The Chicago soundstage exploded in delighted screams and claps from the audience. The host seamlessly rolled into the segment, which involved springing a same-sex crush on an unsuspecting straight man.

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The murder and following controversy hit just as “shock television” was reaching its high-water mark, the culture’s first brush with showcasing paternity questions, unruly children and general trashy misbehavior for entertainment value — the precursor to today’s reality television standards.

And Schmitz is now walking back out into the world his “Jenny Jones” appearance anticipated: The now-47-year-old was released from prison Tuesday after serving a prison sentence for Amedure’s murder, according to the Detroit News.

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The segment that sparked the murder — which never aired on television but is available online today — began with Jones prompting Amedure, 32, to relate his fantasies involving the 24-year-old acquaintance. Jones then introduced the clueless Schmitz. The two men exchanged an awkward embrace before the host dropped her bombshell.

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“Well, guess what,” Jones announced. “It’s Scott that has the crush on you.” With the audience hooting at full volume, Schmitz laughed, beamed, and politely explained he was “completely heterosexual.”

But three days later, after a night of heavy drinking and finding a note from Amedure on his door, Schmitz killed his admirer. He later admitted to police he was driven to murder by the extreme embarrassment caused by the show.

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“What you are seeing on the tape is a 24-year-old man facing the studio audience and the camera with what I consider to be an ambush,” Richard Thompson, the prosecutor in the case, told The Washington Post in 1995. “He is visibly upset. People are laughing. It’s like a Roman circus where the audience gives a thumbs up or thumbs down to everything that is going on.”

In 1996, Schmitz was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. That verdict, however, was overturned on appeal due to jury selection errors. In 1999, Schmitz was retried. The second jury returned with the same sentence, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The fallout from the murder was not confined to the criminal courts. In 1999, a Michigan civil jury found the show’s producers liable for the death and awarded $25 million to Amedure’s family. That ruling was also reversed on appeal.