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Friday, November 5,1999 v f Page 2 J
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Aaron
McKinney, who beat gay college stu
dent Matthew Shepard and left him to
die on the prairie, avoided the death
penalty Thursday by agreeing to serve
life in prison without parole and
promising never to appeal his convic
tion.
Shepard’s parents agreed to the
deal.
“I would like nothing better than to
see you die, Mr. McKinney, but now is
die time to begin die healing process,”
Shepard^ father, Dennis, said in court.
“Every time you celebrate
Christmas, a birthday or the Fourth of
July, remember Matthew isn’t. Every
time you wake up in that prison cell,
remember you had the opportunity
and the ability to stop your actions that
night.”
McKinney, 22, a high-school
dropout and drug dealer, is the second
defendant in Shepard’s slaying to get
life in prison. Russell Henderson, 22,
pleaded guilty to murder earlier this
year. /
McKinney was convicted
Wednesday of murder, aggravated
robbery and kidnapping for luring
Shepard from a Laramie bar, robbing
him of $20, lashing him to a fence and
cracking his skull with blows from a
pistol. Investigators said that robbery
was the main motive but that
McKinney and Henderson singled out
the slightly built Shepard because he
was gay.
The jury was to begin hearing
arguments Thursday on whether
McKinney should get the death penal
ty or life in prison. Instead, he accept
ed a deal that his lawyers had pro
posed to prosecutors Wednesday.
“I really don’t know what to say,
other than that I’m truly sorry to the
entire Shepard family,” McKinney
said in court. “Never will a day go by I
won’t be ashamed for what I have
done.”
Dennis Shepard said his family
wanted the trial to show that “this was
a hate crime, pure'and simple, with the
added ingredient of robbery.” He also
asked Congress to pass a stronger
hate-crime law.
“You screwed up, Mr. McKinney,”
Shepard said. “You made the world
realize that a person’s lifestyle is hot a
reason for discrimination, intolerance,
persecution and violence.”
Shepard also said he supported the
death penalty.
Prosecutor Cal Rerucha said he
ii—
A lot of times,' UNL isolates itself from the
community. Students don *t (always) have the
funds, but they do have the power.”
Jessica Lopez
co-chairwoman of the SIT service learning committee
didn’t want the deal at first, but
Shepard’s mother, Judy, wanted to
show tolerance because her son
believed in it. Judy Shepard, with the
aid of investigators, helped negotiate
the final sentencing agreement
“She’s a remarkable woman to be
able to go through what she has and to
do what she has done,” Rerucha said.
“And what she has done is said
Matthew stood for something and that
something was tolerance, a tolerance
of people.
“And she told me at this point in
the proceedings that it would be
wrong if our motives were revenge
instead of justice.”
As Dennis Shepard spoke, he
paused at times to wipe away tears, his
voice breaking. Several jurors wept,
along with members of both legal
teams, spectators, Shepard’s mother
and friends of the Shepards.
McKinney’s eyes welled up at
times as he listened. McKinney’s step
sister walked out crying, her head rest
ing on McKinney’s father’s shoulder.
Matthew Shepard was a 21-year
old freshman studying political sci
ence at the University of Wyoming.
Rerucha said he found it ironic
that the defense proposed the deal and
asked the Shepards to “give some
relief, some type of pity to a person
who had murdered their son.”
“I will never get over Judy
Shepard’s capacity to forgive,” he
said.
Man charged with Hawaii murders
HONOLULU (AP) - A copier
repairman who collected firearms and
tropical fish was ordered to be held on
$7 million bail Thursday after being
charged with gunning down seven ofhis
co-workers at a Xerox Corp. parts ware
house. '
Byran Uyesugi was charged with
one count of first-degree murder and
seven counts of second-degree murder
for allegedly going on a shooting spree
Tuesday morning with a 9 mm hand
gun. Under state law, a first-degree
murder charge covers multiple killings.
Uyesugi, 40, was arrested Tuesday
afternoon following a five-hour armed
standoff with SWAT teams.
The 15-year Xerox employee,
described by his boss as quiet and
reserved, was to be arraigned this morn
ing. A preliminary hearing will be held
Tuesday so Uyesugi can enter a plea.
The first-degree murder charge car
ries a mandatory sentence of life impris
onment without parole. Hawaii has no
death penalty.
Police have not discussed a motive.
Uyesugi met with his attorneys for
the first time for 15 minutes Thursday.
“He’s pretty reserved at this point,”
Jerel Fonseca said.
’ I
He declined to divulge anything
Uyesugi said during the meeting but
said the defense would consider an
insanity defense.
A step-by-step account of the shoot
ing was provided in a police affidavit
filed in court Wednesday.
Xerox worker Randall Shin told
investigators he was at his desk in a sec
ond-floor office just after 8 a.m.
Tuesday when he heard gunshots to his
right and saw Ronald Kawamae, 54,
slump over his chair.
Another worker, Jason Balatico, 33,
attempted to leave the room when more
shots were fired. Balatico, bleeding, fell
to the floor, Shin said.
Uyesugi then allegedly walked
down a hallway to a conference room
where he was to attend a meeting with
colleagues. He then allegedly killed
Ford Kanehira, 41; Peter Mark, 46; Ron
Kataoka, 50; Melvin Lee, 58 and John
Sakamoto, 36, before walking out of the
building, getting into his Xerox van and
driving away, police said.
Uyesugi, a bachelor who lived with
his bachelor brother and widowed
father, drove several miles and parked
near a nature center. The standoff began
after a jogger spotted the van.
t I
I
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ALL MATERIAL COFYRIGHT1999
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Police: Seattle shooting
was a ‘calculated’ event
SEATTLE (AP) - Residents left
their porch lights on and walked
their children to school Thursday in
the middle-class neighborhood
where a camouflaged gunman killed
two boat shop employees and
wounded two others before vanish
ing.
Police called Wednesday’s
shooting a “deliberate, calculated
act” and tried to reassure residents
of Seattle’s Wallingford district that
they were safe, even with the killer
at targe, ronce said tney aid not
know his identity and had not found
the handgun used in the attack.
“We are confident this was not a
random act,” Police Chief Norm
Stamper said. “I think that those
who live and work in that area can be
assured that they are not at risk....
This is not an individual who is
going to repeat the act.”
Stamper would not elaborate on
why police thought it was a deliber
ate attack.
One man was questioned and
released overnight.
Police were searching in the
neighborhood around Northlake
Shipyard for the man in his 30s who
entered the nondescript, two-story
building, strode into a back office
with gun drawn and opened fire
without a word.
Peter Giles, 27, and Russell
James Brisendine, 43, were killed at
the shipyard.
The two wounded workers were
in serious condition.
The suspect was described as
having curly brown hair and a mus
tache and was wearing a baseball
cap, sunglasses and a dark overcoat
over camouflage clothing.
Police used search lights through
the night as they checked yards,
basements and garden sheds.
Residents also left porch lights
on, making the neighborhood “so
bright you could barely sleep,” said
Paula Nemzek, a neighborhood resi
dent.
Nemzek was waiting with her
daughter, Cezanne Camacho, for a
«
I believe that we will
catch this person.”
Norm Stamper
Seattle police chief
school bus Thursday half a mile
from the shipyard.
“We’re still a little worried,” she
said.
She usually walks her daughter
to the bus stop, but “a lot of other
moms are saying they feel a little
worried about letting their kids walk
to the bus stop by themselves today.”
At Hamilton Middle School, die
school closest to the shooting scene,
doors were locked and five security
guards were on duty rather than the
normal force of one.
Students had to eat lunch
indoors despite the sunny weather
and were escorted between class
rooms and the main building.
Connie Voget, who lives across
from Hamilton, took her poodle for
a walk in the sun.
“Of course I’m concerned, but I
think that everything reasonable is
being done. I cannot be ruled by
fear,” she said. But she added: “I
won’t walk near the site. I won’t
walk in any of the parks where they
are searching.”
Stamper said detectives were
sorting through hundreds of calls
and tips and “clearly have a better
picture” a day after the attack. But
he would not say anything about a
motive and gave few details of the
investigation.
“I believe that we will catch this
person,” he said.
Jeff Sidebotham, a manager at
Seaborne Pile Driving, whose office
is in the shipyard building, arrived
about 7:45 a.m. Thursday but then
couldn’t bring himself to go inside.
“I’m scared to go in there now,”
he said. “I got in there right after that
happened - too close for comfort.”
■ Russia
Russia reopens crossings
out of Chechnya
SLEPTSOVSKAYA, Russia (AP)
- Russia allowed thousands of fright
ened and angry civilians to flee war
battered Chechnya on Thursday after
blocking diem at die frontier for more
than a week.
More than 200,000 people have
fled Chechnya since Russia began the
offensive in September, most to neigh
boring Ingushetia.
Russia closed all crossings out of
Chechnya last week. It opened others
on Monday but allowed only a few
people to cross into Ingushetia, spark
ing sharp criticism at home and
abroad.
Officials relaxed controls at the
Sleptsovskaya crossing, where thou
sands of refugees had massed, on
Wednesday and allowed many more
people to cross Thursday. Russia also
allowed others to enter Ingushetia at a
crossing farther north, at Malgabek.
There were no immediate figures
on the numbers who crossed
Thursday.
■ Rhode Island
Navy awaiting calm waters
in search for black boxes
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - With a
break in the weather, a Navy salvage
ship was finally freed Thursday to take
its divers on a 10-hour trip through
high waves to the grim crash site of
EgyptAir Flight 990.
Investigators were hoping to
dodge foul weather long enough today
to search for the plane’s “black boxes,”
which they hope hold the secret to die
cause of the crash off the coast of
Nantucket, Mass.
The Navy was relying on seas
calming just enough to drop a giant
underwater robot - the Deep Drone -
into the Atlantic, where it can be low
ered 270 feet to the ocean floor to
retrieve wreckage and bodies. Divers
aboard the USS Grapple will try to .
make the treacherous journey as well.
The black boxes - the flight data
recorder and the cockpit voice
recorder - are considered keys to fig
uring out why Flight 990 plummeted
into the ocean on Sunday, killing all
217 onboard.
■ Michigan
Backstreet Boys refuse
leukemia patient’s wish
WARREN, Mich. (AP) - A 5
year-old girl undergoing chemothera
py for leukemia had one wish - to
meet the Backstreet Boys Mien they
perform in suburban Detroit this
weekend.
But the pop quintet refused
Morgan Zalewski’s request, which
was made on her behalf by The
Rainbow Connection, an association
that grants the wishes of dying and
seriously ill children.
The group gets “thousands and
thousands of requests” daily from
organizations like The Rainbow
Connection and can’t possibly grant
them all, said Marcee Rondan, vice
president of MSO, the Los Angeles
based firm that handles publicity for
the Backstreet Boys.
Even though Morgan was disap
pointed that she wouldn’t meet the
band in person, she isn’t angry and
plans to see them perform at The
Palace of Auburn Hills, herfather said
Monday.