Henderson `Sorry' In Guilty Plea -- Defendant In Shepard Case Apologizes To Victim's Family

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Russell Henderson stood before the parents of gay college student Matthew Shepard and calmly admitted his role in the beating that killed their son, then apologized.

"I know what I did was wrong. I'm very sorry for what I did," he said. "You have my greatest sympathy for what happened."

Henderson, a 21-year-old high-school dropout, avoided a trial and a possible death sentence by pleading guilty yesterday to felony murder and kidnapping. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and will not be eligible for parole. His only hope for release is a pardon.

Showing little emotion, Henderson said he reluctantly agreed to his friend Aaron McKinney's plan to entice Shepard out of a bar and into a pickup truck to rob him. Henderson also admitted driving the truck to a remote area and following McKinney's order to tie Shepard to a fence so McKinney could continue to pistol-whip the 5-foot-2, 105-pound college freshman.

"Matt looked really bad, so I told him to stop hitting him, I think he's had enough," he said. McKinney then turned on Henderson and struck him in the face with the gun, Henderson said.

McKinney, 21, is scheduled to go on trial in August. Officials would not confirm if Henderson will be called to testify.

Shepard's mother, Judy, sobbed at times, burying her head in her husband Dennis' chest at the end of the hearing. She steadied herself enough to stand and reject Henderson's apology.

"At times I don't know how you'd be worthy of any acknowledgement of your existence," she said, glaring at Henderson. "You murdered my son. . . . None of us would be here today going through this agony if it wasn't for you."

She recalled how she and her husband had waited 19 hours to catch a flight out of Saudi Arabia after receiving word of the beating, and how it took 25 more hours to reach the hospital in Colorado where her son died.

Henderson's aunts and uncles, separated from the Shepards by a narrow aisle, cried at times when Judy Shepard spoke of her son.

Then Dennis Shepard vented his anger.

"It takes someone quite unique to sit and watch someone else be beaten to death and do nothing about it," he said.

He spoke about Matthew's plans to bring peace to the world through political means.

"What happens now? Who is here in this room to replace him to try to save the world?" he asked.

Henderson wiped a tear from his eye as his grandmother, Lucy Thompson, told the court the family "will never give up on him because we know there is goodness within him."

Judge Jeffrey Donnell said the "vile and senseless" crime deserved a harsh penalty.

"This was a most heinous crime . . . quite frankly deserving of the fullest punishment this court can deal out," he said.

Donnell also admonished Henderson for his lack of emotion.

"This court does not believe you feel any true remorse for your part in the murder, and I wonder if you fully realize the true gravity of your act," he said.

Afterward, defense attorney Wyatt Skaggs said Shepard's homosexuality was not a factor in the crime.

"This crime has never been a hate crime," he said. "They did this because (Shepard) was believed to have some money."

Prosecutor Cal Rerucha responded, "That's what the next trial will bring out."

Whether justice was administered is difficult to determine, he said.

"They will go home without a son," he said of the Shepards. "Tell me how we can ever make that right?"