"Now, I first thoughtthe two kids who did this came fromsomeplace else." "When I learned thatthey had grown up in laramie," "I was just floored!" "In laramie, Wyoming, a young man is in a deep coma, near death, from a savage beating." "When I first found out, I just thought it was horrible." "Nobody deserves that." "I don't carewho you are." "A college freshman was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for deadin Wyoming this week." "Certainly you'd liketo think this was somebody from out of town." "Somebody who comes throughand beats somebody up." "But if we're talkingabout somebody who's been beatenrepeatedly by somebodyfrom our town..." "Well, that certainlyoffends us." "If you asked me before, I would've told you laramie'sa beautiful town." "It's secluded." "You know, secluded enough so you canhave your own identity." "You know, now, after Matthew..." "We're a town definedby an accident or a crime, you know?" "We've become wacoor Jasper." "We're a nounor a definitionor a sign." "Do you mindif I tape this?" "No, I don't mind." "Great, thank you." "And thank you again for takingtime out of your rehearsal to talk to me." "I must tell youwhen I first heard you were thinkingof coming here, when you firstcalled me," "I wanted to say..." "You just kicked mein the stomach, why are you doingthis to me?" "And then I thought, well, that's stupid you're not doingthis to me." "And more importantly, my studentsneed to talk." "When thisfirst happened, they started to talk about itand then the media descended and all dialoguestopped." "We're not reporters." "I know, I read your last play." "You did?" "Mm-hmm." "Gave me an ideaof what you do." "Moises called sayinghe had an idea for his nexttheater project, but there wasa somberness to his voice." "So, I asked himwhat it was I about." "And he said he maywant to do a piece about what's happeningin Wyoming." "Lee called me and told methat the company was thinking of going down to laramieand conducting some interviews and didi want to come?" "I did, I said, yeah." "But I..." "I was hesitant, because as a gay man," "I mean..." "A kid had just been killedthere because he was gay." "What exactlydo you want?" "Well, I'd like youto give me names of people who might wantto talk to us." "I'd like to talkto your studentsand your friends." "I want to hearfrom the people of the town." "I have never doneanything like this before." "How do you get peopleto talk to you?" "What do you ask?" "It's stillvery raw for us here." "I understand, but this is no longerabout laramie or Wyoming." "This is aboutthe whole country." "To me, it's stillabout laramie." "The company has agreedto come to laramie and interview the peopleof the town." "And I'm scared 'causei don't know what I'm gonna do about tryingto ensure their safety." "I made a preliminarycontact with Rebecca hilliker who's the head ofthe theater department at the universityof Wyoming." "And hopefully that willlead to more interviews." "You're late." "I know, we talked for a lotlonger than I planned." "What did Rebecca say?" "She gave me names of a bunch ofpeople who might talk to us." "Townspeople and ranchers, some students." "So, we should try andcontact these people first." "Let's see if anybody'sgonna talk." "Great." "You okay?" "What?" "Please don'tdo that here." "Where'reyou folks from?" "New York." "And what brings youto town?" "We're justpassing through." "Hi." "Is Linda home?" "No, she's working." "Okay, well, can you tell herthat Amanda stopped by and I'll be atthe ranger motel?" "And who are you?" "I'm withthe theater company," "Rebecca hillikertold her about me." "I never heard of her, what do you want?" "Well, I'm withthe theater company and we're writing a playabout laramie and the Matthew shepardincident." "Why are youdoing that?" "We think it's a story... you're sticking your noseinto something we don't needto talk about anymore." "That's over and done." "I understandyour feeling... we don't wantanymore of this." "You're not wanted here." "Where are you goingwith this story?" "Well, when the playis finished, we're going to bring itaround to laramie." "And you're gonnause our words?" "That's the idea." "Well, I've beenclose enough to the case to know many ofthe people." "I have a daughter, works inthe sheriff's department." "As forthe gay issue," "I don't give a damnone way or another as long asthey don't bother me." "And even if they did, I'd just say, "no, thank you"." "And that's the attitude ofmost of the laramie population." "They might poke onein a bar situation, you know?" "They've been drinking, they might actuallysmack one in the mouth, but thenthey just walk away." "Laramie islive and let live." "My dear brothersand sisters," "I'm here today to bring youthe word of the lord." "In my ministry, I found a simple truth that I'd liketo share with you today, and it's this." "The word is either sufficient or it is not." "Now, scientists tell methat human history, that the worldis five billion or six billion years old." "After all, what's a billion yearsgive or take?" "But the bibletells me that human historyis 6,000 years old." "The word is either sufficientor it is not." "In laramie, population 26,687, the first thingto greet us was Walmart." "This could beany main drag in America." "Fast food chains, gas stations." "But as we droveinto the downtown area by the railroad tracks, the buildings stillretain the shape of a turn of a centurywestern town." "Oh, and as we passedthe university inn, on the sign where amenitiessuch as heated pool or cable TV are usually touted, it said..." "So, how did youwind up here?" "Well, when it came timeto go to college, my parents couldn't reallyafford to send me to college, so, I knew that I wantedto study theatre, but I knew that ifi wanted to go to college," "I had to geton a scholarship." "So, there's this competitionthey have every year." "It's a Wyoming state high schoolcompetition thing." "And..." "So, I came to the universityto the theatre department to look for somegood scenes, right?" "And I asked the Professor, I said..." "I need a killer sceneand he's like here." "Here you go, this is it." "What was it?" "That was "angels in America"." "I read thatand I'm like, this is okay." "I can win best scene if I justdo a good enough job, you know?" "So, I tell my parents, so they can see mein the competition." "And they brought me in the roomand they sat me down." "And they said thatthey wouldn't come to see me if I did that scene." "They couldn't." "Why is that?" "Because they believeit's wrong, homosexualityis wrong." "And all I rememberfrom the competition is juststanding ovation." "Oh, really?" "We won, we got first place." "One of the best momentsof my life." "Did your parents come?" "Parents weren't there." "Why'd you do it?" "Actually, honestly," "I wanted to win." "I really..." "And it wasthe greatest scene." "You know, I just wanted..." "I just wanted to win." "Today, forthe first time," "I met someone who actuallyknew Matthew Shepard." "Trish steger, owner of a shop in town, referred to himas "Matt"." "Matt used to come into my shop, that's how I knew him." "It was the first time I everheard him referred to as "Matt"" "instead of "Matthew"." "Well, what was he like?" "I don't know, you know?" "How does any one personever tell about another?" "Matt wasa blunt little shit." "You knowwhat I'm saying?" "He wasa little guy, 5'2"." "Soaking wet, I bet you 97 pounds, tops." "They were saying he weighedllo pounds, I don't believe it." "I said, "are youmatthew Shepard?"" "And he says,"yeah, I'm Matthew Shepard," ""but I don't want you tocall me Matthew or Mr. Shepard." ""Don't call menone of that." ""My name is Matt and I want youto know that I am gay." ""And we're gonnabe going to a gay bar." "Do you have a problemwith that?"" "I said, "no, how you paying?"" "The fact ofthe matter is laramie doesn'thave any gay bars." "Well, for that matter, neither does Wyoming." "He was hiring me to take himdown to fort Collins, Colorado." "Which is aboutan hour away." "He was strugglingwhen he first came here, reaching out, trying to fit in." "I'm sorry I'm late." "Hi, my sister, romaine." "She was a close friendof Matthew's." "Matthew really wantedto get into political affairs, that was allhis big interest was." "Watching cnnand msnbc." "Those were the only TV stationsi ever saw his TV tuned into." "So, why did he moveto laramie?" "He told me he was thinkingabout going back to school." "So, I told him," ""go to the universityof Wyoming, go to laramie." "You can reallyfind a home there."" "I was Matthew'sacademic advisor, so, I knew him ina very specific context." "But I can tell you thatmatthew was very shy when he first came in to the point of being somewhatmousy, I'd almost say." "But soon, his shyness began to give wayto this person that was excited about this trackthat he was going to embark on." "Whenever I think of Matthew, I think of his..." "Incrediblebeaming smile." "He'd walk into a roomand just be like..." "And he'd smileat everyone." "He made you feel great." "He was just starting to say,"there are opportunities here." ""There are thingsi can do in this world." "I can be important."" "I heard from Matt about48 hours before the attack." "And he told mehe just joined the gay and lesbian groupon campus." "And he wasreally enjoying it, getting ready forpride week and whatnot." "He was totallystoked about school." "He was reallyhappy being there." "I can only say thisin retrospect, of course." "I think that'swhere he was headed, towards human rights." "Let me tell yousomething here." "There's more gay peoplein Wyoming than meets the eye." "You think?" "I know, I know for a fact." "Not particularly, what do you call the queens, the gay people?" "Queens?" "You know, the runaroundfaggot-type people." "I mean, they're morelike the ones who..." "Throw a bail of hay, jump ona horse, brand him and kick ass, you know whati'm saying?" "As I always say, you don'tfuck with a Wyoming queer 'cause they'll fuckingkick you in your ass." "But that's not the pointof what I'm saying." "What is the point?" "The people of wyomingdo not give a damn one way or the otherif you're gay, if you're straight, if you're bisexual, trisexual, doesn't matter." "Really?" "That's what I just said, it doesn't matter." "I was the first outlesbian or gay facility member." "And that's in 1992, so, that's notthat long ago." "They asked me at the interviewwhat my husband did." "So, I came out then." "When I firstmoved out here," "I knew it was gonnabe hard as a gay man." "And there would be timesi would go down to Denver and I would goto the gay bars there." "And people would ask mewhere I was from" "I would saylaramie, Wyoming." "And I met so many men down there from Wyoming." "So many gay menwho grew up here and they are like, "this is nota place where I can live, how can you live there, I had to get out."" "Rah, rah, rah..." "But every once in a while, there'd be a guy," ""oh gosh, I miss laramie." ""I mean, I really love it there." "That's wherei want to live."" "They get thisstarry-eyed look and I think, if that iswhere you want to live, do it." "So, I get intomy office one day and I have a messageto call this woman back, so, I call her back." "And she goes,"I hear you are a lesbian." "I hear you are one."" "And I'm like, "uh-huh."" "She goes, "I'm one too."" "She wanted to come overand meet me immediately." "She also warned meabout the fact that there's other lesbiansin this town who would notbe seen with me, that just to be seen with mewould take them irreparably." "That just to be seen with mewould be a big problem." "I love this land." "I mean," "I reallylove this land." "Okay, I'm gonnamake this brief, quick." "Just get itover with." "But it will be everything, factual, just the facts." "10:00, I punch in, my regular time for Tuesdays." "10:30, we're havingkaraoke night that night, so, there's maybe 20, 30 peoplemilling around in here." "That's when Matthew shepardcomes in alone." "He comes in and..." "He actually sits right whereyou're sitting right now." "Orders himselfa Heineken." "So, what can I tell youabout Matt?" "Manners, politenessintelligence, taking care of me, as in tips." "Everything, just offers conversation." "He comes in, he's alwaysdressed real nice, clean cut." "Didn't seemto have any worries." "It wasn't likehe was waiting on anybody." "He just wantedto enjoy his drinkand the company around." "I guess it was maybe 11:30,11:45, that's when..." "Russell hendersonand Aaron mckinney came in." "They come in, they approach the bar, they sit right here." "They order a pitcherand as you know, they pay for the thingentirely in dimes and quarters, which, let me tell you, is something you justdon't forget." "You don't forgetsomething like that." "$5.50 in dimesand quarters is a freakin' nightmarefor a bartender." "Money meantnothing to Matthew, 'cause he grew upwith a lot of it." "And he'd have handed overhis wallet in a second because moneymeant nothing to him." "His shoes might'vemeant something, but..." "They can say it was robberyall they want to, but I don't buy it, not evenfor an iota of a second." "Look, when they came in," "Henderson and mckinney to me, they didn't seem to be..." "They weren'tintoxificated at all." "They came right in, they ordered a pitcher of beer, take it back thereinto the pool area and they pretty muchjust kept to themselves." "Probably going onfor about a half an hour." "And then, I noticedthat Russell and Aaron had been talkingwith Matthew Shepard." "Some people are sayinghe made a pass at them." "Well, hell, you don'tpick up regular people." "Aaron and I have beentogether for two years." "And Aaron said that a guy walkedup to him and said he was gay and wanted to getwith him and Russ." "And Aaron's reallybad about that." "He doesn't like to bearound gay people at all and neither does Russ." "They justdon't like them." "At all." "And so, he gotaggravated with it." "And said thathe was straight and he didn't want to haveanything to do with it and he walked off." "And he said that's when himand Russ went into the bathroom and decided to pretendthat they were gay and get him in the truckand rob him." "They wantedto teach him a lesson not to come onto straight people." "I'm not excusingtheir actions, but it seemsto be partially his fault and partiallythe guys who did it." "So, you know..." "Maybe it's 50/50." "They stated that mattcame on to them." "That he approached them." "I absolutely positivelydisbelieve and refutethat statement 100%." "I'll give youtwo reasons why." "One..." "Character reference." "Why wouldhe approach them?" "Why them?" "I mean, he wasn't approachinganyone else in the bar, okay?" "So, I mean, they say he's gay, that he was a flaming gay." "So, he was justgonna come on to people." "Bullshit, he nevercame on to me." "I mean, hello, c'mon!" "He's gonna approachthese two guys?" "Please." "And, two..." "Territorialism." "Matt wassitting there." "Aaron and russellwere back there." "Upon their first interaction, they were in Matt's area." "The area that he had been seensitting in all night long." "So, who approached whoby that?" "He'd never not talkto someone for any reason." "If someone startedtalking to him, he'd just be like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." "He had no problem just striking upa conversation with anybody." "So, this is whati'm gonna be testifying to 'cause basically I'm like, the key eyewitness in the case." "Basically, I'm gonnabe testifying that I sawmatthew leave." "I saw two individualsleave with Matthew Shepard." "And I didn'tsee their faces, but I did seethe back of their heads." "And at the same time, mckinney and hendersonare no longer around." "So, you do the math." "I'm not super familiarwith that area which now makes me thinkthat God wanted me to find him." "I was going for a rideon my bike and I noticed something..." "Just laying there, by the fence." "Now, I thinkit's a scarecrow." "I'm like, halloween's coming up." "I think it's a..." "Halloween gag." "I noticed his chestmoving up and down, still thoughtit was a dummy." "I thought it wassome kind of mechanism." "But when I..." "When I saw hair..." "His hair I knew it wasa human being." "So, what'd you do?" "I ran to the nearest house, I ran as fast as I could, and called the police." "...county sheriff's departmentheld a news conference late this afternoon." "They say they're investigatingthe attempted murder of 22-year-oldmatthew Shepard." "The sheriff said deputiesfound the man badly beaten and unconscious, tied to a fence last night brutal attack leftmatthew Shepard in a coma." "...said he first thoughtmr." "Shepard was a scarecrow." "...In jail nowcharged with the crime, 21-year-old Russell hendersonand Aaron mckinney, kidnapping." "And the victim, Matthew Shepard, is in very critical condition at this hour atpoudre valley hospital." "The arraignment took placeon Friday around lunchtime." "And more details aboutthe case had come out like the fact thatthe perpetrators themselves were kids." "Kids, local kids, that everyonewho's from around here has somerelationship to." "So, then a judge comes inand does a reading of the facts." "The defendants," "Aaron James mckinney," "Russell Arthur Henderson, met Matthew shepardat the fireside bar." "And after Mr. Shepardconfided he was gay, the subjects deceivedmr." "Shepard into leaving with them intheir vehicle to a remote area." "Enroute to said location," "Mr. Shepard was struckin the head with a pistol." "And upon arrivalat said area, both subjects tied their victimto a buck fence, robbed him, tortured him, and continued to beatand terrorize him." "When I gotto the fence," "I seen what appearedto be a young man." "13, 14, years of age because he wasso tiny laying there and he was boundto the bottom of the pole." "What did you do?" "I did the besti could." "He was covered in dry bloodall over his head and the only place thatthere wasn't any blood was what appeared to bewhere he had been cryingdown his face." "You know, he..." "He did not look normal." "I could tell that he hada very harsh head wound." "You expect thesekinds of injuries from somebodycrashing down a hill in a car at80 Miles an hour." "You expect to see gross injuriesfrom something like that." "This is a horrendous, terrible thing." "But you don't expectto see someone doing this to another person." "Both defendants were latercontacted by officers from the laramiepolice department who observed insidethe cab of their pick-up a credit card and a pair ofblack patent-leather shoes belonging to the victim, matthew Shepard." "The thing thatshocked me is..." "It was a pristinecrime scene." "How do you mean?" "The tire tracks, the impressions thatthe tire made." "They were just perfectbecause of the Sandy soil there." "And we founda carpet fragment from inside the truck and that will always shock meuntil this day." "Southeast from Wyoming, the wind here is so strong that you usually neverfind something like that in an exteriorcrime scene." "His hands were..." "Thumbs out, what we callthe cuffing position." "It's howwe handcuff people." "He was tied witha real thin, white rope." "And it was wound aroundthe bottom of the pole about four inchesup off the ground." "His shoeswere missing." "He was tiedextremely tight, so, I used my boot knifeand I tried to slip it in there between the ropeand his wrist." "I had to beextremely careful so as not to harmmatthew any further." "I was yelling at himat the top of my lungs," ""hey, wake up!" "Something." "Just trying to getanything out of him." "He didn't move, he didn't flinch, he didn't anything." "We rolled him overonto his left side and when we did that, he stopped breathing." "So, I immediatelygot him back on his back." "And that was justenough of an adjustment." "It gave me just enough roomfor me to slip my knife in there and to cut him free." "And then robdrove the ambulance to ivinson hospital'semergency room." "Once we saw Matthew, it was very obviousthat his care was beyondour capabilities." "Phoned the neurosurgeonover at poudre valley..." "And matthewwas on his way in an hourand 15 minutes I think." "A couple days later, they showed mea picture of Matthew." "I would've neverrecognized him." "Said defendantsleft the victim tied to the fence begging for his life." "Certainly you'd like to thinkthat this is somebody from out of town who's comethrough and beaten up somebody." "But when you're seeing someonewho's been beaten..." "Repeatedly by someonein our own town..." "Now, that certainlyoffends us." "And that's a good word it offends us." "The defendants willremain in the custody of the Albany countysheriff's department until dates can be setfor their trials." "It was huge." "Yeah, it was herds." "And we are talkinghundreds of reporters which makes a huge dentin this town's population." "Laramie, Wyoming, often called "the gem city of the plains", is now at theeye of the storm." "People would liketo think that what happened to Matthew shepardis the exception..." "There werereporters everywhere, news truckseverywhere in town, everywhere on campus." "And we are not used tothat type of attention." "Aaron mckinney and his friend, russell Henderson, came from the poorside of town." "This small city that buildsitself as Wyoming's hometown is wrestling withits attitudes towards gay men." "It's a tough businessmatt Shepard knew, and as all his friends know, to be gay in cowboy country." "And to get that kind of exposureunder such tragic circumstances, under circumstancesthat we hadn't even wrapped our own headsand hearts around." "The majority of peoplehere are good people." "You get bad applesonce in a while." "Our citizens are notlike that at all." "You people aremaking my son guilty before he's evenhad a trial." "How can this happen?" "I can't understand how someonecan even do something like that." "You have your own lifestyle, you should have your lifestyle." "It's pretty muchlive and let live." "It's live and let live." "I am outragedand sickened by the heinous crimecommitted on Matthew Shepard." "The young gay manis in a deep coma." "It's a crime thatgoes beyond despicable." "Just let it be knownthroughout the nation, this is notthe university of Wyoming." "This is notwhat we're about." "Had this beena heterosexual, this never would'vemade the national news." "I don't thinkthere's any problem that gay peopledeal with here." "We had these guys in jailing less than a day." "I think that'spretty damn good." "Hundreds of peopleare urging congress to pass a federal law..." "I would like to urgethe people of Wyoming against overreactingin a way that gives one groupspecial rights over others." "We will wait and see ifthe vicious beating and torture of Matthew shepardwas motivated by hate." "Oh, my God." "Anybody elsewant to do this?" "Matthew Shepard was admittedin critical condition at approximately 9:15on October 7." "When he arrivedhe was unresponsive and breathing supportwas being provided." "Matthew's major injuriesupon arrival consisted of hypothermia and of a fracturefrom behind his head, to just in frontof the right ear." "This has causedbleeding in the brain as well as pressureon the brain." "Friday night, the parents arrived and I went upand introduced myselfto Dennis and Judy and it was awful, those poor people." "Matthew's temperaturehas fluctuated over the last 24 hours between 98and 106 degrees." "We arranged a police escortto bring them up." "Set them up in one ofour conference rooms, gave them food around the clock, gave them a place to stay." "The following isa statement from them." ""First of all, we want to thankthe American public" ""for their kind thoughtsabout Matthew" ""and their fond wishesfor his speedy recovery." ""We appreciate your prayersand goodwill" ""and we know that they are something thatmatthew would appreciate too."" "I went up and said..." "You all tell mewhat you want me to do or what you want me to sayor anything you need and we'll provide itfor you." ""We also have a special requestfor members of the media." ""We ask that you respect ourprivacy as well as Matthew's," ""so, we can concentrateall of our efforts," ""thoughts, and loveon our son." "Thank you very much."" "Russell hendersonand Aaron mckinney have plead not guiltyto the charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and attempted murdering the first degree." "Russell wasjust so sweet." "He's the one that wasthe eagle scout." "His whole presencewas just quiet and sweet." "He was raised a mormon." "He was real active in thatwhen he was younger." "He was an elderin the church." "So, of course, it doesn'tmake any sense to me." "I know people snapand whatever." "Like I said, it wasn'ta real intimate relationship." "I was justhis landlord." "I remember like, at the Christmas party he was just totally drunkout of his mind, you know, like, we all were." "But he wasn't belligerent." "He didn't change, his personality didn't change." "He was still the samelittle meek..." "Russell." "Aaron was a good kid." "That's why I was shockedwhen I heard this." "See, he had beenliving with this girl." "They just starteddating last summer." "She must've gotten pregnantas soon as they started dating 'cause you knowthey had a kid?" "21 years old, buthe's running around with a kid." "When I firstheard about," "I thought it wasreally, really awful." "I don't know whetheraaron was fucked up or was coming downor what." "But Matthew had money." "Shit, he had betterclothes than I did." "Matthew was a littlerich bitch." "Shouldn't call him a rich bitch, though, that's not right." "I'm not sayinghe was a bad guy either," "I'm just sayinghe was at the wrong place at the wrong time, said the wrong things." "Aaron was alwaysdressing up big." "Big clothes." "Tommy hilfiger." "Polo, Gucci, I don't know." "I mean, it probablypissed him offthat Matthew was gay 'causehe didn't like..." "I mean, the gay people thati've seen him interact with or that I've heardhim talk about, he was fine with as long as, you know, they didn't hit on him." "Or as long as, you know, it didn't come up." "When I knew him, when I knew Aaron, he was justa young kid." "He's trying to fit inacting tough, acting cool." "But you know what?" "You can get in his faceabout it..." "He'd back down likehe's some kind of scared kid." "If I saw aaronright now," "I'd be like, why'd you fuck up like that?" "I want to shake him, you know?" "What wereyou thinking?" "!" "What in the hellwere you thinking?" "Hello?" "This is her." "Oh, hi, doctor." "How is he?" "Yes." "I see." "Can you hang onfor a moment?" "Mom, can you hang this up, I'm gonna take it in there." "I'm here." "The part I wasn'ttelling you about before." "Is that Reggie flutyis my daughter." "When she told me she wantedto be a police officer," "I thought there wasnot a better choice for her." "She could handlewhatever came her way." "And then this happens." "That was the hospital." "Matthew shepardis HIV positive and they saidi've been exposed." "What?" "They said I've beenexposed to the aids virus." "You know, becausei've been building the lean-tosfor the llamas and I have a bunch ofopen cuts on my hands and I..." "I got his bloodon my hands." "How did you get iton your hands?" "We have shit gloves, you know?" "And I kept putting them onand you keep putting them on and they keepbreaking, so..." "So, finally I ran out." "So, you touched himwithout gloves?" "You cannot let a human beingjust sit there." "Reggie!" "Don't hesitate." "That's what goesthrough your mind." "Don't hesitate, all the time." "So, you just keep on movingand you take care of Matthew and you tryto find an open airway." "And that'swhat you do." "You know, that's what you do!" "Quite frankly, I wantedto lash out at somebody." "Not Matthew, please understand that not one of uswas mad at Matthew." "We maybe wanted to squeezemckinney's head off." "And I thinkabout Henderson." "You know, two absolutely..." "Human beings caused so muchgrief for so many people." "They want to start me onthese atz drugs immediately and if you..." "If you start themwithin 36 hours, maybe that can stop youfrom getting the disease." "This has been just terriblefor my whole family, but mostly for herand her kids." "Those drugs, the azt drugs." "She throws upevery day." "She cries so much, she's afraid to touch her kids." "I just hope she doesn'tgo before me." "No matter how you dice it, I did have the opportunity." "If I had had amazing20/20 hindsight," "I had the opportunityto stop what occurred that night." "I could've stopped it." "I should've known." "These guys should not have beentalking to that guy." "I should've not had my head downwhile I was washing dishes for those 20 seconds." "All those little thingsi could've done and I could'vestopped this." "So, what the hellwas I thinking?" "I keep seeing thatpicture in my head of when I found him." "And it is notpleasant whatsoever." "I want to like, get it out." "I don't want itin there." "And that's a bigpart of it for me, is havingto see that picture..." "In my head." "I just, I don'twant it in there." "Matthew Shepard's the firstgay person I ever saw." "It's kind ofunbelievable to me that I happened to bethe person that found him." "Because like, the big questionwith my religion is why did godwant me to find him?" "* in the darkness * before the dawn * no more sorrow * in the nighttime * let it shine * oh, lord, let it shine *" "Candlelight vigils were heldaround the country last night..." "There are expressionsof sympathy Denver, Detroit, chicago, Washington..." "Atlanta, Nashville, Minneapolis, and around the world." "...all expressing hopesfor Matthew's recovery." "I can'tstop crying." "This is whati was trying to stop." "We must do more to deal with violent bigotry, hate crimes..." "I hope that inthe grief of this moment and in the shared outrageacross America," "Americans will once againsearch their hearts and do what they can to reducetheir own fear and anxiety and anger at peoplewho are different." "And I hope thatcongress will pass the hate-crimeslegislation." "* let it shine..." "I think the gay communityis taking this as an advantage, said, "this is a good timefor us to exploit this"." "They made it sound like it waslo murders instead of one." "They're accusingthe ranchers of being unreasonableand unsympathetic." "Because of how he was..." "And what hispersuasions were." "Well, he would certainlybe welcome in our home." "We'd visit, sit down, have a cup of coffee." "What did you thinkwhen you heard that two boys from your towndid this?" "Well, I certainly don'tapprove of homosexuals, but I don't thinkanybody has a right to do whatthose two boys did." "Well, where do you thinkthat comes from?" "Their hatredtowards homosexuals?" "I think..." "What most people fearing the gay community is that sexuality istheir number one concern." "Not many peoplecondone it... when you wear iton your sleeve like a banner." "Well, there'sthis whole idea," ""you leave me alone, I leave you alone."" "It's even in some ofthe Western literature." ""Live and let live."" "That is such crap." "Basically whatit boils down to, if I don't tell youi'm a fag, you won'tbeat the crap out of me." "What's so greatabout that?" "That's a greatphilosophy?" "I'll sit in church, and the reverendwill tell you flat out he does not agreewith homosexuality, right?" "And I just don'tfeel like I know enoughabout certain things just to be able to say thathomosexuality is right." "When I've beenraised my whole life that homosexualityis not right, it's wrong." "My parents broughtme up catholic." "I was brought up tolove the sinner, hate the sin." "Love the personfor who they are, but condemn them for what they do, condemn the lifestyle." "So, I wouldhave to say right nowthat I don't agree with it," "I don't agree." "And maybe that's just'cause I couldn't do it." "But I don'thate homosexuals and I'm not gonnapersecute them." "I'm not gonna let thisget in between me and the other personat all." "You know, Orin between you and I." "You know, not at all." "Well, it's preached in schoolsthat being gay is okay." "If my kids asked me, I'd set them down and I'd tell them, this is whatgay people do." "This is whatanimals do, okay?" "And I'd tell them, this is the life." "This is the lifestyle, this is what they do." "And I say this is whyi believe it's wrong." "Shame, shame, shame...!" "In New York, the protestfor Matthew Shepard turned intoa near riot." "Police on horses werepushing into the crowds." "The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching!" "The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching...!" "As of nine A.M. today," "Matthew Shepard remainsin critical condition with severehead injuries in the surgicalneuro-intensive care unit." "Respiratory support..." "As I told you before, it's not a lifestylewith which I agree." "You stillfeel that way?" "Yes." "The family continuesto emphasize that the mediarespect their privacy." "The family also wantsto thank the American public for their concern and kind thoughtsfor Matthew." "We wentto the candle vigil." "And it was so good to be withpeople who felt like shit." "I kept feeling like, I don'tdeserve to feel this bad." "And somebodygot up there and said," ""c'mon, guys, let's show the world that laramie is notthis kind of a town."" "But it is this kind of town." "If it wasn't this kind of town, then why did this happen here?" "That's a liebecause it happened here." "So, how could itnot be a town where this kindof thing happens?" "I mean, how canyou even say that?" "We have to mourn this and we have to be sadthat we live in a town, a state, a country, where shit like this happens." "I mean, these people aretrying to distance themselves from this crime and we need to ownthis crime, I feel." "Everyone needsto own it." "We are like this." "We are like this." "We are like this." "Not havingto deal that much with the gay communityhere in laramie, once we startedworking into the case actually talking to peoplethat were gay and realizing what theirunderlying fears were, that's when itsort of hit home." "This is America." "You don't have the rightto feel that fear." "Do you think a lot of peoplein laramie feel the same way?" "You're always gonna have peoplethat hold with the old ideals." "I was probably one of them14 months ago." "But I'm not gonna put upwith it anymore," "I'm not gonnalisten to it." "If they don't likemy views on it, fine, door goes both ways." "I've already lost a couplebuddies, but I don't care." "I'm..." "I feel more comfortable." "I can sleepat night now." "Well, I really want to thank youfor having us here tonight." "It's our pleasure." "These gatherings, this isa recent thing for us." "This really only happenedsince Matthew." "And there's a relief in thatwe finally connected." "It's nice to see there area lot of us in laramie." "Is everybodyin the company gay?" "No, just the three of us." "Are you out?" "Yes.Yup." "I wasn't outbefore, actually." "Then I thought probablythey all know, but I'm not gonnalike tell anyone." "And in the long run, your self-esteemjust becomes shit." "And I just, I couldn'tlive like that anymore." "I think a lot ofpeople decided that they didn'twant to hide anymore." "I still don't feelthat free to be out here." "No one's asking, I'm not telling." "I've always been out and I know how to take careof myself, but..." "Since the episode, I've beenirrationally terrified and what that means iswe don't let our son walk aroundat night alone." "Every time I seea pickup truck do a u-turn," "I think it'scoming after me." "And I'm shaking so badly, I haveto stop doing what I'm doing." "I think it's becausesomewhere inside we all know it couldhappen to us any time." "Since our lastmedical update," "Matthew Shepard has remainedin critical condition with severehead injuries." "As of today, the hospital will no longeroffer medical updates on a scheduled basis." "If Matthew'smedical condition changes, we will issuea new medical update and we will immediately contactas many members of the media as is practicallypossible, thank you." "All eyes are onlaramie, Wyoming today where many areturning their focus to their homecoming parade." "And the fortune of the university of wyomingfootball team." "This apartment has windowson two opposite streets." "One goes northand the other goes South." "And that is exactlythe homecoming parade route." "Now, on the dayof the parade," "I had a cast on my legbecause of a fall." "And I was very disappointedbecause I had heard that some students were gonnabe walking for Matthew Shepard." "And I wanted to join them, but I couldn't, so, I watchedfrom that window." "It was just..." "I'm 52 years oldand I'm..." "I'm gay." "I've lived herefor many years and I've seen a lot." "And I was very movedwhen I saw the..." "Tag at the end ofthe homecoming parade." "It was justa group of people walking behind a bannerfor Matthew Shepard." "But the parade went downto the end of the block made a u-turnaround the block and I came to the other side ofmy apartment to watch for it to come southdown this street." "Maybe... 10 minutes went by." "And then I saw the most..." "Incredible thing." "As the paradecame down the street, the number of peoplemarching for Matthew Shepard had grownlike, five times." "Can you imagine?" "The tag at the end was bigger thanthe entire parade." "I thought to myself, thank God I gotto see this in my lifetime." "And my second thought was..." "Thank you, Matthew." "I really haven't beenall that involved, per se." "My husband'sa highway patrolman, so, that's really the only wayi've known about it." "But when I firstfound out," "I just thoughtit was horrible." "I just..." "I can't." "Nobody deserves that." "I don't carewho you are." "But I have to tell you, you know the media'sportraying him as a Saint." "They're making him outas a martyr and I don'tthink he was." "Did you know him?" "No." "I didn't know him." "But..." "They're just so many thingsi found out about him, that I just... it's scary." "You know, about his character and spreading aids and a fewother things." "Being..." "About the kindof person he was." "Meaning?" "Well, he was..." "He was just..." "A barfly." "So, I think he pushedhimself on around, or I don't know." "But I thinkhe flaunted it." "Another thing thatwasn't brought out..." "The same time that happenedthat patrolman was killed and there was nothing." "Nothing, they didn'tsay anything about that old manthat killed him." "He was drivingdown the road, he shouldn't havebeen driving and he killed him." "And there was justa little piece." "And we lostone of our guys." "You know, my husbandworked with him." "This man was brand newon the force." "But I mean, here's one of ours." "And it was justa little piecein the paper." "But this was sucha deliberate crime." "Everybody's got problems." "Why they're exemplifyingmatthew Shepard, I don't know." "A hate crime'sa hate crime." "You murder somebody, you hate 'em." "It has nothing to doif you're a gay or a prostitute." "I don't know." "I don't understand." "I don't understand." "November 29th, 1998, we're about to interviewfather Roger schmit." "Here we go." "Two queersand a catholic priest." "Matthew Shepard has served us well." "You realize that, he has served us well." "I cannot mention anyone who hasdone more for this community than Matthew Shepard." "And I'm not gonnasit here and say" "I was justthis bold guy, no fear." "I was scared." "I was very vocalin this community when this happened, so, I thought, you know, should we call the bishopand ask him permission to do the vigil?" "And I was like..." "Hell, no!" "I'm not goingto do that." "His permissiondoesn't make it correct." "And I'm notknocking bishops, but what is correctis correct." "You think violence iswhat they did to Matthew?" "They did do violenceto Matthew." "But, you know, can I makethis personal?" "Yeah, sure." "Every timeyou are called a fag or you are calleda les or or a dyke." "Dyke, yeah, dyke." "Do you realizethat is violence?" "That is, that isthe seed of violence." "And I would resent itimmensely if you use anything I said to somehow cultivatethat kind of violence." "Well, thank you, father, for saying that." "Just deal with what is true." "You knowwhat is true." "You need to do your bestto say it correct." "These peopletrust us." "You know, they want..." "They want everyone to knowthat they are not this crime." "It's more thanclearing laramie's name, it's clearingtheir own." "And I don't knowthat we can do that." "Reverend." "Reverend, hi." "My name's Amanda, I'm with the theatre company that's been speakingwith people here in laramie." "Well, let me tell you..." "I don't know that I reallywant to talk with anybody at all about this incident." "I'm somewhat involved and I really don't feellike it's appropriate." "I completely understand," "I just wanted to tell youi went to your service." "You wentto the service?" "On Sunday?" "Yes, I did." "Yes." "Did I meet you?" "Briefly." "You welcomed using the beginning." "Well, I will tell youthat I am involved." "Half the peoplein the case, well, the girlfriendof the accused is a member ofour congregation." "And one of the accusedhas visited." "I think they deservethe death penalty, but I will try to dealwith them spiritually." "Now, as faras the victim..." "I know that thatlifestyle is legal." "But I willtell you one thing," "I hope Matthew Shepard, as he was tiedto that fence, that he had timeto reflect on a moment when..." "Somebody had spokenthe word of the lord to him." "And that beforehe slipped into a coma, he had a chance to reflecton his lifestyle." "Thank you, reverend." "I appreciateyour speaking with me." "Alright." "We better go." "I let himsay that to me." "I let himsay that to me." "And I didn't sayanything back." "At 12 midnight on Monday, October 12th," "Matthew Shepard'sblood pressure began to drop." "We immediatelynotified the family who were alreadyat the hospital." "At 12:53 A.M." "Matthew Shepard died." "His family wasat his bedside." "The family did releasethe following statement." "They again asked me to expresstheir sincerest gratitude to..." "To the entire world for the overwhelming response to their son." "The family was gratefulthat they did not have to make a decisionregarding whether or not to continue life supportfor their son." ""Like a good son," ""he was caringto the end." ""And removed guiltor stress from the family." ""He came intothe world premature and left the worldpremature."" "Matthew's mother said..." "We'd been up for like, 72 hours straight and gone home and gone to sleepfor half an hour and get up and come, maybe I was just way..." "I don't know." "When I was readingthat statement," "I thought aboutmy own four daughters and she doesn'thave her kid anymore." ""Go home." ""Give your kids a hug." ""Don't let a day go by without telling themthat you love them."" "And then, we startedgetting people sending us all thesee-mails and letters." ""Do you cry like a baby on tvfor all your patients or just the faggots?"" "Jesus." "After beingthrown into this," "I guess I didn'tunderstand the magnitude with whichsome people hate." "And of allthe letters we got, there were two or threethat were like that." "Most were thanks for your caringand compassion." "And Matthew..." "Matthew got caringand compassion from the momenthe got here." "The charges against." "Russell hendersonand Aaron mckinney were upgradedto first degree murder after Matthew sheparddied early Monday morning." "If convicted, the two men couldface the death penalty." "I'll tell you what, if they put thosetwo boys to death, that woulddefeat everything that Matt would bethinking about them." "Because he would notwant those two to die." "He'd want toleave them with hope." "H-o-p-e." "Just likethe whole world..." "Hoped that mattwould survive." "This whole thing, you see what I'm saying?" "This whole thingropes around hope." "H-o-p-e." "On the day of the funeral, it was snowingand raining so bad." "By the timei got there, there were alreadythousands of people there dressed in black, umbrellas everywhere." "And they hadtwo churches set up and still, there werehundreds of people outside who couldn't fit intoeither one of the churches and they hadthis park set up." "And the park was full." "Those shall notlie down with mankind as in womankind!" "It is abomination." "Matthew Shepard lived his lifebreaking that commandment." "Now, if he repentedin his dying hours, which we hope he did, if not, he is in hellalong with those killers." "Do you believein the Bible?" "Do you believeyou're supposed to separate the preciousfrom the vile?" "No, you don't believethat part of the Bible." "You juststand over there ignorant of the factthat for every two times..." "After seeing phelpsprotesting at Matthew's funeral, and then hearing thathe's coming back to laramie for the trialof Russell Henderson," "I decided that someone needsto stand toe-to-toe with him and show the difference." "Some people aregonna be sent to hell and I thinkyou know who you are!" "We wouldn't be here if thiswas just another murder that the statewas gonna handle." "The state handleshundreds of murders!" "This murder is different." "Because the gay..." "He's noteven from laramie." "He just travelsaround the country doing his demonstrations." "So, we're planningan event." "We're calling it "angel action"." "This 21-year-oldlittle lesbian is gonna walk the linewith them." "Spare not!" "You lift up your voicelike a trumpet!" "And you show my peopletheir transgressions." "We are sendingthe message of God." "God's anger is pure." "God is gonnasend someone to hell!" "That's God's anger!" "Now, we wouldn'tbe here to be taught by faggotsin your schools?" "We're not gonnalet that happen." "As soon as they startedjury selection, everyone was cominginto my shop with." ""I don't want to beon this trial." ""I hopethey don't call me." "Or "oh, my God, I got called, how do I get off?"" "Just wanting to getas far away from itas they could." "Very fearful that they were gonnahave to be part of that jury." "And then I heard hendersonhad to sit in the courtroom while they questionedperspective jurors." "And one of the questionsthey asked was..." ""Would you be willing to put this personto death?"" "And I understand a lotof the comments were..." ""Yes, I would." ""Absolutely." "Yep, no problem."" "Can you imaginehearing that?" "Juror after juror after juror?" "These are peoplethat he knows." "No wonderhe changed his plea." "You entered a not-guilty pleaearlier, Mr. Henderson." "But I understand you wishto change your plea today?" "Yes, sir." "You understand thatthe recommended sentence here is two life sentences?" "Yes, sir." "And do you understand thatthose may run concurrently or they may runconsecutively?" "Yes, sir." "Before the courtmakes that decision," "I understand that there arestatements to be made by at least one individual." "Let's proceedwith that." "As the grandmother and the person who raisedrussell along with my family, we have writtenthe following statement." ""Our hearts achefor the pain and suffering" ""that the Shepard'shave went through." ""We have prayed for your familysince the very beginning." ""Many timesthroughout the day," ""I have thought about Matt" ""and you will continue to bein our thoughts and prayers." ""As we know that your painwill never go away." ""You have showed such mercyand we are so grateful" ""that you are giving usail the opportunity to live." ""Your honor," ""we as a family," ""hope that as yousentence Russell," ""that you willdo it concurrently" ""for two life terms." ""For the russellwe know and love," ""we humbly plead, your honor," ""to not take russellcompletely out of our lives..." "Forever."" "Mr. And Mrs. Shepard, there is not a momentthat goes by that I don't see what happenedthat night." "I know what I didwas very wrong." "And I regretgreatly what I did." "You have my greatest sympathiesfor what happened." "I hope that..." "One day you will be ableto find it in your hearts to forgive me." "Mr. Henderson, this court does not believe thatyou really feel any true remorse for your parting this matter." "And I wonder whetheryou fully realize the gravity ofwhat you have done." "You drove the vehicle that tookmatthew Shepard to his death." "You bound himto that fence, in order that he mightbe more savagely beaten." "And in order that he mightnot escape to tell his tale." "You left him out therefor 18 hours, perhaps having an opportunityto save his life and you did nothing." "As to count three, that being felony murderwith robbery, you are to serve a periodof imprisonment for the term ofyour natural life." "For count one, kidnapping, that you are to servea period of imprisonment for the term ofyour natural life." "Sentencing for count oneto run consecutive to sentencingfor count three." "After this sentencing, the mormon church decidedto excommunicate Russell." "Now, he's gota mormon home teacher that visits himin prison every week." "Now nobody from the churchis gonna go visit him?" "Not supposed to." "They're not supposedto pray for him, he'll justsort of disappear." "What happenedthat night?" "We need to know." "This townneeds to know." "I need some morelight on them." "I never get tiredof this play." "Yeah, well, try directing it 50 times." "You can relax, just keep the umbrellas up." "So, I hear you're doing "angels in America" next year." "We have an obligationto reach our students." "And the question is, how do you move..." "How do you reacha whole state where's there's such deep-seededhostility toward gays?" "How do you reach them?" ""Angels in America" is just the beginning." "And guess who'sauditioning for the lead?" "My parents, right?" "They're like, hey, so, what plays are they doingin school this year?" "Oh, let's see," ""angels in America"." "Wait, wait, wait." ""Angels in America", isn't that that play?" "That scene?" "So, you're gonna..." "Audition for this?" "And, I said, um..." "Yeah, I am." "Huge argument." "There was like, this huge argument." "My mom was like, homosexuality is a sin, homosexuality is a sin, homosexuality is a sin." "But the best thing, the best thing they knew..." "They had just seen meright before this, they'd just seen meon stage in "MacBeth", right?" "I murdered this little kidand lady mcduff and thesetwo other guys, right?" "Mom, mom, mom." "I just playeda murderer tonight and you didn't seemto have any problem with that." "So, when's the audition?" "Tuesday." "But I tell you, man, I have never prepared myself for an auditionlike this in my life." "Never, not even close." "You know, everybodysecond guesseswhat you're doing." "You know, you geta lot of heavy criticism." "You dideverything wrong." "You are not supposedto touch anybody unless you have your gloves onand protective gear." "Then they make you out to besome kind of big hero." "You know, some Joe blowdown the block could've done a better jobthan I did." "People do extraordinarythings every day." "I think this has reallybrought home to my girls..." "What their momdoes for a living." "Just a minute, just a minute." "It is the decision ofthe county's attorney's office that this willdefinitely be triedas a death penalty case." "That's all I have." "Thank you." "How can I protest if the shepardswant mckinney dead?" "I just can'tinterfere in that." "But on a personal level, I knew Aaron in grade school." "He wasn't called Aaron, we called him aj." "How can we putaj mckinney to death?" "I think right nowour most important teachers must be Russell hendersonand Aaron mckinney." "They have to beour teachers." "How did you learn?" "What did we do as a societyto teach you that?" "See, I don't know if many peoplewill let them be their teacher." "I think it would be wonderfulif the judge said in addition to the sentence, you must tell your story." "You musttell your story." "This is a tape recordingof the confession given byaaron James mckinney to me as detective in chargeof the investigation." "This confession was recordedtwo days after the attack." "So, you guysgo to the fireside, right?" "Yeah." "Where do you go afteryou leave the fireside?" "Some kidwanted a ride home." "Uh-huh." "What's he look like?" "Like a queer." "He lookslike a queer." "Yeah, like a fag, you know?" "Uh-huh." "Okay, so, how'd you meet him?" "Uh-huh." "Fag?" "Queer guy?" "We met himat the bar, he asked what we were drinkingand what we were doing." "Okay, so, what happenedafter you met him?" "He wanteda ride home and..." "I just thought, well, the dude's drunk, let's justtake him home." "When did you and russtalk about jacking him up?" "We kinda talked about itat the bar." "Tell me whathappened next." "We drove him outpast Walmart." "We got over thereand he starts..." "Grabbing my legand grabbing my genitals" "I was like, "look, I'm not a fucking faggot." "If you touch me again, you're gonna get it."" "I don't know what the hellhe was trying to do." "But I beat him uppretty bad." "I think I killed him." "What did youhit him with?" "I blacked out..." "My fist." "My pistol." "The butt of the gun." "Wondering whathappened to me." "I had a few beersand I don't know." "It's like I could seewhat was going on, but..." "I don't know, it was likesomebody else was doing it." "What was the first thingthat he said or that he didinside the truck that made youwant to hit him?" "Well, he put his handon my leg and slid his hand likehe was gonna grab my balls." "When that defense team arguedthat mckinney did what he did because matthewmade a pass at him." "I justwanted to vomit." "Because that's likesaying it's okay." "It was disgusting." "And we were alljust disgusted." "It was like, just rude, rude and that was less thanintegrous behavior and we were all just disgustedby that quality of defense." "It's likethe twinkie defense when the guy killedharvey milk in moscone." "It's the same thing." "As much as a part of me didn'twant the defense of them saying that it was a gay bashingor gay panic, a part of me wasreally grateful." "Because I was really afraidthat in this trial they were gonna tryand say that it was a robbery or it was about drugs." "So, when they usedgay panic as the defense" "I thought, this is good." "Because if nothing else, the truth isgonna come out." "The truth isgonna be told!" "So, about how many timesdid you hit him in the truck before you guys stoppedwhere you left him?" "I'd say I hit himtwo or three times." "Probably three timeswith my fist and about six timeswith the pistol." "Did he ask youto stop?" "Well, yeah, he was gettingthe shit kicked out of him." "What'd he say?" "After he asked meto stop, most all he was doingwas screaming." "Was Matthew conscious while Russell was tying himto the fence?" "Yeah." "I told him, "turn aroundand don't look atmy license plate number,"" "'cause I was scaredhe would tell the police." "And then, I asked himwhat my license plate said and he read it and that'swhy I hit him a few more times." "Just to be sure." "My secret hope was thatthey were from somewhere else." "That then you cancreate this distance." "We don't grow childrenlike that here." "Well, it's pretty clear we dogrow children like that here." "So, obviously, you don't like gay people." "No, I don't." "Would you sayyou hate them?" "No, I reallydon't hate them, but, you know, when they startcoming on to me and stuff like that, I get pretty aggravated." "So, you've been approachedby gay people before?" "No, not really." "Did he threaten you?" "This gay dude?" "Yeah." "No." "Can you answer meone thing?" "Why did you guystake his shoes?" "I don't know." "I'm never gonna getto see my son again?" "I don't know." "He's gonnadie for sure?" "There's no doubt thatmr." "Shepard is going to die." "So, what arethey gonna give me, 25 to life?" "Or the death penaltyand just get it over with?" "That's not our job." "That's the job of the judgeand the jury." "Now, the strange thing is 20 minutes beforematthew was brought in," "Aaron mckinney, one of the perpetrators, was brought inby his girlfriend." "Wait, mckinneywas here?" "Yeah." "I guess he went back into townlater that same night and got in a fight." "And so, there's aaronon one bed in my E.R." "And just a few beds downis Matthew." "And two days later," "I found outthe connection." "Has the juryreached a verdict?" "We have, your honor." "I was very..." "Struck." "There were two kids, they wereboth my patients." "They were two kids." "I took careof both of them." "I took care ofboth their bodies." "And I felt a greatdeal of compassion for both of them." "We the jury, impaneled and sworn to try the aboveentitled cause, after having well and trulytried the matter, unanimouslyfind as follows..." "As to the chargeof kidnapping, we find the defendant, aaron James mckinney..." "Guilty." "As to the chargeof felony murder, we find the defendant, aaron James mckinney, guilty." "The jury returnsto the courthouse today to start consideringthe punishment, a phase of the trial that willprobably last until next week." "I am working with mckinney, counseling him." "I don't think he canconceptualize the gravity of something likecapital punishment." "But you know I'm going to bepraying like the dickens tonight that we don't have Togo through this next phase." "I don't know if you believein the power of prayer, but would youdo this for me?" "Would you just sayfrom time to time," ""lord, I lifthim up to you"?" "Just do that for me." "Of course, father." "The sentencing phaseof mckinney's trial was to begin momentarily." "However..." "Now we are hearing thatjudy and Dennis Shepard have been approachedby mckinney's defense team, who plead fortheir client's life." "We understandmr." "Shepard may approachthe court this morning." "My son, Matthew, did not looklike a winner." "He was ratheruncoordinated and wore braces from the ageof 13 until the day he died." "However, in hisall too brief life, he proved thathe was a winner." "On October 6th, 1998, my son tried to show the worldthat he could win again." "On October 12th, 1998, my firstborn son and my hero, lost." "On October 12th, 1998, my firstborn sonand my hero, died." "50 days beforehis 22nd birthday." "I keep wondering the same thingthat I did when I first saw him in the hospital." "What wouldhe have become?" "How could he have changedhis piece of the world to make it better?" "Matt officiallydied in a hospital in fort Collins, colorado." "He actually diedon the outskirts of laramie, tied to a fence." "You, Mr. Mckinney, with your friend," "Mr. Henderson, left him thereby himself." "But he was not alone." "There were hislifelong friends with him." "Friends thathe had grown up with." "You're probably wonderingwho these friends were." "First, he hadthe beautiful night sky and the samestars and moon we used to seethrough a telescope." "Then, he had the daylightand the sun to shine on him." "And through it all, he was breathing inthe scent of the pine trees from the snowy range." "He heard the wind." "The ever-present Wyoming windfor the last time." "He had one more friendwith him." "He had God." "And I feel betterknowing he wasn't alone." "Matt's beating, hospitalization and funeral focused worldwideattention on hate." "Good is comingout of evil." "People have said, "enough is enough."" "I miss my son, but I'm proud to be ableto say that he was my son." "Judy has been quoted as beingagainst the death penalty." "It has been stated that mattwas against the death penalty." "Both of these statementsare wrong." "I too believein the death penalty." "I would likenothing better than to see you die, mr." "Mckinney." "However, this is the time to beginthe healing process..." "To show mercy to someonewho refused to show any mercy." "Mr. Mckinney," "I am goingto grant you life as hard as it is to do so, because of Matthew." "Every time youcelebrate Christmas, a birthday, the 4th of July, remember that Matt isn't." "Every time you wake upin your prison cell, remember youhad the opportunity and the ability to stopyour actions that night." "You robbed me ofsomething very precious and I will neverforgive you for that." "Mr. Mckinney," "I give you life in the memory of someone who no longer lives." "May you have a long life and may you thankmatthew every day for it." "Thank you very much." "Mr. Mckinney, you will beremanded to the custody of the Albany countysheriff's department pending transportationto the state penitentiary." "Ladies and gentlemen, that concludesthis matter." "I hope when you thinkof this town, you can see something elsethan just a crime." "And understandwhy we love it so much." "I think I'm just really gladthat it's over." "I really am." "Testifyingin this trial has been one ofthe hardest things" "I've ever had to doin my entire life." "Don't get me wrong, I love the stage," "I'm a natural for it, I love it." "But the actual testifyingis really, really difficult." "'Cause what you have isyou have the lawyers who are askingyou questions." "So, you have questions that arecoming at you in this Avenue but then, you have tofunnel them overtowards the jury." "So, you funnel them over thereand what you end up with is basically, you havea funneling system." "Right?" "After taking the atzfor six months," "I was ableto get a DNA test." "And it was..." "About a week later." "That's when I found outthat I was negative for good." "Oh, wow, thank God." "That's great." "I tell you, we were all on our kneessaying "hail Mary's"." "You know, you're just so elated." "We were really happy." "So, what's the first thingshe does?" "I stuck my tongue righting my husband's mouth." "What aboutyour daughters?" "Oh, man, the girls, they just bawled." "They were justso happy." "And the force.Oh, boy." "We went outand got." "Shit-faced." "I just kissed everybodywho came through that door." "Reggie, they don'tneed to know that." "You know what, if itwas a male or a female," "I didn't care, I kissed themright on the lips." "What part of what I just saiddid you not understand?" "Mom, I havealready kissed them." "It's not clear to mehaving known Matthew, what story he wouldwant told about this." "We won't fully understandwhat happened here until time has had a chanceto filter that out for us." "What happened here, the culture, the cost of this, the complex set of eventsleading up to it." "It would've been like ustrying to stop a tank." "Change is notan easy thing, and I don't think peoplewere up to it here." "They gotwhat they wanted." "Those two boysgot what they deserve, and we look good now." "You know, it's been over a yearsince Matthew Shepard died, and they haven'tpassed shit in Wyoming." "They haven't passed itat a state level, any town, anybody anywhere, has passed any kind of laws." "Anti-discrimination laws or hate-crimelegislation, nobody has passed anything anywhere." "What's come out of it?" "What's come out of itthat's concrete and lasting?" "The dead willbe commemorated and will struggle onwith the living, and we arenot going away." "We won't diesecret deaths anymore." "The world onlyspins forward." "We will be citizens." "The time has come." "Bye, now." "Have you evergone out to the fence?" "Uh-huh." "I drove up to the sitein my limousine." "And..." "See, I rememberedsomething myself, the night he and idrove around together, he said, "laramie sparkles, doesn't it?"" "And where he wasin that spot up there, if you sit exactlyin that spot up there, laramie sparklesfrom there." "With the lowlyin' clouds, it's..." "It's the blue lightsthat's bouncing off the clouds from the airport, and it goestst, tst, tst, over the whole city." "I mean..." "I mean, it blows you away." "And Matt was right therein that spot." "And I can just picturein his eyes," "I can picturewhat he was seeing." "And the last thingthat he saw on this earth was the sparkling lightsof laramie, Wyoming."