J
Jenny Jones Showmurder
The Event Scott Amedure confesses his love for
his friend Jonathan Schmitz on the air during a
taping of theJenny Jones Show; three days later, a
humiliated Schmitz shoots Amedure twice in
the chest, killing him
Date March 9, 1995
Place Detroit, Michigan
This murder and subsequent trials served to curtail the
“ambush-style” talk-show episode of the early 1990’s. In ad-
dition, the trials brought attention to the use of the “gay
panic” defense in the courtroom.
On March 6, 1995, Jonathan Schmitz, a guest with a
history of mental illness and substance abuse, was
invited to a “secret admirer” episode without the
knowledge that the admirer was a man, a friend
by the name of Scott Amedure.
Though Schmitz was seen to be ami-
cable and joking during the show,
he became disturbed after leaving
the studio. Three days later, he
bought a shotgun, drove to Ame-
dure’s trailer home, and shot him
twice in the chest.
Schmitz was found guilty of
second-degree murder in 1996, but
his conviction was overturned on
appeal because of a technicality. He
was retried and convicted in 1999
and sentenced to twenty-five to fifty
years in prison. Schmitz’s lawyers
had attempted to use the so-called
gay panic defense—which tries to
characterize the victim as a homo-
sexual predator (according to trial
testimony in 1996, Amedure left
suggestive notes at Schmitz’s home
before the latter purchased the
murder weapon) whose advances
resulted in the defendant’s violent
action. The argument, which essentially claims that
the crime was committed in self-defense, has been
criticized as “blaming the victim.”
In addition, Amedure’s family filed a civil suit
against theJenny Jones Showasserting that the show’s
producers ought to have discovered Schmitz’s his-
tory of mental illness. The family won the ruling in
1999, and the show was ordered to pay them $25 mil-
lion. On October 23, 2003, the Michigan Court of
Appeals reversed the 1999 decision of the Oakland
County jury, ruling that the show’s owner, Warner
Bros., and its distributor, Telepictures, were not lia-
ble for the death of Scott Amedure.Impact Amedure’s murder shook the ground be-
neath the so-called ambush-style talk shows of Jerry
Springer, Geraldo Rivera, and Maury Povich. After
the 1996 verdict, ratings for theJenny Jones ShowandJenny Jones answers questions during testimony in the wrongful death lawsuit brought
by the family of Scott Amedure against theJenny Jones Show. The show was ordered
to pay the family $25 million.(AP/Wide World Photos)