The Laramie Project Page #8

...in order that he might be

more savagely beaten...

...and in order that he might not escape

to tell his tale.

You left him out there for 18 hours...

...perhaps having an opportunity

to save his life...

...perhaps having an opportunity

to save his life...

...and you did nothing.

As to count three,

that being felony murder with robbery...

...you will serve a period of imprisonment

for the term of your natural life.

For count one...

...kidnapping...

...you will serve a period of imprisonment

for the term of your natural life.

Sentencing for count one to run

consecutive to sentencing for count three.

After the sentencing, the Mormon Church

decided to excommunicate Russell.

He's got a Mormon home teacher

that visits him in prison every week.

Nobody from the church

is gonna go visit him?

Not supposed to.

They're not supposed to pray for him.

He'll just sort of disappear.

What happened that night?

We need to know.

This town needs to Know.

I need some more light on them.

- I never get tired of this play.

- Try directing it 50 times.

You can relax, just keep the umbrellas up.

I hear you're doing

Angels in America next year.

We have an obligation

to reach our students...

...and the question is, how do you move...

How do you reach a whole state...

...where there is such

deep-seated hostility toward gays?

How do you reach them?

Angels in America is just the beginning.

And guess who's auditioning for the lead?

My parents, right, they're like:

"So what plays are they doing

in school this year?"

"Let's see, Angels in America."

"Wait.

"Angels in America? Isn't that that play?

"It's that scene?

"So you're gonna audition for this?"

And I said:

"Yeah, I am."

Huge argument, right?

It was this huge argument,

and my mom says:

"You know, homosexuality is a sin.

Homosexuality is a sin."

But the best thing

that I knew I had on them...

...was that they had just seen me...

...right before this, onstage in Macbeth.

I murdered this little kid and lady MacDuff

and these two other guys, right?

I'm like, "Mom...

"I just played a murderer tonight,

and you...

"...didn't seem to have

any problem with that."

- So when's the audition?

- Tuesday.

I have never prepared myself

for an audition like this in my life.

Not even close.

Everybody second-guesses

what you're doing.

You get a lot of heavy criticism.

You did everything wrong.

You're not supposed to touch anybody

without gloves and protective gear.

Then they make you out

to be some kind of big hero.

Some Joe Blow down the block,

he could have done a better job than I did.

People do extraordinary things every day.

I think this has really brought home

to my girls...

...what their mom does for a living.

Just a minute.

It's the decision of the

County's Attorney's Office...

...that this will be tried

as a death penalty case.

That's all I have for you now. Thank you.

How can I protest

if the Shepards want McKinney dead?

I just can't interfere in that.

But on a personal level,

I knew Aaron in grade school.

He wasn't called Aaron. We called him A.J.

How can we put A.J. McKinney to death?

I think right now

our most important teachers...

...must be Russell Henderson

and Aaron McKinney.

They have to be our teachers.

How did you learn?

What did we do as a society

to teach you that?

I don't know if many people

will let them be their teacher.

I think it would be wonderful

if the judge said:

"In addition to the sentence...

"...you must tell your story.

"You must tell your story."

This is a tape recording of the confession

given by Aaron James McKinney...

...to me as detective in charge

of the investigation.

This confession was recorded

two days after the attack.

- So, you guys go to the Fireside, right?

- Yeah.

Where do you go after you leave

the Fireside?

Some Kid wanted a ride home.

What's he look like?

Like a queer.

- He looks like a queer?

- Yeah, like a fag, you know?

Okay, so, how'd you meet him?

The fag? The queer guy?

We were meeting at the bar. He asked us

what we were drinking and doing.

So what happened after you met him?

He wanted a ride home, and...

...I just thought, "The dude's drunK,

let's just taKe him home."

When did you and Russ talK about

jacKing him up?

- We Kinda talKed about it at the bar.

- Tell me what happened next.

Drove him out past Wal Mart.

We got over there

and he starts grabbing my leg and...

...grabbing my genitals and...

...I was like, "I'm not a f***ing f*ggot.

If you touch me again, you're gonna get it."

I don't know what the hell

he was trying to do...

...but I beat him up pretty bad.

I think I killed him.

- What did you hit him with?

- I blacked out.

My fist, my pistol, the butt of the gun.

I wonder what happened to me.

I had a few beers and I don't know.

It's like I could see what was going on.

It was like somebody else was doing it.

What was the first thing he said or did

that made you want to hit him?

He put his hand on my leg and...

...slid his hand

like he was gonna grab my balls.

When that defense team argued that

McKinney did what he did...

...because Matthew made a pass at him...

...I just wanted to vomit...

...because that's like saying it's okay.

It was disgusting

and we were all just disgusted.

It was disgusting

and we were all just disgusted.

It was just rude,

and that was less than integrous behavior.

We were all just disgusted

by that quality of defense.

It's like the Twinkie defense, when the guy

killed Harvey Milk and Moscone.

It's the same thing.

As much as a part of me didn't want

the defense saying that...

...it was a gay bashing or gay panic...

...a part of me was really grateful.

Because I was really afraid that

in this trial they were gonna try...

...and say that it was a robbery,

or it was about drugs.

So when they used gay panic

as the defense...

...I thought, "This is good...

"...because if nothing else,

the truth is gonna come out.

"The truth is gonna be told."

About how many times

did you hit him in the trucK...

...before you guys stopped

where you left him?

I'd say I hit him two or three times.

Probably three times with my fists

and six times with the pistol.

Did he ask you to stop?

Yeah, he was getting

the sh*t kicked out of him.

What did he say?

After he asked me to stop,

most all he was doing was screaming.

Was Matthew conscious

while Russell was tying him to the fence?

Yeah.

I told him, "Turn around and don't look

at my license plate number"...

...because I was scared

he would tell the police.

And then I asked him

what my license plate said.

He read it and that's why I hit him

a few more times.

Just to be sure?

My secret hope was that they were

from somewhere else...

...that then you can create this distance.

We don't grow children like that here.

It's pretty clear we do grow children

like that here.

So obviously you don't like gay people?

- No, I don't.

- Would you say you hate them?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes