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Murder Charge In Gay Slaying

Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson have been charged with murder in the death of a gay University of Wyoming student.

And CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports that Matthew Shepard may not have been the only man allegedly attacked by the two men.


McKinney and Henderson could now a death sentence in the vicious killing. Shepard was strung up on a fence post, pistol whipped and left for dead.

A second man, Emiliano Morales, was attacked on the same night, allegedly by the same suspects, and hit over the head with the pistol used to beat Shepard, police said.

"I yelled to Emiliano, 'He has a gun in his hand, Emiliano!' and ...the other guy hit him," said Jeremy Herrera, who was with Morales at the time.

Morales sand Herrera were stunned the apparent connection between the two crimes and say they have no idea why they were targeted.

In another development in the case, 18-year-old Kristin Price was back in court Tuesday as charges against her were upgraded in the wake of Shepard's death.

Police said Price and Chastity Pasley, the grilfriends of the suspects, hid evidence and failed to report the crime to protect their boyfriends. Price's mother and her four-month-old son sat just a few feet away in the courtroom.

"We're just here to support our kids," said Kim Kelley.

Laramie police still won't say whether the attack on Matthew Shepard was motivated by robbery or prejudice.

But Shepard's friends have no such doubts.

Tuesday, they called for hate crime legislation that they say is needed to make sure what happened to Matthew Shepard never happens again.

Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was pistol-whipped and lashed to a fence post in an attack denounced nationwide as a hate crime. He died early Monday from his injuries.

McKinny and Henderson are accused of luring the 21-year-old student out of a bar to rob him, and then brutally beating him.

Shepard was taken to a Ft. Collins, Colorado, hospital. His 105-pound body was battered and bruised, and his skull was broken.

He died while on life support, Poudre Valley Hospital spokesman Gary Kimsey said. Shepard had been in a coma since bicyclists found him tied to the fence in near-freezing temperatures outside Laramie, Wyoming, last Wednesday.

In televised comments to reporters, President Clinton sent his condolences to Shepard's family. He called on Congress to pass legislation against hate crime before it adjourns for the year.

"Hate and prejudice are not American values," said Mr. Clinton. "I hope that in the grief of this moment for Matthew Shepard's family and in the shared outrage across America, Americans will once again search their hearts and do what they can to reduce their own fear and anxity and anger at people who are different."

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