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To: JMD who wrote (29435)	5/7/1999 2:15:00 PM
From: Michael	Respond to of 152472

OT: attacking and humiliating guest can be costly 'Jenny Jones Show' Found Negligent filed at 1:32 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- A jury decided today that ''The Jenny Jones Show'' was negligent in the slaying of a gay guest who admitted a crush on another man, ordering the producers to pay more than $25 million in damages. The jury of five women and four men debated for just under seven hours before returning the verdict in its second day of deliberations. Eight out of nine jurors had to approve a verdict; one juror told the judge that he had voted against it. Scott Amedure's family had argued that a mentally ill Jonathan Schmitz was lured onto the talk show in 1995 believing he would meet a woman, and was humiliated into murder when his secret admirer turned out to be Amedure. Schmitz, who admitted shooting Amedure, has said he is heterosexual. Lawyers for Warner Bros., the show's owner, argued Schmitz was told his secret admirer could be a man or woman, and the show played no role in Amedure's death. A producer had testified that Schmitz hadn't seemed upset after the taping. They also contended Schmitz might have killed Amedure because the two had a sexual encounter, a charge plaintiffs' attorney Geoffrey Fieger denied. Besides funeral expenses, jurors awarded $5 million in damages for Amedure's suffering before he was killed, $10 million to the family for the loss of Amedure's companionship, and $10 million for the loss of money Amedure would have earned. Fieger had urged jurors to award $71.5 million in damages. ''Anyone involved in the business of interviewing ordinary people ... ought to be very concerned about the chilling effect this decision will have on them,'' defense lawyer James Feeney said outside the courtroom. ''These are issues that have much broader implication than just 'The Jenny Jones Show.''' He said the defense would appeal. In his closing argument, Feeny had said it was wrong to blame the show ''because there's only one person to blame for this tragedy.'' But Fieger, flanked by Amedure's family at a news conference, said the jury verdict sends a message to the talk show industry. ''That type of human exploitation needs to be corralled,'' Fieger said. '''The Jenny Jones Show' and what it does to people is unsafe at any speed.'' ''This is a renegade business,'' he said. During the six-week trial and again while deliberating, jurors watched the taped show, with Amedure, 32, talking about a sexual fantasy involving Schmitz and Schmitz's reaction when the fantasy is shown to him -- he buries his face in his hands. Authorities said Schmitz bought a shotgun, drove to Amedure's trailer in Oakland County's Orion Township and shot him twice in the chest three days after the taping. Schmitz was found guilty of murder in 1996, but his conviction was thrown out on appeal. His retrial is set for Aug. 19. His lawyers admitted he killed Amedure but contended the show humiliated Schmitz and he was fighting alcoholism, depression and a thyroid condition. Ms. Jones attended Wednesday's closing arguments, her first visit to the courtroom since she sparred with Fieger on the witness stand in April. She testified for three days. ''They solicited a victim. They picked a murderer and provided a motive,'' Fieger said of the show's staffers. ''They did everything in this case except pull the trigger.'' He urged the jurors to ''be a voice of justice for us all against an industry full of empty souls and absent consciences.'' Feeney said the appeal would be based on the instructions given to jurors before they becan deliberation. One of the most disputed instructions was the list of duties that the show owed to Amedure. Ms. Jones was not a defendant. Her office said it would issue a statement on the verdict.