Jenny Jones

In 1995, the show became the focus of a sensational murder trial. On March 9, 1995, 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz appeared on a show called "Same-Sex Secret Crushes," but having only been told that the show was about secret crushes, he assumed that the admirer was a woman. The secret crush turned out to be his neighbor, 32-year-old Scott Amedure. Feeling that he had been publicly humiliated, Schmitz killed Amedure three days later with a 12-gauge shotgun. Schmitz was tried for first-degree murder, but the case was overturned due to a technical error in the jury selection. In 1999, he was tried for Second-degree murder and received a sentence of 20-25 years. In May of that year, a civil trial found "The Jenny Jones Show" to have been negligent because they did not screen the guests before inviting them on the show. The show was ordered to pay the Amedure family $25,000,000 for funeral expenses and pain and suffering for each family member. This decision was later overturned on appeal. The show pressed on in spite of sluggish ratings and was finally cancelled in 2003.

Featured in Talk Soup: Episode dated 11 January 1994 (1994)