In Wyoming legislators have defeated all efforts to pass that state's first hate-crime law.
While the Apprendi decision concerned a hate-crime law, its biggest effect has been on federal drug sentencing.
Forty states have passed hate-crime laws, but 19 of those do not cover sexual orientation.
"Police investigated the incident as malicious harassment - the state's hate-crime law."
The same would probably be true in the Shepard case if Wyoming had a hate-crime law.
Another 19 states, including Colorado, do not include sexual orientation in their hate-crime laws.
South Carolina is also one of nine states without a hate-crime law of any kind.
If the hate-crime law had been upheld, he would have faced a maximum of 18 months in state prison.
Forty states and the District of Columbia have hate-crime laws.
It happened for racial reasons, he said, and the use of the hate-crime law led to tougher punishment.
