"What this jury was saying was certainly he's guilty of murder, but we don't see him guilty of first-degree murder because there was no malice," said University Law Prof. Andrea Lyon.
An Oakland County jury on Tuesday convicted Schmitz on a charge of second-degree murder. He could get anywhere from eight years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole, at his Dec. 4 sentencing. First-degree murder, the conviction prosecutors sought, would have carried no hope of parole.
Lyon said jurors found Schmitz was "goaded and victimized" into the crime through public humiliation in a taping for the "Jenny Jones Show."
The jury found that Schmitz, 26, acted without premeditation in the shotgun slaying of Scott Amedure, 32, on March 9, 1995, three days after taping a talk show segment on same-sex crushes.
Legal experts say that while no single factor brought about the lesser conviction - the "Jenny Jones Show" itself was a major factor - defense attorneys clearly helped themselves with their strategy.
The attorneys, and experts they brought to the stand, argued that Schmitz was publicly humiliated when his secret admirer on the show turned out to be a man. That, coupled with Schmitz' history of depression, suicide attempts, a thyroid ailment and other problems, left him incapable of forming the intent necessary to commit first-degree murder, his lawyers said.
Such a defense is called "diminished capacity" - that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to premeditate the crime.
Patrick Keenan, professor of criminal and constitutional law at the University of Detroit Mercy, said the defense is used "very, very rarely" because it is complicated to explain to jurors and forces attorneys to rely on expert witnesses.
"There's a tremendous amount of cynicism about the use of expert witnesses," Keenan said.
But he said the strategy "did work somewhat" in the Schmitz case, as arguments about Schmitz's mental state and psychological trauma "raised reasonable doubt" among jurors.
Lyon said the lawyers opted for the rarely used defense because they had no facts to support other, more commonly used defense strategies, such as insanity and self defense. Jurors, she said, "like the honesty" of a defense in which the defendant admits committing the crime, but with extenuating circumstances.
At least two of the jurors mentioned their doubts about a first-degree conviction after the verdict was announced Tuesday. "We all felt he had a definite mental problem ... and the show exacerbated that," Juror Dale Carlington said.
Carl Becker, Schmitz's attorney in the upcoming civil trial, said he will not use the "diminished capacity" defense because it will not be a factor in civil law.
Amedure's family is suing Schmitz, the "Jenny Jones Show" and its owners and distributors, Warner Bros. and Telepictures Productions, for $25 million.
Becker said within a few days he will ask Oakland County Circuit Judge Gene Schnelz to postpone the civil trial until after Schmitz exhausts his appeals in the criminal trial. The civil trial had already been postponed pending a criminal trial verdict.