Dan White's Defense: The Twinkie Defense
Porsha Grayson
Criminal Law
Defense AB
March 6, 2012
Dan White “The Twinkie Defense” Nov. 27, 1978
LINDSEY, ROBERT. "DAN WHITE, KILLER OF SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR, A SUICIDE." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Oct. 1985. Web. 06
White was a Conservative supervisor in San Francisco CA, convicted of the murders of George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk 25 years ago. The jury stated how Dan White was drugged up on Twinkies, which made sugar go through his arteries and drove him into a murderous frenzy. People who did not believe this “Twinkie defense” held signs saying "Eat a Twinkie, commit a murder." Most believed that White killed these two because he could not get his job back felt as if he was betrayed. Common folks thought it was a premeditated murder since he put an extra 10 …show more content…
He was trying to clear his name through all the slander they put him through just by him saying that it’s a possibility that what you eat can cause changes in your body. He did stat however that White was incapable of premeditation murder. The main focus was diminished capacity. He also stated that Dan White "wanted to have some understanding as to what was going on, but because of his mental state, he could not process this information in a constructive way with lethal consequences. Another Doctor, Dr. Solomon invoked terms of “uni-polar depressive reaction"-to define Dan White's mental state, as well as explaining analogously "in laymen's terms “during cross-examination that the defendant "was sort of on automatic pilot" during the shootings, Dr. Solomon testified that Dan White "did not have a mental capacity, to maturely and meaningfully premeditate and
Criminal Law
Defense AB
March 6, 2012
Dan White “The Twinkie Defense” Nov. 27, 1978
LINDSEY, ROBERT. "DAN WHITE, KILLER OF SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR, A SUICIDE." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Oct. 1985. Web. 06
White was a Conservative supervisor in San Francisco CA, convicted of the murders of George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk 25 years ago. The jury stated how Dan White was drugged up on Twinkies, which made sugar go through his arteries and drove him into a murderous frenzy. People who did not believe this “Twinkie defense” held signs saying "Eat a Twinkie, commit a murder." Most believed that White killed these two because he could not get his job back felt as if he was betrayed. Common folks thought it was a premeditated murder since he put an extra 10 …show more content…
He was trying to clear his name through all the slander they put him through just by him saying that it’s a possibility that what you eat can cause changes in your body. He did stat however that White was incapable of premeditation murder. The main focus was diminished capacity. He also stated that Dan White "wanted to have some understanding as to what was going on, but because of his mental state, he could not process this information in a constructive way with lethal consequences. Another Doctor, Dr. Solomon invoked terms of “uni-polar depressive reaction"-to define Dan White's mental state, as well as explaining analogously "in laymen's terms “during cross-examination that the defendant "was sort of on automatic pilot" during the shootings, Dr. Solomon testified that Dan White "did not have a mental capacity, to maturely and meaningfully premeditate and