Because, apparently, the past two weeks just haven't been quite bad enough for gays in this great and wonderful land of ours.
ABC is preparing a major investigation of the Matthew Shepard gay-bashing murder that contends it may not have been a hate crime — but a mugging gone wrong.
Friends and family of Shepard — who became a national symbol of the senseless violence against gays — as well as gay activists are upset about the report, scheduled to air on "20/20" later this month. [...] In a press release promoting the show, ABC promised "surprising revelations, including Laramie's underground world of methamphetamine use that may have contributed to the crime and whether or not Shepard knew his killers." [...] The interviews apparently violate the plea agreements the two men signed at their sentencing. According to reports, the men agreed never to talk to the media about the case as part of the agreement that spared them the death penalty.
I guess they're calculating that the district attorney won't reopen sentencing on the grounds that they've violated their plea agreement. It would make sense, especially if the district attorney is no longer the same person. (There is also the question of whether or not a person can be required to sign away their first amendment rights in that way. Forbidding them from making a profit talking about their crimes to the media is one thing; forbidding them from talking about their crimes to the media at all is another thing entirely.)
I'd also think that the autopsy on Shepard could pretty much answer any questions about methamphetamine use, assuming that they were valid questions to ask in the first place. I'm guessing that they did a toxicology examination at the time of death -- it would not only be standard operating procedures in most jurisdictions, but actually required.
One might also add that the defendants' defenses were explicitly predicated on the fact that they were reacting to him propositioning them.
Really, sometimes you wonder how people who run what they are pleased to call "news divisions" can sleep at night.
Posted by iain at November 12, 2004 07:36 PM
