SAN ANSELMO, November 6, 2026 — Martin George Blinder, the forensic psychiatrist whose testimony in the 1979 trial of Dan White became the basis for the derisive “Twinkie defense” label, died on October 30 at the age of 89 in San Anselmo, California. The cause was pancreatic cancer.
A Career Spanning Law, Medicine, and Public Policy
Blinder was a former assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and an adjunct professor of law at UC Hastings College of the Law. He was instrumental in the development and FDA approval of lithium carbonate for the treatment of bipolar disorder in the United States. Before his prominence in forensic psychiatry, Blinder served as a city councilman and mayor of San Anselmo in the early 1970s, where he authored the first law in the United States restricting public smoking.
The 1979 Trial of Dan White
Blinder entered the national spotlight during the trial of Dan White, a former San Francisco supervisor who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Blinder testified for the defense that White was suffering from severe depression. To illustrate the depth of White’s mental deterioration, Blinder pointed to a stark behavioral shift: White had transformed from a highly health-conscious individual into someone consuming sugary foods and drinks, specifically Twinkies and Coca-Cola.
The Reality Behind the ‘Twinkie Defense’ Label
The phrase “Twinkie defense” entered the American lexicon after Blinder remarked during his testimony that the sugar in White’s diet might have worsened his depression. The media widely reported this as a claim that junk food had caused White’s criminal behavior, creating a lasting shorthand for defendants blaming exotic biological factors for their crimes. However, the actual legal strategy was a traditional diminished capacity argument. Blinder’s testimony aimed to demonstrate that White’s depression impaired his ability to form the specific intent required for a first-degree murder conviction, not that Twinkies drove him to kill.
Impact on Insanity Pleas and Legal Standards
The public outrage following White’s conviction for voluntary manslaughter rather than murder — fueled by the perception that he had escaped justice via a “junk food” excuse — catalyzed a legislative backlash. California voters passed Proposition 8 in 1982, which abolished the diminished capacity defense in the state. The federal government and numerous other states followed suit, narrowing the legal standards for insanity pleas and restricting the admissibility of psychiatric testimony regarding a defendant’s capacity to form specific intent. The “Twinkie defense” became a cultural touchstone cited in legal scholarship and popular culture as a symbol of the perceived excesses of the insanity defense, fundamentally reshaping the calculus for forensic psychiatry in the courtroom.
Sources
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