The man convicted of killing a gay admirer who revealed a crush on him on "The Jenny Jones Show" will serve at least 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, lawyers said.
Judge Francis X. O'Brien on Wednesday sentenced Jonathan Schmitz to 25 to 50 years for murdering Scott Amedure. Defense lawyer James Burdick said he'll appeal.Schmitz shot the 32-year-old Amedure to death three days after they attended the show's taping on March 6, 1995. The show never aired but was played in court.
Amedure's family said Schmitz, 26, should spend his life in prison to make up for each day they will spend without Amedure.
"There isn't a day that goes by where I don't mourn for my son's life," Amedure's mother, Patricia Graves, told O'Brien. "I hope every time he opens his eyes he will see Scott's body as he lay dying."
Allyn Schmitz, Schmitz's father, said the judge didn't consider the damage to his son's psyche from appearing on the syndicated talk show. Witnesses said Schmitz believed he was going to meet a woman admirer on the show and was humiliated when the admirer turned out to be a man.
"He was the guy who . . . was basically hauled into . . . immoral, sexual-perverted thing that totally devastated him mentally to the point that he couldn't even function anymore," he said after his son was sentenced.
Schmitz had been fighting alcoholism, depression and a thyroid condition when the show's producers ambushed him and pushed him over the edge, the defense said.
"I don't disagree with counsel that you are suffering some medical illness," O'Brien told Schmitz. But, he added, "You still have to be accountable to society."
Schmitz apologized before being sentenced. Lawyers for both sides said he will serve at least 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Amedure's family is suing "The Jenny Jones Show" and its owners and distributors - Warner Bros. and Telepictures - for $25 million, claiming negligence.