During the early 1980s, employees of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania overpaid millions of dollars in FICA taxes. As a result, the Commonwealth began requesting bids for the task of calculating refunds to each employee. One firm, California-based Computer Technology Associates, was owned by a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native named John Turquato. Turquato used his Harrisburg-area connections and a series of bribes that totalled approximately $4,700,000 to obtain the contract, worth $12-15 million. An anonymous memo then reached the governor's office, describing the bribes that had taken place. In late 1986, Dwyer was charged as having accepted a related kickback of $300,000.
Dwyer was convicted, but continued to maintain his innocence. If sentenced, he would have been removed from office and spend up to 55 years in prison. On January 22, 1987, the day before the sentencing, Dwyer called a press conference to "provide an update on the situation". At the conference, a visibly agitated and nervous Dwyer stated that he would not resign his position as state treasurer.
He then handed out a series of envelopes (which contained copies of a suicide note), then pulled a .357 Magnum from another envelope. Chaos broke out as those in attendance pleaded with Dwyer to put the gun down. "Please leave the room, If this will...if this will offend you.", he asked, "Stay away....this will hurt someone." He put the barrel of the firearm into his mouth and pulled the trigger, paying little regard to the still-rolling television cameras. Dwyer was killed instantly.
Much to the chagrin of Dwyer's family, fascination with the suicide continued long after his death. Copies of the suicide footage continue to circulate on the Internet to this day and have also appeared in many Faces of Death-type movies. In 1995, rock band Filter had a hit with the song "Hey Man, Nice Shot", which, although not explicitly mentioning Dwyer, was clearly about his suicide.
The case of the Dwyer suicide has long been a favorite of professors of journalism ethics. The suicide is often used to demonstrate that news editors, especially in the medium of television, must be prepared to make near-instant decisions, weighing both the psychological impact on viewers and the need to compete with other outlets.
In the Dwyer case, news editors had to decide whether or not to air the graphic images live, in the middle of the afternoon, or to delay broadcast of the tape (or portions thereof) until the evening news. Of the six Pennsylvania TV news stations covering the "press conference," only one elected not to cut away; five others aired the footage, in drastically edited form, on the evening news; and one used no footage at all.