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) — Aaron McKinney's one-time girlfriend testified Thursday that he and co-defendant Russell Henderson planned to pose as homosexuals and rob Matthew Shepard before the gay student was beaten to death.

According to Kristen Price, McKinney told her that "a gay guy had been hitting on him [in the Fireside Lounge bar]. ... They [McKinney and Henderson] decided in the bathroom to pretend they were gay, get him in the truck and rob him [Shepard]."

Price told the jury that she was at home when McKinney, covered in blood, returned from a night out with Henderson and told her, "I think I just killed someone." McKinney, Price said, washed off a wallet, two driver's licenses and a voter registration, all presumably belonging to Shepard. The witness also said that she did not see any signs that McKinney had been using drugs that night, even though she had frequently shared methamphetamines with him in the past.

During direct examination by the prosecution, Price testified that McKinney had said that Shepard touched either his leg or Henderson's leg while they were in the truck. However, during cross-examination, defense had her agree that McKinney said Shepard touched his leg.

Despite that last concession, Price's testimony countered defense claims that McKinney did not intend to rob Shepard and that he was drunk and high on drugs when he killed the victim last October.

According to the defense, McKinney went into a blind rage after Shepard, a gay student, allegedly made an unwanted pass at him. The defense argued that this rage — and McKinney's fatal beating of Shepard — was spurred partly by the defendant's own prior homosexual experience and aggravated by drug and alcohol abuse. Defense attorney Jason Tangeman told jurors Monday that McKinney was sexually abused by a male neighborhood bully when he was 7 years old and had a "confusing" experience at age 15 with one of his cousins.

But on Wednesday, Judge Barton Voigt told defense co-counsel Dion Custis that he found no provisions in state law that allow him to present a gay panic defense. Judge Voigt said that unless McKinney's lawyers find a state law that would allow this strategy, he would bar the defense from presenting evidence about the gay panic theory.

Price is awaiting trial in January for her involvement in an alleged attempted cover-up in Shepard's slaying. Prosecutors say Price and Henderson's girlfriend, Chasity 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 pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to Shepard's murder last December.

In earlier testimony Thursday, Pasley told jurors that Henderson and McKinney got together after Shepard's beating "so they could get their story straight." However, McKinney's defense attorneys objected to part of Pasley's testimony, calling it hearsay. Pasley also admitted trying to help Henderson and McKinney conceal their involvement in Shepard's death.

McKinney's defense also was severely damaged by his own confession. Jurors Thursday heard a taped jailhouse confession where McKinney admitted beating Shepard after an unwanted sexual advance. He said he and Henderson did not intend to harm Shepard but only wanted to rob him. On the tape, McKinney said he delivered the beating while Henderson stood by and laughed.

"We really had no intention of hurting this guy," McKinney said. "It was to take him out and scare him and take his wallet and leave."

McKinney also admited that he hit Shepard a final three times when the gay student was able to read back the license plate numbers on his truck.

Henderson pleaded guilty to felony murder with robbery and kidnapping during jury selection in his trial in April and blamed McKinney for the slaying. He said he witnessed — but did not participate in — Shepard's murder and that it was McKinney's idea to rob and beat the victim. Currently serving two consecutive life sentences without parole, Henderson was at the courthouse Thursday and was on the prosecution's witness list. However, he was excused as a witness by the state, but remains on the defense's witness list.

If convicted of first-degree murder, McKinney could face the death penalty.

— Bryan Robinson