Day: November 11, 2003

Twinkie Defense

looky

BRIAN: Hey! someone brought in Twikies today!
YONI: Oh, the things that guy killed the mayor with?

Ever been to the Metreon in San Francisco? The convention center next to it is Moscone Center. It’s named after George Moscone, a San Francisco mayor who was gunned down at City Hall by the former city supervisor.

This wasn’t all that long ago, either- it was 1978. We play for keeps in California.

From Oh No News‘ page on the Twinkie Defense:

In 1978, Dan White, a former San Francisco city supervisor who had recently resigned his position, entered San Francisco City Hall through a basement window, went upstairs, and shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified in court that White had been depressed, which led to eating junk food: Twinkies and Coca-Cola. This further deepened White’s depression, since he was an ex-athlete and knew that the food was not good for him. This was evidence of his depression that prompted his murder spree. This celebrated diagnosis became known as the “Twinkie defense.”

Dan White got off pretty light- he killed two people, the Mayor and Supervisor Harvey Milk, and only got 7 years and change in prison… he served about 5 before being paroled.

From the “Twinkie Defense” page at the Urban Legends Reference Pages:

Even though White had entered City Hall carrying a gun loaded with especially lethal ammunition, climbed through a basement window to avoid metal detectors, evaded Mayor Moscone’s bodyguard, reloaded after killing Moscone, and walked across City Hall to find and gun down Harvey Milk, the jury found that White’s actions were not premeditated.