" Defense Twinkie " is a thief label for an impossible legal defense. This is not a legal defense recognized in jurisprudence, but a comprehensible term coined by journalists during their coverage of Dan White's trial court for the murder of the city of San Francisco, Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. White's defense is that he suffers from diminished ability as a result of his depression. Changes in the diet from healthy foods to Twinkies and other sweet foods are said to be symptoms of depression. Contrary to popular belief, White lawyers do not think Twinkies are the cause of White's actions, but their consumption is a symptom of the underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary murder.
Video Twinkie defense
Origin
The phrase came from a trial in 1979 from Dan White, a former San Francisco police officer and firefighter, and up until the crime, a district district superintendent. On November 27, 1978, White killed Major Mayor Georgeon and Supervisor Harvey Milk. In the trial, psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified that White had been depressed at the time of the crime, and showed some behavioral changes that showed White's depression: he had quit his job; he avoids his wife; and although it is usually clean, the appearance becomes dirty. In addition, White was previously a supporter of fitness and healthy food, but has started eating junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola. As a coincidence note, Blinder mentions the theory that dietary elements can aggravate mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and "some sort of automatic pilot" at the time of the murder. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but - partly because of the testimony of Blinder and other psychiatrists - the defense succeeded in convincing the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been reduced; the jury considered White to be incapable of carrying out the necessary preliminaries for murder conviction, rather than punishing him with voluntary murder. Public protests over the verdict caused the White Night riots.
Maps Twinkie defense
Lack of capacity
Twinkies were never mentioned in the courtroom during the White trial, nor did the defense claim that White was rushing with sugar and committing murder as a result. However, the use of one reporter "Twinkie defense" became popular, leading to a constant misunderstanding by the public. Misunderstanding is mentioned at the end of Milk , biography of Gus Van Sant 2008 from Harvey Milk. In the bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk, a documentary about the life and death of Milk, White's lawyer explains what they are actually arguing in court.
The American Broadcasting Company 2017 docudrama, When We Rise , mentions the defense after the murder of Milk.
The actual legal defense used by White's lawyers is that his mental capacity has been reduced, and White junk food consumption is presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not the cause of the > White depression.
In stories covering the trial, satyrist Paul Krassner has been playing a Twinkie corner, and he will then claim credit to combine the term "Twinkie Defense". A day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle about police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and called the "Twinkie madness defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, often report defense arguments inaccurately, claiming that the defense has presented junk food as a cause of White's depression and/or reduced capacity, rather than having shown symptoms of depression. And White committed suicide seven years later.
As a result of the negative publication of the White case and others, the term reduced capacity was removed in 1982 by Proposition 8 and the California legislature and replaced by the term reduced actuality , referring not to capacity to have a specific purpose, but whether the defendant really has the intention necessary to commit the crime he or she allegedly committed. In addition, the definition of California's premeditation and malicious legislation required for murder is eliminated by the state legislature, returning to the definition of common law. At the moment, the "Twinkie defense" has become a generic term that a lawmaker has waved Twinkie in the air while delivering his point during the debate.
Supreme Court
During the oral arguments of the Supreme Court in the United States of America v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 US 140 (2006), Judge Antonin Scalia refers to Twinkie's defense regarding the right to choose a lawyer because it may be more important than the right to effective counsel help: "I do not want a competent lawyer. want a lawyer who will release me.I want a lawyer who will create a Twinkie defense... I will not consider Twinkie's defense of a competent lawyer's discovery, but I want a lawyer to win for me. "
See also
- Gay panic defense
- The San Ysidro McDonald Massacre, blamed by the shooter's widow partly because of monosodium glutamate in McDonald's food
- The Dead Kennedys version of "I Fought the Law", which is about the murder of Milk-Moscone and includes the mention of the Twinkie defense ("Twinkies is the best friend I ever had").
- Trials and Mistakes , a 1997 film in which a lawyer tried to raise his client's blood sugar so he could use Twinkie's defense
References
Further reading
- California Criminal Code Section 25-29 of Findlaw
- Trial and Error by Paul Tatara for CNN on June 6, 1997. Retrieved March 20, 2006.
- Mauro, Tony (2006-04-19). "High Court Judges' Rights to Selected Advisers". Legal Time . Law.com . Retrieved 2007-02-02 .
- Weiss, Mike (2010). Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind Double Murder George Moscone and Harvey Milk , Vince Emery Productions. ISBN 978-0-9825650-5-6
External links
- Snopes: The Twinkie Defense
- "Myth of 'Twinkie Defense'" - San Francisco Chronicle , November 23, 2003
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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