You will remember -- though vaguely -- the brutal attack 20 years ago on Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old freshman at the University of Wyoming. Robbed, pistol-whipped, tortured, tied to a fence, and left to die. It would have been good Oct. 12 to have commemorated the 20th anniversary of his death.
There must have been news stories on the anniversary, and I just didn't give them my attention. Bless Matthew Shepard. Bless him in the heavens. May to this day we mourn his death.
But, there is a small appendage to the Matthew Shepard story that doesn't get told. After the attack on Shepard, the assailants, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, returned to town and McKinney picked a fight with two Hispanics, Emiliano Morales and Jeremy Herrara. Morales and McKinney were both injured in that fight.
As of ten days after the crime, no charges had been filed in that attack. I wonder if they ever were. And, I wonder if the attack on Morales was investigated as a possible hate crime. Yes, it would be wrong to assume it was a hate-of-Hispanics crime, but given that the attack on Shepard was a hate crime, it would have been appropriate to investigate whether the attack on Morales was also a hate crime.
Either way, was McKinney ever charged in that attack? If not, why not?
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