Mindless Murder

Thankfully there are few crimes of such unfathomable cruelty that they shock the entire nation. But we have another one now in the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a 22-year-old student at the University of Wyoming. The behavior of his two alleged killers defies any attempt at rational explanation beyond “it couldn’t happen here” disbelief.

What happened was mindless murder. Shepard, a student who felt no need to hide his homosexuality, was lured from a bar, tortured with cigarette burns, tied to a ranch fence and bludgeoned with a pistol. The attack occured late Tuesday or early Wednesday, and the young man was found late the next day, clinging to life.

This was a hate crime, clearly. That it happened in Wyoming spurred comments about a rough and violent cowboy society, but the fact is that a crime like this could happen, and has, almost anywhere.

Shepard, a small man, 5 foot 2 and about 100 pounds, died early Monday in a Fort Collins, Colo., hospital.

Two college dropouts, Russell A. Henderson, 21, and Aaron J. McKinney, 22, have been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the case. Two female companions been charged as accessories after the fact.

Witnesses told police that the two men lured Shepard out of the bar by pretending to be homosexuals. Their friends said they only intended to rob Shepard, as if that was a mitigating circumstance that justified murder.

National statistics on hate crimes offer conflicting evidence as to cause. Fewer were reported last year in L.A. and Orange counties. Ventura recorded a slight rise.

But the chronicling of such crimes has yet to establish conclusive patterns, state and federal officials say. Some hate crimes are never reported to law enforcement officers. Some police departments are sloppy in keeping up on statistics. And in a number of areas only the most serious crimes, (murders, rapes and aggravated assaults) are reported.

It’s often those who have failed society’s standards of behavior who commit such crimes, out of hate and rage, and who need to blame others for their own failures. A just society cannot but condemn them.