chapotraphouse

I lived in the Bay Area at that time with my family. I wasn't quite a teen yet. That day I saw footage of a crying woman on the news speaking about the murders. It freaked me out because she looked a lot like my mom. Luckily she did not sound like my mom - or I would have been really freaked out. There was only a facial resemblance. Her name was Dianne Feinstein but at the time - of course - I didn't care about that.

If remember correctly - Jonestown massacre happened the same month. That freaked me out too because I never thought mass death of people "near" me near could happen. Of course they were 1,000s of miles away in Guyana but they had lived in the Bay Area too just like me.

Back to the murders and Dan White. His lawyers used bullshit later called the Twinkie defense. The bullshit helped him get a reduced sentence. Because he was a "clean cut" white guy and an ex-cop and firefighter - he was sentenced to seven years. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots.

Twinkie defense

The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan White, a former San Francisco police officer and firefighter who was serving as a city district supervisor up until assassinating Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. At the trial, psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified that White had been depressed at the time of the crime, and pointed to several behavioral changes indicating White's depression: he had quit his job; he shunned his wife; and although normally clean-cut, he had become slovenly in appearance.

Furthermore, White had previously been a fitness fanatic and health food advocate, but had begun consuming junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks like Coca-Cola. As an incidental note, Blinder mentioned theories that elements of diet could worsen existing mood swings. Another psychiatrist, George Solomon, testified that White had "exploded" and was "sort of on automatic pilot" at the time of the killings. The fact that White had killed Moscone and Milk was not challenged, but – in part because of the testimony from Blinder and other psychiatrists – the defense successfully convinced the jury that White's capacity for rational thought had been diminished; the jurors found White incapable of the premeditation required for a murder conviction, and instead convicted him of voluntary manslaughter. Public protests over the verdict led to the White Night Riots.

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White Night riots

The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco. Earlier that day White had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter, the lightest possible conviction for his actions. The lesser conviction outraged the city's gay community, setting off the most violent reaction by gay Americans since the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.

After White's sentence was up - he wanted to go back to SF but he did his parole in LA. And then he went back to SF.

Dan White

White served five years of his seven-year sentence at Soledad State Prison and was paroled on January 7, 1984. Fearing he might be murdered in retaliation for his crimes, authorities secretly transported him to Los Angeles, where he served a year's parole. At the completion of his parole, White sought to return to San Francisco; Feinstein, by now elected mayor, urged him not to return on the basis that doing so would jeopardize public safety. Joel Wachs, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, also argued to keep White out of Los Angeles. White eventually did move back to San Francisco, where he lived with his wife and children.

The happy ending is after he was back in SF - he committed suicide.