This is not some liberal accusation, this is their defense. It was a robbery gone bad and they flew into a rage do to “Gay Panic”.
I think I will take the word of the people who actually killed him thank you very much.
Now should we have Hate Crimes laws? No, it's a slap in a face to victims and it defies common sense. Now I don't blame his parents for fighting for this, they want to in their minds to have some good to come their son's murder. But our Representatives are supposed to be able to separate emotion from reason when making policy.
As for the congress women who claims he wasn't killed because he was gay, she is really twisting logic. She should fight against this crappy legislation on it's merits instead of lying about a murder.
Late arrival but thoughts. Why MW Shepard was killed only he & those there that day know. Since they both robbed him there were multiple motive. If AJ McKinney’s story is true that MW Shepard 1st grabbed AJ McKinney’s groin against will after which AJ McKinney reacted by killing him & then tying him to fence, AJ McKinney did react to abuse. Grabbing a man’s groin against will is a crime-minimum abuse&battery to maximum sex abuse & calling it ‘hit on’ is a code or euphemism.
Regardless, there’s 1 thing about the late MW Shepard you may not have known & it’s an unrelated case which happened 2 months before his death, MW Shepard allegedly abused a bartender in Cody(bartender testified). What allegedly happened was that MW Shepard proposed to barender in Cody Wyoming but the bartender said no. This should’ve been the end, but MW Shepard then started touching the bartender against his will after which the bartender decked him breaking his jaw. The bartender was nice enough to take MW Shepard (who may have been drunk or high)back to the Holiday Inn where he was staying.
MW Shepard then accused the bartender of being a homosexual by telling the cops a homosexual rape happened. Medical tests came up negative as there was no sex. No criminal charge was filed. The prosecution @ the 1999 murder trial didn’t cross-examine the bartender because he was credible. The defense couldn’t raise the fact that Matthew Shepard accused the bartender of rape as the prosecutor didn’t cross examine-perhaps the judge forbade it. Regardless of whether 1 believes AJ McKinney the fact is that Matthew Shepard should’ve been in a Cody jail not Laramie that day awaiting trial for abuse&battery along with falsely reporting a crime. If a man did the same thing to a woman-propose after she said no & then start touching her against her will, he would be in jail.
Finally most ‘gay bashings’ are men reacting or overreacting to criminal abuse that the homosexual 1st did. If a homo is going to grab a man’s groin or butt against will or even continue proposing to a man after he said ‘no thanks’, he homosexual is committing a crime. If the man reacts by bashing or killing the homosexual, the man may have gone, but he did so reacting to a crime.