Jonathan Schmitz Update: Where Scott Amedure’s Killer Is Today

Netflix Jonathan Schmitz turned himself in to authorities.

The Jenny Jones talk show was one of several tabloid-esque TV programs in the 1980s and 1990s that traded on “gotcha” moments and crazy reveals, like “who’s the father.” Now Netflix has released a new docuseries, Trial By Media, that examines “some of the most dramatic and memorable trials in recent history” through the lens of the idea that “courtroom dramas have increasingly been transformed into a form of entertainment.”

The first episode is titled “Talk Show Murder” and it features a famous case where a man named Jonathan Schmitz was confronted by another man, Scott Amedure, who had a crush on him on The Jenny Jones Show. Schmitz would then go on to murder Amedure. Here’s what you need to know about what happened afterward.

Schmitz Was Released in 2017

In 1995, Amedure and Schmitz filmed an episode of The Jenny Jones Show where Amedure revealed he harbored romantic feelings for Schmitz. By all appearances on the show, Schmitz seemed to roll with it. He made it clear he was not gay and not interested in AMedure, but he was generally amiable.

However, three days later, Schmitz confronted Amedure about it at Amedure’s trailer and then shot him twice in the chest with a shotgun. Schmitz was convicted of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. He served two years before the sentence was overturned, but then in 1999, after a retrial and a new conviction, Schmitz’s sentence was reinstated.

In August 2017, Schmitz, 47, was released after serving 22 years of his sentence. A Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman told People it was due to “good behavior” credit.

Amedure’s brother Frank, who is featured heavily in the Trial by Media episode about Scott’s death, told People that he can at least empathize with Schmitz.

“I guess it’s like any other person who’s lost a family member to murder — they wouldn’t feel comfortable about the murderer being released. It might be easier if he [Schmitz] was old, an old gray-haired man. But he’s still pretty young at 47 — he’s still got a lot to go, and my brother doesn’t,” said Frank, adding, “But there’s a side of, at least me and maybe some of my family members, that we do feel he was victimized in all of this, and so we can empathize with all of that.”

And Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney who represented the Amedure family in the civil suit brought against The Jenny Jones Show, said, “He spent 22 years, so that sounds like he’s completed virtually his entire sentence. I’m not absolving Schmitz of his crime. I’m just saying that The Jenny Jones Show and the people that were behind the show were equally responsible.”

Scott’s Brother Thinks He Would Be in Entertainment If He Were Alive Today

Frank says his brother “always wanted to be on TV and in the limelight,” which is partially why he went on The Jenny Jones Show in the first place.

Frank also says if he were still alive today, he could see Scott working as someone similar to the people interviewing him for the docu-series.

“He might be working with you guys. He would have loved this kind of stuff, this was his thing. He’d’ve loved this stuff,” says Frank.

Trial By Media is out now on Netflix.

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