[PoisedWoman]

who blamed his actions on additives in hot dogs?<<<

Nah, White used the famous Twinkie defense. Blamed his mental state on overdose of sugar-laden Twinkies and got off with, as I recall, seven years in the slammer. Today, a similar perp might invoke the Oreo defense and get off scott free because trans-fatty acids had blocked his brain. It never ends CA.

[livius]

It was a stupid defense, but it worked because many folks in SF had some sympathy for White. (I was living there when this happened.) Harvey Milk was a jerk, and the best thing that ever happened to him was getting killed. He relentlessly provoked the straight council members - and particularly Dan White - but he was not even popular in the gay world until his death, which made him a saint among them.

BTW, I'm not supporting what Dan White did. Obviously, there are better ways of handling things like this. However, there were more things involved than Twinkies.