Last Gay Beating Trial Ends

Kristen Price, the former girlfriend of Aaron McKinney, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a police officer.

She was the last of four defendants arrested following the 1998 beating death of gay University of Wyoming freshman Matthew Shepard.

Mckinney was sentenced to two consecutive life prison sentences last week for the October 1998 murder of 21-year-old Shepard. His accomplice, Russell Henderson, is also serving two consecutive life terms.

Prosecutors accused both Price and Chasity Pasley, who was Henderson's girlfiend, of helping dispose of Henderson's bloody clothes. Pasley is serving 15 to 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to an accessory charge.

Price originally was accused of accessory after-the-fact to first-degree murder, but the charge was later reduced. Prosecutor Cal Rerucha said Monday that she was a valuable witness for the prosecution against McKinney.

District Judge Jeffrey Donnell sentenced Price to 180 days in jail. She received 120 days of credit for time already served following her initial arrest, and the remaining 60 days were suspended.

Shepard was beaten into a coma and left tied to a rural fence for 18 hours. He died five days later. The case gained national attention and led to calls for the inclusion of sexual orientation in federal hate crimes law.

"We have been assured that Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore are firmly behind this legislation, and that they're going to do everything they can to see that it is passed," said Dennis Shepard. "We need to do this for Matthew and for everybody else and to keep this from happening again."

McKinney won mercy from the victim's parents Thursday, who agreed not to press for the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole. In return, McKinney has promised not to appeal his felony murder and kidnapping convictions and sentence.