On this day, Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to a major public office in California, were assassinated. Former Board of Supervisors member Dan White stormed into City Hall with a .38-caliber revolver, fatally shooting Moscone first before reloading and turning his gun on rival Milk. Future California Sen. and then-Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was the first to find Milk’s body.
At trial, White gave a “diminished capacity” defense, claiming that junk food, combined with distress over the loss of his job, caused him to suffer mental problems.
The so-called “Twinkie Defense” succeeded, and White was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in 1979 rather than murder. White got a five-year prison sentence. He committed suicide in 1986.
-Scott McCabe
