Law & Order

This episode appears to be ripped from the headlines of the Dan White case. In 1978, Dan White shot and killed both mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, reportedly due to his fury at what he saw as the rising trend in gay activism -- Milk was the first openly gay elected official in San Francisco history. White's lawyers argued that he had been suffering from severe depression which had inhibited his ability to distinguish right from wrong. Over the years, an urban legend has cropped up claiming that White's lawyers used the "Twinkie Defense" (in other words, eating junk food made him do it), but it was never claimed in court that eating junk food was, in any way, responsible for White's activities -- his excessive consumption of junk food was used to show just how depressed he had gotten, but was never blamed.