In the spring of 1995, a television appearance set in motion a tragic chain of events that would end in the death of 32-year-old Scott Amedure, a male from Lake Orion, Michigan. On March 6, Amedure participated in a taping of 'The Jenny Jones Show' for an episode centered on secret same-sex crushes. During the show, Amedure revealed that he had a crush on his acquaintance, 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz.
Schmitz, who was also a guest, claimed he was heterosexual but appeared to take the revelation in stride, laughing it off.
The situation, however, took a dark turn in the days following the taping. Three days later, on March 9, after finding a sexually suggestive note on his doorstep, Schmitz purchased a 12-gauge shotgun. He then drove to Amedure's mobile home in Lake Orion. After confronting Amedure about the note, Schmitz retrieved the shotgun from his car, returned to Amedure's residence, and fatally shot him twice in the chest. Following the shooting, Schmitz immediately called 911 from a nearby gas station and confessed to the murder, telling the operator that he was embarrassed on national television.
Jonathan Schmitz was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. During his trial, his defense attorneys argued a 'gay panic' defense, claiming that Schmitz, who had a history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder, was driven to violence by the humiliation he felt from the on-air revelation and Amedure's subsequent actions. In 1996, a jury found Schmitz guilty of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.
Schmitz's conviction was later overturned on appeal, but he was retried and found guilty of the same charge in 1999, with his original sentence being reinstated. After serving 22 years, Jonathan Schmitz was granted parole and released from prison in August 2017. The unaired episode of 'The Jenny Jones Show' featuring Amedure and Schmitz was eventually shown to the jury during a subsequent civil trial brought by the Amedure family against the show. The family was initially awarded a significant sum, but that verdict was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
