Post-Dispatch style and policy guidelines prohibit the printing of profanities and offensive language in news stories. However, we made an exception today online and in Sunday's paper.

A passage in the front-page story about the sentencing of convicted cop killer Todd Shepard describes how he called St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch vulgar names throughout the trial. The paragraph closes with the final exchange between the two as Shepard is led from court after the jury recommended a life sentence without parole.

"Punk-ass fag," Shepard called McCulloch, who responded "Get out."

We made the exception because of the belief that the information conveyed to readers outweighed the inherent offensiveness of the actual language. Such language normally would not be allowed in a story. But after consultation with the reporter and the assigning editor, I approved use of the phrase because it was reflective of the situation in the courtroom.

The language used by Shepard against the prosecutor throughout the trial was constant and vile. Simply saying that "Shepard taunted McCulloch with vulgar names in the courtroom throughout the trial" didn't capture the nature of his outbursts, so we used the final exchange to provide a sense of the atmosphere and Shepard's demeanor during the trial.