hi my beautiful friends how are you today

I hope you are having a wonderful day so far

my name is Bailey Sarian and today is Monday

which means it’s Murder Mystery and Makeup Monday

hi so if you are new here

every Monday I sit down

I talk about true crime story

that’s been heavy on my noggin

and I get ready for my day at the same time

if you’re interested in true crime

and you like makeup

I would highly suggest you hit that subscribe button

cause I’m here for you every Monday

that’s right baby

today’s story

what was requested to me a handful of times

and I remember reading about it here and there

I never really dug that deep into it

until the other day

and I was like dude

the story is nuts

okay let’s get into it

really just shut up

so today’s story is about Scott Amajor

he was born in Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

and his father Frank

he was a local tractor trailer driver

and his mother Patricia

a stay at home like a housewife

in 1968 the family moved to Michigan

and 2 years later

Scott parents they decided to get a divorce

to separate

it just wasn’t working out

so they went their separate ways

and when scott’s parents decided to get a divorce

Scott ended up living with his father

with his father lived

his 2 brothers and a sister as well

at the age of 17

Scott ended up dropping out of high school

and he enlisted into the army

and that’s where he was able to get his GED

which if you’re not familiar with the GED

it’s like a

it’s like a high school diploma

just outside of high school

yeah while he was in the army

he trained in satellite communications

and then after 3 years of serving in the army

he received an honorable discharge

with the rank of a specialist

and after that

Scott was working several years

in technical communications and telephone type jobs

he became a bartender

because he like really enjoyed working at night

I don’t know

he just like the night life

I guess for my understanding

so that is just like

a little bit that I could find about Scott

and he’s part of the story sometimes

I just don’t know how to set these things up

but anyways

so this story takes place in the

in the mid 90s

daytime talk shows were everything

there were so many daytime talk shows

and it was so good

oh it was so bad too

because a lot of these daytime talk shows

they fed into the more like shocking stories

that would make the audience just be blown away

what like shock value

right before clickbait was a thing

there was like clickbait with daytime talk shows

it was just out of control

it was great I loved it

so the Jenny Jones Show was on throughout the 90s

and the ratings were

I mean they are pretty high

they were good

they were good

okay her episodes covered everything

from teens being too hot

my goth kid needs a makeover

teen by day

vampire by night

these were actual episode topics

I personally just lived for the makeover ones

oh I love the makeover ones

like my teen is a goth

and I want her to have a preppy makeover

oh yeah or the other ones were like

really bad teenagers would come in and be like

I like to fight

and then they would send the teenagers off to boot camp

golden now Jenny Jones was going to be filming

an episode about secret crushes

the plan was to surprise your crush on national TV

so this is where Scott comes in

I’m not quite sure how Scott found out about this show

but he did and he wrote in

wanting to be on this episode

his story was accepted

and he got the opportunity to

he flown out and appear on the Jenny Jones Show

so another man by the name of Jonathan Schmitz

he was 24 years old at the time

he agreed to appear on the show with his friend Donna

who was actually in on the secret

so on March 6 1995

the taping of the show had taken place

so Scott is on stage

and John is in the back

he doesn’t know that scott’s the one with the crush on

him okay scott’s on the stage talking to Jenny Jones

just going over how he has crush on this guy named John

he explains how he met John

he says that he went over to see his friend Donna

at her apartment

and John was working

like under her car on her car

something and Scott tells the audience

that he immediately noticed john’s hot body

Scott then like

goes on to say that he just kept thinking about John

and having all these crazy fantasies about him

like sharing a bottle of champagne

hanging out together on a hammock

just little things

but Scott said that

he wasn’t actually sure if John was gay or not

now at this time

John had absolutely 100

no idea who the secret admirer was

producers of the show said it could be a man or a woman

and that it would be revealed if he came on the show

so of course

when John hears this

he’s feeling curious

who could be my secret admirer

like someone likes me

and I get to be on TV

okay so he said yes

now the actual show itself

it didn’t air on TV

for reasons that we will get into

some clips were released by the media

and also used for court purposes

when Scott revealed that he had a crush on John

John was obviously surprised and shocked to hear that

Scott had a crush on him

everything seemed like it was fine

but I guess

according to John

when he found out that Scott had a crush on him

he played a cool professional

I’m on TV haha

no big deal

but deep down

he was livid

now it said

after the taping

they fly back home

and when Scott gets home

Scott went out for a long night of drinking

and then he didn’t return home until like

the early hours

and when he returned home

he founded Spicy Note

that was left for him by Scott

now when John finds this letter from Scott

it just set John over the edge

John would say that scott’s homosexuality

frightened him

frightened him

and he felt humiliated

and he felt really angry

so with all of these feelings

jon’s having just anger

humiliation frightened

John immediately goes to the bank

pulls out cash and then goes and buys a gun

so once John gets the weapon

he drives over to scott’s house

he goes to the door

knocks on the door

and he asked Scott did you write me this note

we’re not 100 sure what this conversation looked like

so this is when John allegedly went back to his car

he sat there for a while

contemplated like what his options were

John then grabs his gun

he gets out of the car

he goes back up to scott’s house

and then he shoots him twice in the chest

shortly after John shoots Scott

he calls 9 one one

and he confesses to what he does

he’s crying on the phone and he says like

I just shot somebody

yeah so he calls and he

he tells them what

what he just did

cut and dry right

no of course not you fool

john’s lawyer claims that John went out to drink

with friends from work

after coming home

in the morning

he found a note that was left by Scott

which said quote

if you really want to get off

I’m the only one who has the right tool end quote

the next morning

that’s when

apparently John confronted Scott and ended his life

the Jenny Jones

producer later testified that John called the studio

the day after filming the show

and told her that John and Scott

had what producers referred to as a love connection

it was a match

they seemed to be really into one another

from their perspective

I guess for quite some time after Scott was killed

his family tried to like

make some kind of sense as to what happened

they really blamed the Jenny Jones show

so john’s mother actually came out

and claimed that Jenny Jones

pushed into doing things he didn’t wanna do

to make it look good for the audience

and if he didn’t do that

then Jenny Jones would be very mad

in john’s defense

he claimed that the producers of the Jenny Jones Show

quote ambushed him

and John goes on to say that he knew someone had

a crush on him

but he assumed that it was probably like

his ex fiance

who like he was engaged to for a couple of years

so he was thinking

oh it’s probably her

yeah I’ll go to the show

no big deal

and producers of the show said that they told John that

it was possible that his crush

could have been a man or a woman

and they said that they told him this

and they stood by that

oh I forgot to mention

I am so sorry

John did get arrested

he got arrested

and he was sitting in jail

awaiting his trial

they were having a really hard time

determining if John was mentally stable

when he went after Scott

lawyers claimed that their client was manic depressive

and that he’d been up all night

drinking and smoking pot

before he killed Scott

so he wasn’t in the right mindset before he did it

john’s lawyers attempted to put the Jenny Jones

Show on trial

to deflect guilt from John

and they discussed his issues

with alcoholism

depression and a chronic thyroid condition

they’re just trying to deflect

okay that’s their job

that’s what they’re getting paid for

it’s a shitty job

it’s a shitty job

could you imagine trying to stand up for the bad guys

I feel bad for those people because I mean

how do you represent the bad guys

I would be like sorry man

you’re on your own

but whatever

okay anyways now here’s the thing that I learned

this is this is what blew my mind that this was a thing

cause I had no idea this was a thing

the main defense

they were claiming as to why John did this

and this is what it’s called

don’t come after me

it’s called the gay panic defense

it’s a think let me tell you

gay panic defense

okay what now

this sounds like an absolute joke

but surprise

it’s a real thing

so gay panic defenses

are legal techniques commonly used in court battles

regarding actions committed against members of the

LGBTQ community in a gay panic defense

the defendant argues

they lost control because of their victims

sexual orientation

you guys and there are a lot of cases

that have used this defense

now it helped john’s defense attorneys sway the court

and reduce his charges

gay panic defense is permitted in every US state

except California

Illinois and Rhode Island as of 2018

so let me double check that

they were having a really hard time

deciding what to do with John

to us I feel like

well to me I can only speak for myself

it seems very cut and dry

he killed a guy

he called 9 one

one he confessed

that’s it right

no they were having such a hard time

before being sentenced

the first time

John stood in front of the court

and he read a poem that he wrote

it was meant to be an apology to scott’s family

it didn’t really seem like he was fully

sorry for what he did

the judge told John that he still had to be quote

accountable to society and quote

and sentence him to a maximum of 50 years in prison

so this ended up leading to a bunch of appeals

and in 1996

John was found guilty again

but this time

of second degree murder

and he was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison

and then 3 years after that

he was retried on an appeal

and he was found guilty again

I don’t know what kind of outcome

this guy was so hoping for

when John was sent to prison

scott’s family went after Jenny Jones with vengeance

they believe that Jenny Jones and her producers

were to blame for their son’s death

at first a civil jury agreed with them

and the Michigan court awarded the family $25,000,000

not that that fixes the problem

or brings their son back

they just wanted the show to be held accountable

for what they felt like was their responsibility

and their son’s death

now the Warner Brothers attorney

warner Brothers

own Jenny Jones

the show now

their attorney heavily disagreed with this

they we’re gonna fight it

okay they called the initial ruling

a profoundly disturbing verdict

that was a quote

they fought

and they were able to get the verdict overturned

after an appeal

they did not want to pay

they just didn’t want to pay the 25 million

also just didn’t want to take responsibility

so John was sentenced 25 to 50 years in prison

and he was sent to the Parnell Correctional Institution

in Mississippi

according to john’s lawyers

he did his time quietly

and he served 22 years in prison

and guess what

baby in 2017

at the age of 47

John was granted parole

and he was released

so many people were upset about this case

for a good reason

I mean John got a gun

then he went to scott’s house

he shot him

because he’s

John was homophobic

I’m sorry I said it

but why else did he kill him

this is an opinion

I think he killed him

because it made him extremely uncomfortable

he was embarrassed

and I’m sure he didn’t want people thinking he was gay

I’m curious enough

if on the Jenny Jones show

John goes and

like the surprise

crash person is a girl

and maybe like

Scott wasn’t attracted to this girl

when the show ended

would would John still have gone and killed

killed the ugly girl

probably not

I have a feeling

I vaguely remember this

this happening

but I do remember

I do remember that

it affected Jenny Jones

like actual Jenny Jones

not just the show

but the real Jenny Jones

I remember her doing like

an interview

I think it was with Barbara Walters

I could be wrong on that one

but she did

an interview

and she expressed how she felt

like really guilty about the whole thing

and she seemed really depressed

and how she just felt really awful

about the whole situation

she really stood by the fact

that she never pressured anybody to do

anything that they didn’t want to do

and that her producers

for the show

made sure to tell him

like it could be a man or a woman

who comes out

and expresses

that they have a crush on you

but she really stood by her team

because scott’s family

was coming after them heavy

you know what

maybe it is their fault

when a show is called the Jenny Jones Show

it’s easy to blame

Jenny Jones

for her show

but realistically

like all these talk shows

a lot of the times

the hosts and whatnot

don’t even have much to say

as far as who the guests are

maybe the topics

it’s mainly like

the producers and stuff

so Jenny stood by the fact

I never made anyone do anything

I was just the host

but I guess

she has to take some responsibility right

so a lot of times you guys

this is side note

a lot of times

you guys ask me how

I do these videos

now by the time

you’re watching this video

I edited it

I edit the video down

to where you see the clean

polished version

for the most part

last week’s episode was a good example

of you know

I’m not always perfect

but behind the scenes

I type up like

a script and what

not the whole story

pretty much

and then I reference it

when I’m telling the story

if I ever forget

what I’m getting at is

yesterday I was like

writing up the script

and I was like

yeah Jane Jones

is not responsible

whatsoever for this

this is what

I was thinking

and now that

I’m sitting here

I’m having a change of heart

I think actually

she might be

they she should be held a little

responsible

because I’m curious

to know well

for starters

I think Scott

would still be alive

I mean I hope

I mean I’m curious to know

if this John guy

would have killed

or harmed anyone

regardless of the show

or did the Jenny

Jones show just

it’s what led to everything

I don’t know

so now I’m thinking

actually she might be

more responsible

than I think

they probably

should have

just told him

look it’s a man

are you okay with that

and just gotten that

out of the way

I guess they

weren’t thinking that

this would be

the outcome

obviously or

they wouldn’t have done it

but they should

held responsible

so yeah the producers did

like call it’s

their job to

technically

call interview

and make sure that

the guests are

like mentally

stable enough

to be put on

stage on TV

they need to make sure

that this is

even the right fit

for the show

so their job

is to make sure

that this John

guy is okay

to bring on the show

but the Jenny

Jones show continued

on air until 2003

and I honestly

think that this

played a big role

with how talk

shows handled themselves

and the topics

of the show itself

because the

shocking topics

really calmed down

a little bit

besides Jerry Springer

Jerry Springers

just over there

on that random channel

just doing doing their

his own thing

John is out now

I don’t know

where his whereabouts are

and I honestly

didn’t want to

even look it up

because I’m

you know he

did a really

awful thing

and I believe

that he should

be in prison

for the rest of his life

because he murdered somebody

so I don’t know

and I would

consider it

would you consider it

a hate crime

I guess that is tricky

I don’t know

but I will say this

the gay panic

defense needs

I don’t even know how

that’s still a thing

and I was so shocked

to learn about that

there have been many cases

who have used

the gay panic defense

where maybe

they feel like

they have been

tricked by somebody

um when they found out

they snapped

and they killed them

they’ll use the gay

panic defense

just doesn’t make sense

I just like

I can’t believe that’s

that’s seriously a thing

I it’s kept

me up last night

that’s just

homophobia yeah

so rest in peace

to poor Scott

and I really hope

that his family is

doing doing okay

I would love to know your thoughts down

below I mean

I hope we can all

agree that the gay

panic defense should

should not be a thing

um thank you

guys so much

for hanging

out with me today

I hope you have a wonderful day

you make good choices

sorry if I’m whispering

it’s kind of

late at night

not that it matters

please be safe out there

please please please be safe out there

and I’ll be seeing you guys later bye