The Jenny Jones Verdict
5.12.99

Last week the verdict was made in the case of the family of Scott Amedure versus The Jenny Jones Show et al. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff, and awarded them over $25 million. Before I start ranting... a little background info for those of you unaware...

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In 1995, Scott Amedure was shot to death by Jonathan Schmitz three days after Amedure revealed his secret crush on him during a taping Jenny Jones show concerning same-sex secret crushes.

The prosecution claimed that Schmitz's rage and killing of Amedure was a direct result of the embarrassment he suffered on the nationally syndicated talk show and that the producers of the show were negligent in that they should've better screened Schmitz before having him on the show.

The defendants did perform a pre-interview with Schmitz in which they told him that the "crush" might be a man or a woman, asked him what his reaction would be if it was a man, asked if he had ever been institutionalized, and believed, from his pre-interview, there to be no reason to NOT have him on the show.

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Everyone wants someone to blame (hell, we're still looking for someone to blame in the Columbine HS shootings). Schmitz admitted to the murder, and even though he will be retried on the criminal charges (thanks to faulty jury selection), he WAS convicted of 2nd Degree murder in 1996. Schmitz is in jail. His life is fucked. He murdered someone. He's been diagnosed of mental illness, has attempted suicide more than once, and now will be spending MUCH time in jail. He's paying his dues. But it's not enough.
My heart goes out to the Amedures. What happened to their family at the hands of Schmitz is terrible. Please don't take anything I say here as minimizing their loss. I can't imagine losing a son to a shotgun. I can't imagine their grief. But how much grief does $70 million relieve? How many children does $70 million bring back? See, 70 million is what the attorney for the Amedures started asking the jury for. And SOMEONE has to pay. I wonder if Schmitz getting the death sentence would be enough? He won't, of course, not for 2nd degree murder. But would that be enough to bring justice?

I understand the need for the family to seek retribution. I understand the belief that an enormous amount of money IS justice. But to say that the Jenny Jones Show, it's producers, and it's parent company are responsible for this wacko (and he was a confirmed wacko before he went on the show, unbeknownst to the producers) taking his offense to having his gay friend reveal a crush on him to such extremes, is ridiculous. How could they know, without doing EXTENSIVE and probably ILLEGAL research on Schmitz, that he would react in such a way?

The producers told him flat out that the crush could be a man or a woman. When asked how he would feel if this secret crush was a guy, he said, "I would go with it but I would say thanks but no thanks. It would be a disappointment, but don't worry. I'll be okay. I just hope everything turns out okay ... it could be embarrassing." When Schmitz was then asked to participate, he showed hesitation, but eventually agreed because his curiosity "got up." There you go... proof that this nut job knew the chance of his crush being a man, and knew the chance of embarrassment.

During the taping of the show (which never aired due to the killing three days after taping) Amedure admitted his crush before they showed a taping of Amedure talking about his fantasies of Schmitz, including wanting to put whipped cream on him and lick it off. Schmitz was visually embarrassed by the fantasies, but was dealing with it well on the show. Witnesses on the plane ride home and at his job noticed that he was somewhat shaken up by what had happened. But other witnesses say that Schmitz was partying with Amedure right after the show, and made plans to go shopping with him the day after. Now it seems he wasn't TOO shaken up from the show, was he? So there's got to be something else.

Part if it may have been Schmitz's father coming down on him, telling him that going on the show was not a good thing and saying something about never having grandchildren. Maybe Schmitz's family was real disappointed in him, maybe his friends heckled him. Maybe a million things happened. Schmitz said something about Amedure "not leaving him alone" in his confession. Maybe Scott brought it upon himself. Don't take that literally or as me saying that it's justifiable to kill someone for pushing your buttons after embarrassing you. But after behaving as he did on the show and immediately afterwards, there would have to be some other catalyst... everyone has their breaking point, and Schmitz's wasn't reached just by being on the show.

But the judge stacked the deck against the JJ Show when he gave his instructions to the jury that they must side with the Amedure family is they feel "The Jenny Jones Show" played any role in Scott Amedure's murder. Well, no shit, of course it did. It was the vehicle that allowed Amedure to express his feelings for Schmitz. Did they keep the gender of the crush a secret? Absolutely, that was the point of the show, hence "secret crushes". Should they have known that Schmitz would react in such an insane manner? Could they have? Well, if Scott Amedure, good friend, and the person with the crush on Schmitz didn't know that he'd go nuts, how could the producers? HOW were the producers of the show negligent enough to be completely responsible for Schmitz actions three days after he left the show? They weren't. But according to the judge's instructions, they only had to have had SOME part in the circumstances leading up the murder.

This is where it gets REALLY sticky...

Imagine the precedence this sets...
A man is exposed as a phony on a television news show, and as a result of his embarrassment, he goes and offs somebody. Now, thanks to this precedent, the family of the person that got whacked can successfully sue the news show and the station and the parent company for pushing this man to commit murder. Makes sense, doesn't it? NO... of course not.

I was thinking about my life in relation to this...
A few years ago, I worked at a restaurant which, at the time, had three gay waiters on staff. One of the waiters blatantly hit on me while we were working. I wasn't embarrassed or put off by it (actually, I was flattered)... but let's just say that I was embarrassed. Could I have sued the restaurant for having me work with a gay guy that hit on me at work and embarrassed me in public? Maybe. What if I was REALLY offended and embarrassed and whacked the guy? Could his family have sued the restaurant for the same reasons? According to this precedent... yeah.

What about now? What if someone reads something on my site, gets a bit wacky and kills someone because of something I wrote about them? Can I be sued for this guy getting killed? Well, I guess so.

See where this is going? Not only is the idea that the JJ show was responsible for Schmitz's actions three days later, a fuckin joke, the precedence this sets for the media and the First Amendment is outright ludicrous. But everyone needs someone to blame, everyone needs justice. Unfortunately, the man who is to blame is already behind bars, and justice is already being served. Anything more would be uncivilized.