. Fred Phelps
29. Wyoming: Council Votes To Move Ten Commandments From Park Mindy Sink
30. The Nation; Intolerance Chiseled in Stone Hits City Hard; Casper, Wyo., faces the prospect of having to allow a monument that condemns gay murder victim Matthew Shepard David Kelly
31. Monument dedicated to Matthew Shepard's Entry Into Hell, which WBC intends to erect in Casper City Park as a solemn Memorial that God Hates Fags & Fag-Enablers Page includes picture of proposed monument.
32. Phelps seeks anti-gay marker Brendan Burke
33. http://www.cnn.com/US/9904/05/gay.attack.trail.02/ Angel Protest
34. Suspect pleads guilty in beating death of gay college student
35. The Whole World Was Watching
36. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150290/releaseinfo IMDB Dear Jesse Release Info
37. http://www.lclark.edu/org/piolog/arts2003oct24.html
38. The story behind "What Matters"

External links

★ The Matthew Shepard Foundation (official website) – founded by parents Judy and Dennis Shepard to "Replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance through educational, outreach, and advocacy programs and by continuing to tell Matthew's story"

★ Matthew Shepard at Find A Grave

★ ABC News - 2004 Report on the Attack, a "Third Story", and the Trials

★ Criminal complaint against McKinney and Henderson

★ Website for biography "The Whole World Was Watching: Living In The Light of Matthew Shepard"

★ Matthew Shepard Resource Site at the University of Wyoming;

★ "Text of the "Gay Panic" Defense ruling in the Matthew Shepard Murder Trial", ''CourtTV''

★ Barry Yeoman, A Mother Finds Her Voice, ''US Weekly''

★ InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Judy Shepard (TV interview with Shepard's mother)