Posted on 11/26/2004 4:36:18 AM PST by foolscap
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge.
"He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money," Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. "All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time."
The interviews air Friday on ABC's "20/20."
The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and Shepard was beaten into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. The 21-year-old died five days later.
The crime drew condemnation from President Clinton, Congress and the international community, and spurred debate on the effectiveness of hate crime laws. McKinney and Henderson, both 27, are serving life sentences for murder.
McKinney said he killed Shepard because he was strung out on drugs, not because Shepard was gay. Henderson agreed, saying "it's not because me and Aaron had anything against gays or any of that."
Henderson said that McKinney, who had been bingeing on meth for days, set out that night to rob a dealer of $10,000 worth of the drug. Henderson thought if he could keep McKinney drinking, his friend would forget the plan.
McKinney said Shepard was sitting at the bar when he and Henderson arrived, and at one point McKinney asked Shepard for a cigarette. "He said he was too drunk to go home and then he asked me if I'd give him a ride," McKinney said.
In the truck, McKinney claimed, the two learned Shepard wanted sex in return for giving them drugs, but McKinney decided to rob Shepard instead.
According to McKinney, Shepard grabbed his leg and he struck Shepard with his gun and demanded money. Although Shepard handed over his wallet, the beating continued.
"Sometimes when you have that rage going through you, there's no stopping it," McKinney said. "I've attacked my best friends coming off of meth binges."
They decided to dump Shepard in a secluded spot, and when they came upon a rustic fence blocking the road, McKinney decided to tie him to it.
"Then when I'm leaving, he says he's going to tell on me," McKinney said. "I went back and hit him one more time. I hit him real hard that time."
One of McKinney's attorneys, Dion Custis, said Wednesday that drugs and robbery, not sexuality, have long been considered the main motives for the crime.
"If anyone saw the trial and the evidence that was presented at trial, that was exactly what we presented at the time," he said.
Prosecutor Cal Rerucha also said the case was too complex to simply be labeled a hate crime. He said many people overlooked the drug and robbery aspects of the case at the time of the attack.
"People want an easy answer to this case and I don't think we would be here five years later if there was an easy answer," Rerucha said.
I always objected to the way the media lionized Matthew Shepard as "crucified." They tried to draw parallels between a man cruising for gay sex who ran into thugs and Jesus Christ.
This story sort of throws cold water on the Matthew Shepard as a saint movement. Of course gays who chose to see him so will just ignore this information.
Meridith Viera has gone on record to refute her original story portraying the murder as an anti-gay hate crime. The killers had no inkling as to Shepherd's sexual orientation.
Why were they on meth?
The WOD made safer alternatives unavailable.
Sounds to me like Shepard was “crucified” at the alter of the WOD.
His death was a small price to pay, compared to the benefits that flow to the LEO community.
Heck, the death of a few members of the LEO community is not enough to stop the gravy train.
(Oh yea – The WOD is for the children – wink – wink!)
These thugs committed a crime against the Sheppard. Clinton, the MSM and Congress and many state legislatures committed crimes against the Constitution. 1984 predictions of "thought crime" become fact.
Pure drivel.
It is truly sad that this young man died in such a brutal way but his murder was no more a crime than anyone elses murder. It just got more national attention because he was gay.
If you have a choice to print the facts or print the legend, print the legend".
If a druggie thinks an illegal drug will give him a better high than a legal drug, which one will the druggie choose?????
What a truly odd plea for sympathy.
"We killed him.... but it was just random man... yeah random"
A good line ("This is the West, sir, and in the West, when the Ledgend becomes Truth, print the Ledgend"), but not the final line, which was, of course, a conductor telling Jimmy Stewart's character "Nothings to good for the man who shot Liberty Valence"
They write plays about Jesus being a sodomite. What do you expect? Homos to face reality? They can't even see what they WALLOW in like PIGS. So of course they'll deify Sheppard.
Lessee . . . they did not kill him because he was gay. They killed him in the processing of robbing him because they were so tanked on meth that thed did not know what they were doing.
Sounds like felony murder to me. Felony murder can earn you the needle in Texas, especially when you are a continuing threat to society. Meth head = continuing threat to society to me.
They should be grateful they did not do this in Texas, and doubly grateful that I was not on the jury.
I also objected to the way the liberal mainstream media COMPLETELY ignored the killing of a teenager (I think about 13 year old boy) by two homosexuals in Mississippi. The teen suffocated having a rag stuffed in his mouth while the homosexuals abused him. This all happened around the same time that Shepard was killed. Funny... not a PEEP about it from the MSM. I wrote the Washington Post asking about it and they said that Shepard was a "national" news story so it should be covered a lot by a local paper like the Post. Of course it became a national story because the liberal papers decided to make it one. If they made the killing of the boy by the homosexuals front page all the time it would be a national story also. Some murders, especially of children, are simply acceptable by the MSM if a politically correct group does the killing...
Many will choose the illegal one for the thrill of it (why do kids smoke cigarettes, also illegal? Becasue their parents don't want them to...)
Much the same reason many homosexuals decide not to have straight sex. It's just better but the thrill of being "bad" isn't there.
Well, that'll blow the roots out from under one of the iconic chants of the left...that is, of course, if they actually concerned themselves about facts.
Yes --- Shepard apparently was just a gay hooker --- trading drugs for sex. Female prostitutes also don't usually live very long and die from violence -- why should gay prostitutes believe that lifestyle should be made completely safe for them?
What ever buddy. If you can not see the massive amount of money spent on the WOD, you just do not want to.
The criminals who robbed and murdered need to pay for their crimes. No question about it.
If prohibition was such a success, why was it repealed?
The point here is that the Meth market is only the result of the WOD.
The WOD is just not for recreational drugs.
Look how doctors are being threatened with jail time if they give someone the government deems undeserving a flu shot.
No, the MSM didn't cover this case, and they never will. The details are so shocking and disgusting that if they ever recieved MSM coverage it would put homosexuals in a bad light.
Can't have that.
Interesting link. Thanks...
He didn't want the drugs, the other guys did. He was the "john."
So, Saint Matthew Shepard was a drug dealer?
But wasn't he interested in trading drugs for sex? That would be like trading money for sex.
Yes, but if you have the money and you want the sex, you're a customer, not a prostitute. Sheppard was "cruising."
". . the two learned Shepard wanted sex in return for giving them drugs . "
Homosexual Agenda ping.
More on the miserable Shepard case. The poster boy for "hate crimes". It is horrible, sordid, and tragic. But not what the media made it.
The poor boy who was sodomized to death was a worse crime by many magnitudes. But the media didn't touch that one.
Let me and ItsOurTimeNow know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
Consider this: Matthew Shepard = "Matthew's Shepherd." Who was the "Shepherd" in the Gospel according to St. Matthew?
The allusion is unmistakable even if unspoken. Obviously, liberals had no opportunity to prophesy and name their martyr before his accidental martyrdom on behalf of the liberal cause. But having been gifted the propaganda coup by pure serendipity, they were zealous to exploit it.
What constitutes a "druggie"? I'm sure plenty of people who would prefer marijuana (a sound preference, as it's less addictive, non-violence-inducing, and can't result in a fatal overdose) choose the drug alcohol instead because it's legal.
The WOD made safer alternatives unavailable.
Pure drivel.
That's what passes for a reasoned rebuttal among WODdies.
Okay --- I get you now. I don't have much sympathy though for him either way and try as they may, they can't make leaving bars with total strangers for the purpose of sex completely safe for anyone.
O please what "safer alternatives" are you talking about pot? coke?...tweeker could care less other stuff that want there crank
Oh, I agree with you on that point. "Cruising" is about as risky as
hooking.
Very true---and they are still at it.
Isn't it ironic that the liberals embraced this whole "he was crucified" charade with open abandon, yet they scorned and mocked Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ?
His name was Jesse Dirkhising and he was brutally raped, tortured and murdered by a 'monogamous gay' couple in Arkansas
Never let them forget
Google search: Matthew Shepard (yields 132,000 results)
Google search: Jesse Dirkhising (yields 4,430 results)
Mind boggling...
Because they were druggies, unable to deal with reality, looking for a way to hide from life.
"Sounds to me like Shepard was “crucified” at the alter of the WOD."
That statement is as idiotic as statements made by those who wanted to turn Shepard into a martyr for the homosexual agenda.
What evidence do you have that meth would not exist if currently illegal drugs were made legal?
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