. >> more than 12 years aftermath eau shepherd, an openly gay college student was rdered, his legacy lives on today. at richard montgomery high school, students are in final reherselfal to perform "the laramie project" it is about the town where shepherd was from and people who knew him. >> of word in the play was something that was spoken by an actual person in laramie, wyoming. >> emily davis was willing to take on this controversial subject about a young person tied to a fence, tortured, ask killed, a killing that led to a federal hate crime law. >> we felt like the message of tolerance and acceptance which is what this play is advocating is something we thought our students needed to hear. >> the ton to versy has grown, since the west boar yoe baptist church, a group notorious for protesting soldiers' funerals announced it will protest this play. >> i can't believe that this is so worthy of their hate. we're a high school trying to promote love and understanding. >> reporter: ironically, the church's leader is portrayed in the play. >> this is the negative message everything is c

>> doreen another teenager rdered in the streets of our city. another family in mourning. >> he was a really good sports player, you know, funny, outgoing. full of energy all the time just -- every little -- every big brother's dream for a little brother. >> as school cme to a close, some students left with posters dedicated to joseph sharp. joseph sharps, 17 years old. a senior in high school. he wanted to go to nyu. he wanted one day to own espn. those dreams came to an end last night when joseph sharps was gunned down on holbrook street northeast. he was walking down thestreet th a friend. they were kidding each other back and forth. they ran across three guys, those guys think those joking words were meant for them. shots are fired. the friend is wounded, joseph hit four times. he falls dead to the ground. >> basically over nothing. >> what you make of that? >> it hurts. it reallyhurts. it really really hurts. but as a father, we just have to move on and say what the lord's got now. so i'm happy for that part. >> i've been through it all now

a young woman who was rdered, an unimaginable loss to her family. the weight of whichas not lost on jurors. >> we took it very seriously. we felt that we owed it to everyone involved to go throu the evidence completely and to find in the end, a verdict that we could all be comfortable with. >> through their three and a half days of deliberation, few requests. the last was for the legal definition of assault. a necessary factor for their guilty verdict on. what charges remain and while some of the initial charges against the accused had been dropped, an overwhelming aunt of evidence remained. >> we went through it. in a very deliberate manner and we also wen through the law very deliberately. >> reporter: while the victim's mother's presence in the courtroom added an air of emotion, thereas an effort to separate that from the edicts of jurisprudence. >> you can't go deeper. you have to make adecision off that based on the law based on the rules that are written, based on the judge's directions. for me, it was definitely a learning process. >> and the