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The Gay Panic Defense · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Discretion, is it vis tim immediate murders. On the sixth of March nineteen
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ninety five, thirty two year old Scott Bernard Ammendur was selected to appear on
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the Jenny Jones Show. He was a fan of the show. In fact,
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one of his neighbors described him as being a talk showed junkie. The
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episode was called Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush, a recent trend that had been
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appearing on several other talk shows at the same time. The premise was that
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six guests would be invited to publicly meet their secret admirer, and after the
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admirer confessed to their feelings, both people would be interviewed by Jenny Jones before
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the show. All of the guests had to undergo pre screening. In these
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interviews, the producers of the show told them that it was possible that their
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secret admirer could be male or female. But even though the episode was going
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to be titled Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush, the producers failed to inform any
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of the guests that all of the secret admirers would be the same sex as
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them. As a gay man, Scott was going to be one of the
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six secret admirers. He had always had a hard time with relationships and had
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been involved in a domestic violence incident in the past. However, he was
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highly involved in the LGBT community, even working at a gay bar in Pontiac,
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Michigan, where he lived. At the beginning of the episode, Jenny
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Jones explained the premise to the audience. Each of the secret admirers were invited
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out to the stage, and Jenny interviewed them about their feelings, asking how
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they met their crush and probe for details about their romantic and sexual fantasies.
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To prevent each of the crushes from overhearing, they were asked to sit backstage
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with soundproof headphones on. Finally, once the interviews with the admirers were over,
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Jenny asked the crush to come on stage in front of the live audience.
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The admirers admitted their feelings for their crushes and then were immediately interviewed and
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asked whether they reciprocated the feelings. Scott was the third secret admirer to reveal
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his secret crush, telling the audience that he was infatuated with a man named
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Jonathan Schmidts who lived in the same area as him. When Jonathan came on
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stage and realized that Scott was his secret admirer. He gave Scott a bit
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of an awkward hug and said that he was flattered by the attention, but
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told Scott, Jenny and the audience that he was definitely heterosexual. The night
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after revealing same sex crush was taped, Scott and Jonathan decided to go out
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to a bar for a drink together. According to one of Scott's friends,
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despite Jonathan's insistence that he was heterosexual, the two men allegedly had a sexual
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encounter at some point the night before going their separate ways. Two days later,
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Scott visited Jonathan's house and left behind a suggestive, handwritten note addressed to
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him. After reading that note, Jonathan didn't hesitate. He went to the
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bank withdrew some money, and he used that money to buy a gun.
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He drove to the mobile home where Scott lived and left the gun in his
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car while he went to knock on the door. Scott opened the door and
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Jonathan asked him, were you the one who left the note. Scott responded
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by smiling, leaving Scott standing in the doorway. Jonathan walked back to his
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car and picked up the gun, shot Scott in the chest, and then
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shot him a second time for good measure. Scott collapsed and died almost immediately.
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Jonathan drove to a nearby gas station, called the police and told the
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operator that he just committed a murder. Before Jonathan went to trial, another
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court case took place that Jenny Jones Show faced a negligent suit that had been
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filed by Scott's loved ones. They argued that the show had irresponsibly put Scott
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and the other crushes who appeared on the episode in a position where they felt
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ambushed by their admirers, and that the show's producers should have considered the possibility
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of violence. Jonathan Schmidt's own family members also blamed his appearance on The Jenny
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Jones Show for Scott's murder. The talk shows. Jonathan's father said, they're
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absolutely rotten. Had Jenny Jones not done this, this would have never happened.
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Most of the popular talk shows attempted to avoid giving an official comment on
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the case, but eventually several of them caved. Jerry Springer disagreed that the
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Jenny Jones Show could be found responsible for Scott's death, saying quote to suggest
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we have reached a in our society where people don't take responsibility for their own
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actions. That this man could justify a murder because of a talk show is
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stupid on its face. Another talk show host, Phil Donahue said that blaming
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the Jenny Jones Show for the murder came very close to saying that producers have
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a responsibility to administer a sanity test for all prospective guests. The case also
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resulted in a debate about how shock value was used in talk shows, especially
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when an episode revolved around revealing private information to somebody in an ambush. Several
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talk show hosts claimed that they changed their protocols immediately after hearing about the incident,
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and the backlash that surrounded the Jenny Jones Show after Scott's murder discouraged other
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talk show hosts from putting their guests in similar situations. Many talk shows began
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to consider carrying out psychological profiling and more in depth screening when deciding what guests
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to invite on the show. Four years after filing in the lawsuit, Scott's
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family was awarded a settlement of almost thirty million dollars later, The Jenny Jones
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Show appealed the verdict, and in October two thousand and two, the judgment
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was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Despite the jury previously being eight
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to one in favor of Scott's family, the court now found that Jonathan's response
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to Scott's crush had been unforseeable, claiming that the Jenny Jones producers quote had
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no duty to anticipate and prevent the act of murder committed by Schmidtz three days
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after leaving the studio and hundreds of miles away. Jenny Jones herself, who
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had previously testified at the trial, described herself as being elated about that verdict
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being reversed. Quote. Scott Emmendur's murder was a horrible tragedy, but I
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have always believed that it was fundamentally wrong and unfair to blame the show.
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At Jonathan's nineteen ninety six trial, the defense relied on two factors that they
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believed had contributed to Scott's murder. Jonathan had Graves disease and bipolar disorder,
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and the fact that Scott Ammendor had been gay. They leaned on a legal
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term called gay panic, a defense that can be used when a heterosexual perpetrator
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claims that they killed an LGBT victim in a state of panic because of unwonted
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sexual advances, as well as alleging that Jonathan had been thrown into a state
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of panic by Scott's advances. His attorney told the jury about how Jonathan had
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a difficult childhood, including a traumatizing experience where he was publicly humiliated, and
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that he had suffered from suicidal tendencies as an adult. Regardless of Jonathan's medical
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history and the use of the gay panic defense, the jury still found him
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guilty of Scott's murder. However, they believed that Scott's mental state warranted a
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less severe charge, so the first degree murder charges were reduced to second degree
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murder. When one of the jurors was asked about the trial's verdict, they
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replied, quote, we saw the show as a catalyst in a young man's
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life who had a lot of problems. It sent his life back into an
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emotional tael spin. The judge handed him a sentence of twenty five to fifty
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years, which he appealed. The appeal was granted and the conviction was overturned,
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but at his retrial, Jonathan was found guilty a second time and received
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the same sentence. In twenty seventeen, Jonathan was released on parole after serving
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twenty one years of his sentence. Although he was never officially charged with committing
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a hate crime, Scott's murder is often described as one. The case led
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to increased public awareness of how the gay panic defense could be used in court,
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with many people saying that the murder was blamed on the Jenny Jones Show
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when it should have been viewed as a consequence of homophobia. Jenny Jones herself
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stated that the crime had more to do with homophobia than anything else, saying
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that quote it was tragic that Jonathan Schmidts would rather have been labeled a murderer
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than a homosexual. The case has been one of the most notorious examples of
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the gay panic defense providing a lighter sentence to a murderer, and it was
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cited as an example of why the defense should be banned across the United States
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of America. Since then, the gay panic defense has been banned in eighteen
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American states, but in Michigan, where Scott mmandor was murdered, it is
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still a valid defense In Court. That is ten minute murder for today Brief
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and binge able True Crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host, and thank
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you so much for listening. And just as a side note, not that
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it has anything to do with this trial or this case or this story.
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I've been to the Jenny Jones Show in the to late nineties after this all
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happened. I don't think I knew about it, but I was a guest
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in the audience, not a guest. I was in the audience, not
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a guest. Let me make that clear. I was not a guest,
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but I was in the audience watching the show because I knew people that were
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guests on the show. And if I remember, there's a photo of me,
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a screen capture of me sitting in the audience. You know when you
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come back from commercial break and everyone's clapping for literally no reason. There's a
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screen capture where you can see me back in the mid to late nineties.
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I'll try to post that if I can remember. So for today's listener email
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questions, instead of doing one, I'm going to do several that I've gotten
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that are just very short question and answers. So let's do that. What
10:43
is a movie or TV show that you love that you don't think people would
10:48
guess. That's from Cheryl in Arizona. The answer to that is the Good
10:52
Place, fantastic show. What skill or talent do you have that most people
10:58
have never seen? That's Desiree in Florida. I can juggle. I taught
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myself how during baseball in high school. What is one story outside of the
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more well known that you still think about? That's Christian in New York Byron
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Smith and the home Invasion Homicide. Look it up. I did an episode
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on it in August of twenty twenty. Samara in Texas wants to know what
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is your podcast set up? Specifically, what microphone do you use? This
11:26
is the Sennheiser MKH four sixteen. And finally, Laura in Florida. Do
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you call it a cooking sheet or a cookie sheet? And I'm gonna be
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honest with you, I didn't know that people called it a cooking sheet.
11:41
I just thought it was a cookie sheet because you put cookies on it to
11:45
bake them. And I'm just now finding out that people call it something else.
11:48
I don't know if I'm wrong, but it's going to be a cookie
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sheet for the rest of my life. I know that, and that's it.
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That's your episode for today. Thank you so much for listening to another
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ten minute Murder podcas Cast episode, and I'll see you on the next one. Bye.