Chasity Pasley, Russell Henderson's girlfriend, received a 15-24-month sentence for accessory after the fact to first-degree murder (AP Photo)

				THE MATTHEW SHEPARD SLAYING: WYO. v. HENDERSON
				Discuss the case on our message board Nov. 19 1998 Update Dec. 11, 1998 Update March 23, 1999 Update March 24 Update (Jury Selection) March 25 Update March 29 Update March 30 Update March 31 Update April 2 Update April 5 Update (Plea Bargain and Sentencing) May 22 Update (Pasley Sentencing)

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Court TV) — With her alleged cohort preparing to face trial Monday, Chasity Pasley, the girlfriend of Russell Henderson, was sentenced to 15 to 24 months in jail for her attempted cover-up of her boyfriend's role in Matthew Shepard's murder.

Pasley, 20, could have faced three years in prison for being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. She pleaded guilty to the charge last December. Prosecutors say Pasley and Kristen Price, the girlfriend of Shepard murder defendant Aaron McKinney, tried to provide the defendants with alibis by throwing Henderson's bloody clothes in a dumpster at Cheyenne and hiding Shepard's bloody shoes in a storage shed.

Price has pleaded innocent to being an accessory and is scheduled to go on trial Monday. As she was sentenced Friday, Pasley tearfully apologized for disposing of her boyfriend's bloody clothes after Shepard's murder.

"I needed to face up to what I did," Pasley said in court. "I can't bring him back. I'm sorry."

Reportedly, Pasley has agreed to testify against McKinney at his first-degree murder trial in August. Henderson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony murder with robbery and kidnapping during jury selection in his trial in April. His defense claimed that he witnessed, but did not participate in, Shepard's murder and claimed that he did not benefit from the proceeds of the robbery. Henderson also claimed that it was McKinney's idea to rob and beat Shepard.

Prosecutors claim Henderson and McKinney were involved in the brutal slaying of Shepard last October. Henderson and McKinney, prosecutors have said, pretended to be gay, met Shepard at a bar and lured him into the pickup truck McKinney was driving. Then they pistol-whipped him, beat him, robbed him, tied him to a fence and left him on the freezing Wyoming plains.

Bloody and unconscious, the student was found still tied to a fence 18 hours later and taken to the hospital. He died several days later.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against McKinney.

— Bryan Robinson