Hate in 'cowboy' country -- Arizona Republic

By E.N. Smith

Associated Press

Oct. 10, 1998

LARAMIE, Wyo. - A gay University of Wyoming student was beaten, burned and tied to a wooden ranch fence like a scarecrow until a passer-by found him near death a half-day later.

Police arrested two men and two women.

Police Cmdr. Dave O'Malley said that robbery was the chief motive but that the victim was chosen in part because he is gay, adding that the defendants made anti-gay remarks after the attack.

The victim, Matthew Shepard, 22, told friends he had suffered two other beatings recently that he attributed to his open homosexuality.

Some fellow students said they had no doubt the latest beating was also a hate crime.

"That has to do with the fact this is a cowboy place," said Alicia Alexander, a college sophomore. "People aren't exposed to it. They're too close-minded."

Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer said, "I am outraged and sickened by what appears to be a very heinous crime committed on Matthew Shepard."

Several national gay and lesbian groups denounced the attack and said that Wyoming's failure to adopt a law against hate crimes may have led the perpetrators to believe such acts might not be aggressively prosecuted.

Geringer said, "Hate crime legislation is needed," as well as tougher sentences for violent offenders.

Shepard was found Wednesday evening by a man on a bicycle who at first thought he was a scarecrow or a dummy because of how he was tied to the fence.

He was unconscious, and his skull had been smashed with a handgun. He also appeared to have suffered burns on his body and cuts on his head and face. The temperature had dropped into the low 30s during the more than 12 hours that Shepard was left outside.

He was in critical condition Friday on a respirator at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo.

"He's a small person with a big heart, mind and soul that someone tried to beat out of him," said his uncle, R.W. Eaton. "Right now, he's in God's hands."

Russell Arthur Henderson, 21, and Aaron McKinney, whose age was not available, were charged Friday with attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery, and ordered held on $100,000 cash bond.

Chastity Vera Pasley, 20, a student, waived her arraignment and was ordered held on $30,000 cash bond on accessory charges. Kristen Leann Price, 18, was expected to be charged as an accessory next week.

Police accused the two men of luring the victim from the Fireside bar, a campus hangout, by telling him they were gay.

O'Malley said the three drove off in McKinney's truck late Tuesday or early Wednesday. He said the two men beat Shepard in the truck, then beat him some more after tying him to the fence about a mile outside Laramie. They took his wallet and shoes, O'Malley said.

Later, the two young women helped the men dump their bloody clothing, O'Malley said. He said the two men made anti-gay remarks to the two women, who told police about the crime.

Laramie, with a population of 27,000, is a Western-tinged college town about 50 miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming's capital.

"It's really hard to be gay and live in Wyoming because of the good-ol'-boy network. It's such a conservative state," said Kete Blonigen, a college junior. "I'm almost afraid and expecting someone to say, 'He was gay. What does it matter?' I can totally see that happening."

Efforts to pass hate crime legislation in Wyoming have failed repeatedly because critics have said it would give homosexuals special rights. In the past three years, Wyoming lawmakers also have unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation banning same-sex marriages.

O'Malley, a 25-year veteran of the police force, said there had been a few hate crimes over the years, "but nothing anywhere near this."