Twinkie defense
Encyclopedia
"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
and mayor George Moscone
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
.
, a former San Francisco, California
(U.S.
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
testified that White had been depressed
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
.
, Gus Van Sant
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."
"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
and mayor George Moscone
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
.
, a former San Francisco, California
(U.S.
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
testified that White had been depressed
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
.
, Gus Van Sant
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."
"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
and mayor George Moscone
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
.
, a former San Francisco, California
(U.S.
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
testified that White had been depressed
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
.
, Gus Van Sant
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."
Defense (legal)
In civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability...
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
Dan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
and mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
Diminished responsibility
In criminal law, diminished responsibility is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were "diminished" or impaired. The defense's acceptance in American...
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
.
Origins
The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan WhiteDan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
, a former San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder, M.D. is a physician and forensic psychiatrist licensed to practice in Hawaii, California, Kentucky and Georgia. He is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, Family Therapy, past Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and Past...
testified that White had been depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
Health food
The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S...
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
White Night Riots
The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco...
.
Diminished capacity
Twinkies were never mentioned in the courtroom during the White trial, nor did the defense ever claim that White was on a sugar rush and committed the murders as a result. However, one reporter's use of the term "Twinkie defense" caught on and stuck, leading to a persistent misunderstanding by the public that exists to this day, and was mentioned at the end of MilkMilk (film)
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco...
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
Herb Caen
Herbert Eugene Caen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalistwhose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings,...
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (1982)
Proposition 8 was a law enacted by California voters on 8 June 1982, by means of the initiative process. The law restricted the rights of convicts, and those suspected of crimes, and extended the rights of victims...
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
Malice (legal term)
Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being...
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
Supreme Court
During oral Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 , is a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the erroneous deprivation of a defendant's attorney of choice entitles him to a reversal of his conviction under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Background:The defendant in the...
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."
"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense
Defense (legal)
In civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability...
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
Dan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
and mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
Diminished responsibility
In criminal law, diminished responsibility is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were "diminished" or impaired. The defense's acceptance in American...
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
.
Origins
The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan WhiteDan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
, a former San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder, M.D. is a physician and forensic psychiatrist licensed to practice in Hawaii, California, Kentucky and Georgia. He is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, Family Therapy, past Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and Past...
testified that White had been depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
Health food
The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S...
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
White Night Riots
The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco...
.
Diminished capacity
Twinkies were never mentioned in the courtroom during the White trial, nor did the defense ever claim that White was on a sugar rush and committed the murders as a result. However, one reporter's use of the term "Twinkie defense" caught on and stuck, leading to a persistent misunderstanding by the public that exists to this day, and was mentioned at the end of MilkMilk (film)
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco...
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
Herb Caen
Herbert Eugene Caen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalistwhose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings,...
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (1982)
Proposition 8 was a law enacted by California voters on 8 June 1982, by means of the initiative process. The law restricted the rights of convicts, and those suspected of crimes, and extended the rights of victims...
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
Malice (legal term)
Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being...
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
Supreme Court
During oral Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 , is a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the erroneous deprivation of a defendant's attorney of choice entitles him to a reversal of his conviction under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Background:The defendant in the...
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."
"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense
Defense (legal)
In civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability...
. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White
Dan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
and mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
. White's defense was that he suffered diminished capacity
Diminished responsibility
In criminal law, diminished responsibility is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were "diminished" or impaired. The defense's acceptance in American...
as a result of his depression. His change in diet from health food to Twinkies and other sugary food was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions. Rather they argued that his consumption of Twinkies was symptomatic of his underlying depression. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
.
Origins
The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan WhiteDan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...
, a former San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) Police Officer and Firefighter who later became a city district Supervisor. On November 27, 1978, White assassinated Mayor George Moscone
George Moscone
George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California, US from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as...
and Supervisor Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. At the trial, noted psychiatrist Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder
Martin Blinder, M.D. is a physician and forensic psychiatrist licensed to practice in Hawaii, California, Kentucky and Georgia. He is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, Family Therapy, past Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and Past...
testified that White had been depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
at the time of the crime, and pointed to several factors indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance. Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food
Health food
The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S...
advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but — in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists — the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the...
. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots
White Night Riots
The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco...
.
Diminished capacity
Twinkies were never mentioned in the courtroom during the White trial, nor did the defense ever claim that White was on a sugar rush and committed the murders as a result. However, one reporter's use of the term "Twinkie defense" caught on and stuck, leading to a persistent misunderstanding by the public that exists to this day, and was mentioned at the end of MilkMilk (film)
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
's 2008 biopic of Harvey Milk. In a bonus feature on the DVD version of The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco...
, a documentary on Milk's life and death, White's lawyers explain what they actually argued in court.
The actual legal defense that White's lawyers used was that his mental capacity had been diminished
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
, and White's consumption of junk food was presented to the jury as one of many symptoms, not a cause, of White's depression.
In stories covering the trial, satirist Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
had played up the angle of the Twinkie, and he would later claim credit for coining the term "Twinkie defense". The day after the verdict, columnist Herb Caen
Herb Caen
Herbert Eugene Caen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalistwhose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings,...
wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
about the police support for White, himself a former policeman, and their "dislike of homosexuals" and mentioned "the Twinkie insanity defense" in passing. News stories published after the trial, however, frequently reported the defense arguments inaccurately, wrongly claiming that the defense had presented junk food as the cause of White's depression and/or diminished capacity, instead of having been symptomatic of (and perhaps having exacerbated) an existing depression.
As a result of negative publicity from the White case and others, the term diminished capacity was abolished in 1982 by Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (1982)
Proposition 8 was a law enacted by California voters on 8 June 1982, by means of the initiative process. The law restricted the rights of convicts, and those suspected of crimes, and extended the rights of victims...
and the California legislature and was replaced by the term diminished actuality, referring not to the capacity to have a specific intent, but to whether the defendant actually had the required intent to commit the crime with which he or she was charged. Additionally, California's statutory definitions of premeditation and malice
Malice (legal term)
Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being...
required for murder were eliminated by the state's legislature, with the return to common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
definitions. By this time, the "Twinkie defense" had become such a common term that one lawmaker had waved a Twinkie in the air while making his point during a debate.
Supreme Court
During oral Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
arguments in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 , is a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the erroneous deprivation of a defendant's attorney of choice entitles him to a reversal of his conviction under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Background:The defendant in the...
(No. 05-352) in April 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
referred to the Twinkie defense in discussion of a defendant's right to counsel of choice: " I don't want a competent lawyer. I want a lawyer who's going to get me off. I want a lawyer who will invent the Twinkie Defense I would not consider the Twinkie Defense an invention of a competent lawyer but I want a lawyer who's going to win for me."