| A defense against a criminal charge that rests on the claim that some external force impaired the judgement of the accused, thus diminishing their personal responsibility for the crime. The term originates from the erroneous reporting on the trial of former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White, who murdered mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. The defense centered on White's extreme depression, evidence of which, they said, was the decline of his normally healthy diet to one of Twinkies and other junk foods. When White was convicted of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, the papers reported that White's lawyers had argued that the junk food caused him to behave the way he did. |
