LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Russell Henderson stood before the sobbing parents of Matthew Shepard and apologized for kidnapping their son, lashing him to a fence and leaving him to die from a pistol-whipping on the cold prairie.
"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 possible death sentence by pleading guilty Monday to kidnapping and felony murder in last fall's death of the gay college student.
Shepard's parents bitterly rejected the apology and so did Judge Jeffrey Donnell, who sentenced Henderson to two consecutive life terms. Under Wyoming law, Henderson's only hope for release from prison is a pardon.
Another man, Aaron McKinney, still faces a trial in the slaying that prompted calls for legislative change nationally and in Wyoming, one of eight states without a hate crimes law. President Clinton called the beating an "evil act" and urged Congress to strengthen federal laws against such crimes.
Shepard's mother, Judy, wept during Monday's hearing, burying her head in her husband Dennis' chest. She steadied herself enough to stand at the podium to address Henderson.
"At times I don't know how you'd be worthy of any acknowledgment 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."
Said Shepard: "It takes someone quite unique to sit and watch someone else be beaten to death and do nothing about it."
Henderson's aunts and uncles, separated from the Shepards by a narrow aisle, also cried at times during the hearing.
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."
Earlier, Henderson showed little emotion as he described the fatal beating Oct. 6, saying he reluctantly went along with McKinney's plan to entice Shepard out of a bar and into a pickup truck to rob him.
"I disagreed," Henderson told the court.
Henderson said he drove the truck to a remote area in the southern plains of Wyoming and followed McKinney's order to tie their victim to a fence so McKinney could to pistol-whip the 5-foot-2, 105-pound Shepard.
"Matt looked really bad, so I told him to stop hitting him, I think he's had enough," he said. Henderson said his friend turned on him and struck him in the face with the gun.
Shepard, a University of Wyoming freshman, died five days later.
McKinney, 21, could face the death penalty when he is tried in August on first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges.
Donnell told Henderson the "vile and senseless" crime deserved the fullest punishment he could hand out. He said he didn't believe Henderson felt any remorse.
"It is my hope that Mr. Henderson will die in the Wyoming state penitentiary and the only time he leaves the Wyoming state penitentiary is when they bury him," added prosecutor Cal Rerucha.
Defense attorney Wyatt Skaggs denied that Shepard was targeted because he was gay. "This crime has never been a hate crime," he said. "They did this because he was believed to have some money."