Comments on: Ask Mike: The Twinkie Defense

By: DonericDiSante

DonericDiSante — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:16:08 +0000

See the Song “I Fought the Law (and I Won)” by the Dead Kennedys. It was written about this trial.

By: muahree

muahree — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:09:08 +0000

interesting

By: dj

dj — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:48:19 +0000

hihi

By: lancitos

lancitos — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:36:12 +0000

It is true that the “twinkie defense” came out during the Dan White trial.
The theory was that he was eating a lot of junk food,
and that caused him to snap.It was not just twinkies.

The term for an old Gay is not “twinkie”
There is a term that applies to a young Gay as
“twink” That’s not fair,either.
At any rate,involuntary manslaughter for killing two
elected people,when the killer brought a loaded gun,
and reloaded,and to avoid metal detectors,snuck
in through a basement window: That’s about as
premeditated as it gets.

Moral of the story:If you’re going to kill someone,
kill yourself instead.You’re probably going to end up
that way anyway,and you’ll save your family (and
the victim’s family) so much grief.

By: Tina Joy!

Tina Joy! — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:07:58 +0000

This was most interesting; to be honest, I’ve never heard of that saying until now…

By: Terry L. German

Terry L. German — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:19:07 +0000

Very good Mike.
Remember, Money and influence buys the system.
Dan took himself out in a gay-rage! breathing gas fumes from his auto.
Frisco, always will be Frisco and thats the truth.

By: Cyn Stern

Cyn Stern — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:54:17 +0000

I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my entire life, and the incidents to which you’re referring are still pretty-fresh in my memory. And if my memory is serving me, then the “Twinkie Defense,” as used by the defense attorney, DID, in fact, imply that junk food was at least partly responsible for the defendant’s state of mind.

Let’s just say that, yes, White was depressed, and yes, he was stressed out by various things that were going on in his life…and eating junk food was BOTH a symptom of and a contributor to his state of mind. In other words, eating junk food exacerbated the already-poor state of mind…but he was, perhaps, more-inclined to eat junk food instead of wholesome things because he was depressed and under stress.

While “The Twinkie Defense” is not ENTIRELY “junk science,” I still don’t feel that any of the factors constituted a defense for what he did. If that is someone’s idea of a legitimate defense, then, frankly, ANYONE with a good lawyer could argue for “diminshed capacity” and get away with ANYTHING.

By: marina

marina — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:40:15 +0000

interesting the variety of answers.
i understand it 2 b the Dan White defense 4 the murders of Mayor Mosconi and councilman Harvey Milk, who was gay, in San Francisco. Apparently Dan White had been depressed, eating twinkies and was hypo-glycemic when he committed the murders.
i remember this bcuz when i learned about this, i also learned that one slang term for an old gay is “twinkie” go figure. ironic but sad.

By: Emma W.

Emma W. — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:13:29 +0000

I learned all about this because I was in a play about the trial of Dan White. It’s called Execution of Justice, and I played Dr.Blinder – the man who argues the Twinkie Defense. While most people laughed at me when I mentioned it, but after it explained what it ACTUALLY WAS – as you said, not the cause, but an indicator, and something that couldn’t have helped – people were shocked, and quite interested. I fully recommend seeing the play, or reading the script.

By: sweetirishgrl06

sweetirishgrl06 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:19:37 +0000

The “twinkie defense” came about due to a man, fired from his job, tried to murder his boss, and blamed it on the massive quanities of twinkies he had comsumed during the week. Hense the so called defence. Now people use it as a saying when someone is trying to blame their own actions on someone or something else that causes them to have “uncontrolled” bad judgment. Look it up in the judical/law books.