In 2002, the Arkansas State Fair introduced the fried twinkie.
A "Twinkie defense" is a criminal defendant's claim that some unusual factor entered into the causes or motives of the crime. It is a derogatory label implying that a criminal defense is artificial or absurd. The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan White, a San Francisco, California (U.S.), City Supervisor who shot to death Mayor George Moscone and fellow City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. During the trial, a psychiatrist, Martin Blinder, testified that White had been depressed at the time of the crime, successfully arguing for a ruling of diminished responsibility. As part of this testimony, Blinder cited White's uncharacteristic eating of Twinkies and drinking of Coca-Cola as evidence of this depression - briefly mentioning that this may also have worsened the depression. The unpopularity of the eventual manslaughter verdict (which set off the White Night riots) gave rise to the interpretation that White's lawyers had used depression caused by Twinkies as his primary defense.
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