What the Investigators said.

Dear Mr. French,

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter Mr. French, but obviously I disagree. Your Editor’s note said the Investigators dismissed the claim, but investigators are not the defense lawyers, nor are they the media, investigators are the Police, Detectives, and Prosecution, and these investigators not only never brought up any reference to hate crimes at trial, they refuted the hate crime theory after the trial.

If “the prosecution was not alone in characterizing Shepherd's murder as an anti-gay hate crime” then;

1. Why did the Judge prevent the Defense from using the “gay panic” strategy, but remain silent on a Prosecution based on a gay hate crime? http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/mckinney/gay_panic

_ruling_ctv.html

Can you cite one quote or reference to back up your claim that the Investigators, or the Prosecution team, at any point considered this a gay hate crime. I have cited two from the ABC 20/20 story, here’s more:

2. “Prosecutors never characterized Shepard's slaying as a hate crime; they portrayed the killing as a robbery-gone-bad. However, McKinney's defense claimed that he did not intend to kill Shepard.” http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/mckinney/110399

_verdict_ctv.html

3. “Prosecutor Cal Rerucha told potential jurors this week that they must look at the evidence and not the backgrounds of the victim or the defendant.” http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyoming/990331_wyo002.html

4. “Prosecutor Cal Rerucha also said to the 71 members of the jury pool that although slain student Matthew Shepard was "different, a victim that was not the same as you and I," that the Constitution requires all people to be treated fairly under the law.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/302286.stm

You’ve presented no evidence that indicates the Investigators thought this murder was motivated by hatred of gays, because the investigators never brought this up, the media and gay rights activists did. You’ve taken a media impression of events and given it an imprimatur from the Prosecution.

Again, thank you for your time and effort.

Sincerely,

Jay G