When Schmitz, 26, found Scott Amedure, a 32-year-old unemployed gay man, telling a television audience about a fantasy that involved Schmitz, some whipped cream, strawberries and champagne, he became embarrassed and enraged, according to his lawyers.

Three days after the taping, on March 9, 1995, Schmitz received an anonymous, sexually suggestive note on his doorstep and assumed it came from Amedure.

Schmitz purchased a 12-gauge shotgun, went to Amedure's mobile home and fired two shots at close range into Amedure's chest. A few minutes later, Schmitz dialed 911 from a pay phone at a gas station near his sister's house.

"I just walked in the room and killed him," he told authorities.

What followed was not one but two sensational criminal trials, as well as a widely publicized civil trial in which Jenny Jones herself was a key witness. The incident also marked a turning point for the talk show industry.

Schmitz was charged with first-degree murder and committing a felony with a firearm. To convict him of first-degree murder, prosecutors had to prove that the murder was premeditated.

He faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury was also allowed to consider lesser charges, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter. He went to trial in Pontiac, Mich.

The Prosecution's Case

Though Schmitz may have been embarrassed by the "Jenny Jones" taping, it did not justify his killing Amedure, prosecutors argued. Schmitz drove to one store to purchase a shotgun, drove to another for ammunition and drove to Amedure's home before firing the fatal shots. That demonstrates premeditation, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors contended that when Schmitz went to Amedure's mobile home, Schmitz became violent. They say that a police report indicating an upturned chair at the crime scene shows that Amedure was trying to defend himself.

The state had both an oral confession and a videotaped confession. In a pretrial hearing, however, the judge ruled that both confessions were inadmissible because the oral confession was made without Schmitz being read his Miranda rights and the videotaped confession was made while his right to counsel was being violated.

The Defense's Case

Schmitz's defense team argued diminished capacity. They claimed Schmitz lacked the mental state required to have committed premeditated murder when he shot Amedure.

According to the defense's theory, Schmitz simply snapped after finding the note on his doorstep. Lawyers attributed Schmitz's reaction to Grave's disease — a thyroid gland disorder that can cause irrational and violent behavior — and manic depression.

The Verdict, Part One

On Nov. 12, 1996, the jury opted against the most serious charge, first-degree murder, and found Jon Schmitz guilty of second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm in commission of a felony. On Dec. 4, he received a 25- to 50-year sentence.

A Second Chance

In 1998, a Michigan appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that the defense should have been allowed to remove a juror before the trial started, and that lower court judge Francis X. O'Brien's mistake was grave enough to warrant overturning the conviction.

The defense wanted to remove a juror on the last day, but the prosecution objected since the defense had no objection the previous day.

O'Brien sided with the prosecution, but the state appeals court ruled that the defense should have the right to remove a juror at any time.

In August 1999, the case was retried before a new jury. But while Schmitz might have been hoping for a second chance, he was again convicted of second-degree murder.

The following month Schmitz was again sentenced to a 25- to-50-year maximum sentence for the 1995 slaying.

At both sentencings, Schmitz apologized to the Amedure family.

"I'd like to say sorry to the Amedure family. I can't take any of this back," Schmitz said. "I want to thank all my family and friends who have stood by me."

During the sentencing, Amedure's parents both addressed the court. Frank Amedure Sr. lamented that he would never see his son's smile again because of Schmitz, but he also placed part blame for his Scott's death on "The Jenny Jones Show," saying "If they'd [Schmitz and Scott] never gone on 'The Jenny Jones Show' those two kids would be alright today."

Amedure's family filed a civil lawsuit alleging negligence against "The Jenny Jones Show," its parent company Warner Bros. and production company Telepictures. The suit sought $50 million in damages.

The plaintiffs claimed that the show set in motion the events that led to Amedure's murder when they featured him and Schmitz on an episode focusing on secret admirers.

Schmitz says he was not informed before the show that Amedure was his secret admirer and was surprised when the "same sex crush" was revealed to a studio audience. The plaintiffs also claimed the show's producers encouraged Amedure to embellish his fantasies to make the show better.

Geoffrey Fieger, who represented the plaintiffs, suggested early on that his clients would not settle the case out of court in the hopes that the trial would hold talk shows accountable for their tactics and encourage them to use better screening tactics of its guests.

"This case is not about who is more responsible, Jonathan Schmitz or 'The Jenny Jones Show.' There is no doubt that Jonathan Schmitz is responsible," Fieger said. "This is about making 'The Jenny Jones Show' accept responsibility for its actions. You can't humiliate someone like Jonathan Schmitz. There was absolutely no screening process. Here was a guy who is mentally ill. [The producers of "Jenny Jones"] provided the murderer, the victim and the motive."

But the defendants contended they had nothing to do with the murder and denied being negligent. James Feeney, who represented the defendants, focused on Amedure's alleged admission to his mother of a sexual encounter with Schmitz. He said evidence proved that Schmitz knew about Amedure's romantic interest in him before the show's taping and did not object to it before or during the show.

Jones in the Hot Seat

The trial was highlighted by testimony from Jones herself, who spent a grueling three days on the stand.

She said she didn't feel the revelation of a gay crush would be embarrassing to Schmitz. During the show, she said, he didn't seem embarrassed but smiled, laughed and clapped.

Jones, appearing weary at times during her testimony, withstood a barrage of attacks by Fieger, who accused her of exploiting her troubled history with breast implants to promote her show, and of profiting from Amedure's murder by including the incident in her autobiography. All the proceeds of the book, Jones contends, were given to breast cancer research.

More pertinently, Fieger said that Jones deceives the people who participate in her show, ignoring he impact that their revelations on national television can have on their lives.

After she finally got off the stand, Jones said it had been "very stressful to be vilified the way that we were" following the shooting.

"I think he was kind of being the bully he is," she said.

The Plaintiff's Case

Focusing on testimony regarding Schmitz's excessive drinking and alleged depression after the show, Fieger claimed that "Jenny Jones" sent Schmitz into a downward spiral, which cost Amedure his life. Schmitz's depression grew as the broadcast date of the show drew closer, he said. The same-sex secret crush episode never aired.

Schmitz's father Allyn, his employers at The Fox & Hounds restaurant, and his sister all testified that he was noticeably disturbed by his experience on the show and that they urged him to "put it behind him." Even an airline passenger who sat next to Schmitz on his flight home testified that he seemed preoccupied with his experience on the show. "Jenny Jones," Fieger noted, was one of the first things Schmitz mentioned in a 911 call after the murder.

Fieger also emphasized Schmitz's history of mental illness, particularly his previous suicide attempts and what the producers of "Jenny Jones" could have done to prevent him from coming on the show. The producers, he argued, could have asked Schmitz whether he had been hospitalized for mental illness. The plaintiffs also believed the show could have provided post-show counseling for Schmitz to make sure he was okay.

Fieger argued that the producers knew Schmitz did not want his secret admirer to be a man: he told former producer Karen Campbell that he did not want a man telling him about a secret crush on national television.

The Defense's Case

Led by lawyer James Feeney, the defendants argued that the show had no reason to suspect that Schmitz would have killed Amedure after the show and that Schmitz's behavior and answers in a pre-show interview did not suggest that he was homophobic or had the potential for violence.

Feeney noted that, in a pre-show interview, Schmitz had said that, if his crush turned out to be a man, he would say, "thanks, but no thanks." Schmitz had insisted he would be okay, Feeney claimed.

Feeney also stressed that Schmitz's behavior during and immediately after the show did not indicate embarrassment. On a videotape of the unaired show, Schmitz is seen smiling and appears to be handling the surprise revelation well. Muccianti testified that Schmitz shook his hand and thanked him for having him as a guest. Feeney also noted that Schmitz partied with Amedure and their mutual friend Donna Riley after the show and had even made plans with Amedure to go shopping for a ceiling fan.

Using the testimony of psychiatrists and evidence from Schmitz's confession, Feeney argued that Schmitz killed because he felt like he was being stalked, not because of his experience on "Jenny Jones."

The Verdict

On May 7, the jury sided with the Amedures, awarding them more than $25 million. The jury compensated the Amedure family with $6,500 in funeral and burial expenses, $5 million for Amedure's pain and suffering, and $10 million each for loss of companionship and compensation. The jury's decision was not unanimous: one out of the nine jurors sided with the defendants. Eight jurors were needed for a verdict in favor of the Amedure family.

Defense lawyer Feeney was confident the jury's decision would not stand.

"As far as the jury's decision goes, the verdict speaks for itself. But I think by the end of the day, when we take this before a court of appeals, the appeals court will feel otherwise," Feeney said. "I feel there is a no way this verdict will stand up in a court of appeals."

The Appeal

In March 2000, an appeals court upheld the $25 million verdict, rejecting claims by the defense that Fieger's alleged bullying tactics unfairly influenced the jury.

Lawyers representing the show's distributors, Warner Bros. and Telepictures, wanted Judge Gene Schnelz either to throw out the verdict, reduce the award or order a new trial. They argued that Fieger's bullying tactics and overzealous advocacy had inflamed the jury.

Schnelz

But Schnelz rejected their arguments in his 21-page opinion, saying "[Fieger] only did what a zealous advocate is required to do. It is ironic that employees of a production whose life-blood is confrontation, surprise and hyperbole would be upset or complain that it was unfair when it happened to them."