Assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk

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On November 27, 1978, George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, were both shot and killed inside San Francisco City Hall by former supervisor Dan White. On the morning of that day, Moscone intended to announce that the Supervisor position from which White had previously resigned would be given to someone else. White, angered, entered City Hall before the scheduled announcement and first shot Moscone in the Mayor's office, then Milk in White's former office space, before escaping the building. Board of Supervisors president Dianne Feinstein first announced Moscone and Milk's deaths to the media, and because of Moscone's death, succeeded him as acting mayor.

White was charged with first-degree murder with circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty. However, on May 21, 1979, White was convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, which resulted in the White Night riots and the abolition of the diminished capacity criminal defense in California. It also led to the commonly cited "Twinkie defense", as the defense had stated in passing that White's diminished capacity was partially evidenced by his consumption of sugar-laden junk food. White committed suicide in 1985, a year and a half after his release from prison.