JENNY Jones didn’t think Jonathan Schmitz was humiliated when he heard another man describe sexual fantasies he’d had about him during a taping of “The Jenny Jones Show,” Jones testified yesterday.
It was Jones’ first appearance in a courtroom since November 1996, when she testified in the criminal trial of Schmitz, who was convicted of murder in the infamous “gay-slay” shooting of the other guest, Scott Amedure, three days after the “Jenny Jones” taping in March 1995.
Jones was back in court in Pontiac, Mich., to testify in the $50 million civil lawsuit brought against Warner Bros. Television, producer and syndicator of “The Jenny Jones Show,” by Amedure’s family. They blame the show’s producers for setting the stage for Scott’s murder with a show whose theme was “same-sex crushes.”
In a frantic 911 phone call to police following the shooting, Schmitz, an avowed heterosexual, said he shot Amedure, who was openly gay, because he humiliated Schmitz on “The Jenny Jones Show.”
But three days earlier at the taping, “he didn’t seem embarrassed to me,” Jones testified yesterday, under intense questioning from the Amedures’ attorney, Geoffrey Fieger.
Fieger had called Jones to testify about what she knew about the ill-fated “same-sex crush” show. Fieger was especially interested in how Schmitz reacted when he heard Amedure describe a steamy fantasy about Schmitz involving a backyard hammock, whipped cream and champagne.
In a withering barrage of questions, Fieger tried to show that Jones knew more about the inner workings of her show than she admitted to in November 1996, when she testified at Schmitz’s trial. Back then, in her testimony in court and in sworn depositions related to the case, Jones testified that she wasn’t involved in the production of her show, even though she’s the host.
But Jones stuck to her guns, insisting that she respects all of her guests. “I treat the guests on the show the same way I would expect to be treated if I appeared on the show – with respect,” she said.
Jones was on the witness stand for about four hours yesterday and she’s expected to be back on the stand today. The trial is being carried live on Court TV.
