The twinkie defense and diminished capacity....

[Syphun]

Every report that i have read in regards to the “twinkie defense” of the 70’s in San Francisco, California has concluded in saying that a proposition was made in
San francisco in the 80’s ruling that it is an invalid defense to use in court…IN CALIFORNIA!
What states is this defense still valid in and more importantly is it valid in Florida?

p.s. I am not planning a murder…i promise that is it strictly educational.

[Max_Torque]

There never was a “Twinkie defense”, it was something the media blew out of proportion. It was reported that eating Twinkies had caused Dan White’s incapacity, when in fact his attorney only presented the eating of too many Twinkies as evidence of White’s depression.

More information here: http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/twinkie.htm

[Otto]

Max

It was reported that eating Twinkies had caused Dan White’s incapacity, when in fact his attorney only presented the eating of too many Twinkies as evidence of White’s depression.

Having trouble accessing the Snopes link for some reason, but quoting from Randy Shilts’s The Mayor of Castro Street:

Another psychiatrist talked about how Dan White’s habitual consumption of junk food–particularly Twinkies, potato chips and Coca Cola–led to the killings, since the extreme variations in blood sugar levels exacerbated existing manic-depression. This soon became known as the Twinkie defense.

So I don’t think the above is quite correct.

[Syphun]

Maybe my question was a bit misleading, I appologize for that.
In 1982 California made dimished capacity an invalid defense in court, this was followed by other states also making a dimished capacity plea invalid. the twinkie defence is the same as dimished capacity, now…what states is the dimished capacity plea acceptable and more importantly is it valid for use in Florida?

[Lamia]

Snopes does address this, Otto, here is the relevant paragraph in case anyone is still having trouble with the link:

When the diminished capacity defense was successful and White was convicted of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, an outraged media and public skipped the middlemen. White’s depression wasn’t mentioned; instead we were told he had claimed that “Twinkies made him do it.” (Dr. Blinder did suggest excessive sugar could have aggravated a chemical imbalance in White’s brain, but that comment was offered only as a parenthetical remark during Blinder’s testimony about White’s depression. It was not in any way a substantive part of White’s defense.)

[Syphun]

ok ok…all i want to know is if dimished capacity is a valid defense and more importantly if it is a valid defense in Florida…i do not particularly have interest in it’s relevance in this particular case.

[bibliophage]

It doesn’t answer the specific question, but Jill wrote a Staff Report about diminished capacity: Did a murderer escape punishment using the “Twinkie defense”?

For that reason most U.S. courts have refused to accept the diminished capacity defense (although lawyers still make the argument, for example in the trial for the Matthew Shepard gay-bashing murder in Wyoming).

[Edited by bibliophage on 12-03-2001 at 08:20 PM]