Jonathan's Actions Were Impulsive, Not Premeditated

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There was tons of evidence that Jonathan thought about killing Scott in advance, says George Washington University law professor Cynthia Lee. Despite this huge evidence of premeditation and deliberation, which is necessary for a first degree murder conviction, the jury found persuasive Jonathan's claim of diminished capacity and found him guilty of second degree murder.

In 1995, two men filmed an episode of the daytime talk show, The Jenny Jones Show. A few days later, one of the men was dead. The shooter later claimed he’d committed the murder “in a panic that he was being falsely accused or identified as a gay person.”

We speak with Cynthia Lee, Carsten Andresen, and Paul Howard about so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, and we discuss the murders of Scott Amedure, Islan Nettles, Larry King, Ahmed Dabarran, and Matthew Shepard.

Thanks to Thomas Curry, who helped co-produce this episode.

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