Jenny
Jones Talk Show Murder - The March 6, 1995 segment of THE
JENNY JONES SHOW featured the topic "revealing same-sex secret
crushes." One of the guests on the program, namely Jonathan
Schmitz, was told that he was going to be introduced to someone
who had a crush on him (Schmitz expected a woman). When Schmitz
discovered that the person in question was actually a male
homosexual named Scott B. Amedure, he reportedly was extremely
embarrassed for being publicly humiliated on nationwide
television.
After the taping, Schmitz received an anonymous love letter and
on March 9, 1995 he traveled Amedure's home and shot him twice
in the chest with a shotgun. Schmitz then called a 911
dispatcher and confessed his actions to the police.
Schmitz was later charged with first degree murder and THE JENNY
JONES SHOW became the focus of all sorts of allegations
concerning the murder and the way the program participants were
allegedly mislead and "set up."
At the November, 1996 trial, (Michigan v. Schmitz) defense
attorneys claimed that Schmitz snapped under the pressure of
public embarrassment and because of mental illness ("diminished
capacity") due to complications from depression, and a thyroid
problem linked to Grave's disease.
Schmitz was convicted of second degree murder but the charge was
overturned due to jury selection technicality and scheduled for
retrial.
In March of 1999, the family of Scott Amedure brought civil suit
against THE JENNY JONES SHOW for $50 million damages believing
the show was responsible for igniting the spark which caused
Schmitz deadly outburst.
