Back in 1979, Dan White blamed Twinkies for his killings of San Fransicko mayor George Moscone and supervisor Sean Penn – oops, I mean Harvey Milk. White claimed he was suffering from Diminished Capacity brought about by a high consumption of sugar.
White’s ‘Twinkie Defense’ worked in that he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of the capital murder charge for which he was tried. (Actually, White’s lawyers never mentioned anything about Twinkies before, during or after his trial. The term ‘ Twinkie Defense’ was something cooked up by the media.)
And now we have the Diet Defense:
CRASH DIET DEFENSE FAILS TO WORK FOR SOLDIER
Associated Press
July 29, 2011
SAVANNAH -- A Georgia soldier who argued he shot a superior to death because a crash diet drove him to a violent state of delirium was convicted of premeditated murder Thursday by a court-martial.
Under military law, 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Rashad Valmont of Jonesboro gets an automatic life sentence. The only question left for the five-member military jury that convicted him is whether Valmont should ever be eligible for parole.
Valmont was convicted in the June 2010 slaying of Master Sgt. Pedro Mercado. Both men served in a medical administration unit of the Army Reserve stationed at Fort Gillem outside Atlanta.
Sentencing would come today at the soonest at Fort Stewart, where the trial was held in southeast Georgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment