SENTENCING
WYOMING V. RUSSELL ARTHUR HENDERSON
Cal Rerucha Prosecutor Wyatt Skaggs, Defense Attorney Jeffrey Donnell, Judge
April 5, 1999: During jury selection, Henderson agreed to plead guilty to felony murder with robbery and kidnapping to avoid the death penalty.
Henderson: "Mr. and Mrs. Shepard, there is not a moment that goes by that I don't see what happened that night. I know what I did was very wrong, and I regret greatly what I did…. I hope one day you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me. Your Honor, I know what I did was wrong. I am very sorry for what I did, and I'm ready to pay my debt for what I did"
Judy Shepard: "I hope you never experience another day or night without experiencing the terror, humiliation, the hopelessness and helplessness that my son felt that night."
Henderson was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole.
WYOMING V. AARON JAMES MCKINNEY
Cal Rerucha, Prosecutor Jason Tangeman and Dion Custis, Defense Attorneys
Barton Voight, Judge
November 4, 1999: The jury found McKinney guilty of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, first-degree felony murder, and second-degree murder. McKinney's defense team approached the Shepards to plead for a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
McKinney: "I really don't know what to say other than that I am truly sorry to the entire Shepard family. Never will a day go by that I won't be ashamed for what I have done."
Dennis Shepard: "I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy. Mr. McKinney, I am going to grant you life, as hard as it is for me to do so, because of Matthew. … You robbed me of something precious, and I will never forgive you for that.
McKinney was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole.
ACCESSORIES
Chastity Pasley (Henderson's girlfriend) pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact admitting she helped hide Henderson's clothing that was covered with Shepard's blood. On May 22, 1999 she was sentenced to two years.
Kristen Price (McKinney's girlfriend) pleaded guilty to misdemeanor interference with a police officer. On November 9, 1999 she was sentenced to 180 days.
WYOMING LAW
Two kinds of first-degree murder: premeditated murder and felony murder. Felony murder only requires intent to commit the underlying felony. In Wyoming both types of murder can carry sentences of life without parole or the death penalty. On December 28, 1998, Cal Rerucha said prosecutors would seek the death penalty for the murder of Matthew Shepard.
THE DEATH PENALTY
OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD'S KILLERS
Magnus Hirschfeld Center for Human Rights statement: "The execution of Matthew Shepard's alleged murderers will serve no cause other than to incite further hatred, and to intensify the macabre national 'dance of death' that so preoccupies America's criminal justice system."
International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission statement: "The application of capital punishment is a gross human rights violation. Period."
Queer Watch statement: "Capital punishment is internationally recognized as a violation of human rights. When the state disregards human rights, it is the rights of marginal groups, like gay people, that are most often violated."
Amnesty International British Section statement: "Killing the person responsible does not bring the dead man back to life. It just continues the cycle of violence."
REVENGE, JUSTICE AND THE DEATH PENALTY
"Many laws consider a premeditated crime more serious than a crime of pure violence. But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal’s deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared?" Albert Camus, "Reflections of the Guillotine"
"Where the issue of the death penalty is concerned, law follows politics, and conservatives won the sociopolitical battles of the 1980s on the basis of an agenda which included a ringing endorsement of capital punishment." Mumia Abu-Jamal "Teetering on the Brink: Between Death and Life"
"The profound moral question is not, 'Do they deserve to die?' but 'Do we deserve to kill them?'" Sister Helen Prejean
"The findings demonstrate an overwhelming consensus among these criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question strongly supports the conclusion that the death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment." Michael Radalet & Traci LaCock, "Recent Developments: Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists"
“In effect, nobody who is not from the losing classes has ever been thrust into a death cell in these United States.” Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays
"The killing of a guilty party is not the way to build justice nor to reconcile society." Father Federico Lombardi, Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman, reacting to the execution of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
"Matt believed that there were incidents and crimes that justified the death penalty. For example, he and I discussed the horrible death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. It was his opinion that the death penalty should be sought and that no expense should be spared to bring those responsible for this murder to justice." Dennis Shepard
"Henderson had to sit in the courtroom while they question the prospective jurors. And one of the questions that they ask is: Would you be willing to put this person to death? And I understand that a lot of the comments were: 'Yes, I would'." … "Well, can you imagine hearing that? You know, juror after juror after juror …" Trish Steger, The Laramie Project
MERCY AND FORGIVENESS
"Forgiving violence does not mean condoning violence. There are only two alternatives to forgiving violence: revenge, or adopting an attitude of never-ending bitterness and anger. For too long we have treated violence with violence, and that's why it never ends." Coretta Scott King
"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” Abraham Lincoln
"The moment when you understand, compassion is born in your heart. And now it is possible for you to forgive … not before that." Thich Nhat Hanh
"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." Prophet Muhammad
“Forgiving is not forgetting; it's actually remembering–remembering and not using your right to hit back. It's a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don't want to repeat what happened.” Desmond Tutu
It isn’t easy, it doesn’t count if it’s easy, it’s the hardest thing. Forgiveness.” Belize, Angels in America: Perestroika
"A 'finalized' forgiveness is not forgiveness; it is only a political strategy or a psycho-therapeutic economy. … All sorts of unacknowledgeable 'politics,' all sorts of strategic ruses can hide themselves abusively behind a 'rhetoric' or a 'comedy' of forgiveness, in order to avoid the step of the law." Jacques Derrida, "On Forgiveness"
"The weak cannot forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." Mahatma Gandhi
"Forgiveness is the only way to reverse the irreversible flow of history." Hannah Arendt
"And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice." Portia, The Merchant of Venice
FOR FURTHER STUDY
Organizations and websites:
Amnesty International: www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty
Death Penalty Information Center: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation: www.mvfr.org
Books:
Bohm, Robert. Deathquest: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Capital Punishment in the United States, 4th ed. Anderson Publishing 2011.
Bohm, Robert, ed. The Death Penalty Today. Taylor & Francis Group 2008.
Bedau, Hugo, and Paul Cassell eds. Debating the Death Penalty. Oxford U Press. 2004.
Derrida, Jacques. On Cosmopolitianism and Forgiveness. Taylor & Francis 2001.
Randa, Laura., ed. Society's Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty. University Press of America 1997.
Film:
The Power of Forgiveness. First Run Features 2008.
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Homophobia & the "Gay Panic" Defense | Documentary Theatre | The Laramie Project: Analysis & Critical Commentary |
The Laramie Project: A Devised Ethnodrama? | The Tectonic Process | The Matthew Shepard Foundation | Hate Crimes Legislative Timeline & Debate