THE MATTHEW SHEPARD SLAYING
				Discuss the case Nov. 19 1998 Update Dec. 11, 1998 Update Russell Henderson's Guilty Plea and Sentencing June 25 Update Oct. 8 1999 Update (Background Report) Oct. 11 (Jury Selection) Oct. 14 Update Oct. 22 Update Oct. 25 Update (Opening Statements) Oct. 26 Update Oct. 27 Update Oct. 28 Update (Morning) Oct. 28 Update (Afternoon) Oct. 29 Update (Morning) Oct. 29 Update (Afternoon) Nov. 1 Update (Morning) Nov. 1 Update (Evening) Nov. 2 Update (Closing Arguments) Nov. 3 Update (Jury Deliberations) Nov. 3 (The Verdict) "Gay Panic" Ruling

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Court TV) — As expected, jury selection in the Matthew Shepard murder trial has progressed slowly in the past two weeks. However, it is winding down, as the final 48 prospective jurors are expected to come to court Monday morning and both prosecutors and defense attorneys for Aaron McKinney hope to pick a 12-panel jury and four alternates.

However, it is still unclear whether opening statements will take place Monday. Once the jurors and alternates are picked, they will be allowed to go home to retrieve their belongings and return to a hotel. According to court officials, testimony in McKinney's trial will not begin until Tuesday.

Wyoming prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against McKinney, whom they say was the mastermind behind Shepard's brutal slaying last October. McKinney, along with cohort and former friend Russell Henderson, met Shepard at a bar, allegedly pretended to be gay and lured the University of Wyoming student into the pickup truck McKinney was driving. There, Shepard was pistol-whipped, beaten, robbed, tied to a fence and left to die in freezing temperatures.

Bloody and unconscious, Shepard was found 18 hours later and taken to the hospital. He died five days after being admitted.

During jury selection, which began October 11, McKinney's lawyer, Dion Custis, admitted that his client was responsible for Shepard's death and said he would not blame Henderson. Custis suggested his client's actions were caused by mental health problems and abuse of alcohol and methamphetamines. However, Custis insisted he was not using drug and alcohol abuse as an excuse for murder.

"Whether or not you feel alcohol or drugs may not be an excuse — and we will not offer that as an excuse — it may have an effect, may have a part in what happens in any situation," Custis told prospective jurors.

Prosecutors, however, suggested that McKinney's explanation should not be accepted.

"In some ways, we've become a nation of excuse makers," prosecutor Cal Rerucha said during the first week of jury selection.

Henderson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony murder with robbery and kidnapping as the jury was being selected for his trial in April. He claimed that he witnessed, but did not participate in, Shepard's murder and insisted he did not benefit from the proceeds of the robbery. According to Henderson, it was McKinney's idea to rob and beat Shepard.

During jury selection, Rerucha has not specifically mentioned Shepard's sexual orientation or the suspicion that his murder was a hate crime. He has only told jurors that all people, whether they are "Christian, Muslim, gay or straight" must be treated the same. Prosecutors have never said that Shepard's death was a hate crime. They have said that once Henderson and McKinney realized Shepard's sexual orientation, they pretended to be gay because they thought he wouldn't resist a robbery.

McKinney and his supporters have insisted that Shepard's murder was not a hate crime. In an interview with Vanity Fair, McKinney's girlfriend, Kristen Price, suggested that her boyfriend killed Shepard because the gay student had made a pass at him. In a prison letter, McKinney also allegedly suggested an unwanted pass motivated the slaying. Price and Bill McKinney, Aaron's father, later told The Denver Post that he only killed Shepherd because he wanted to rob him.

Aaron McKinney himself called a local Wyoming radio station from jail in June and insisted he was not homophobic. While he did not comment on his guilt or innocence, he insisted Shepard was not killed because of his sexual preference.

As for witnesses, prosecutors may likely call Henderson, Henderson's girlfriend Chasity Pasley and McKinney's girlfriend Kristen Price. They are all on the prosecution's witness list. Prosecutors say Price and Pasley tried to provide the defendants with alibis, threw Henderson's bloody clothes in a dumpster at Cheyenne and hid Henderson's bloody shoes in a storage shed.

Pasley, who pleaded guilty to the accessory charge last December, was sentenced to 15 to 24 months in jail in May. Price faces trial in January for accessory after the fact to Shepard's murder.

— Bryan Robinson