Daimion Osby, a black 18-year-old who shot two unarmed blacks in a Fort Worth parking lot in 1993, got a deadlocked jury after his lawyer argued that he suffered from "urban survival syndrome"—the fear that inner-city residents have of other people in that area.

"Roid rage," mood swings associated with steroid use, was used to defend 19-year-old Troy Matthew Gentzler, who admitted tossing rocks at passing cars near York, Pennsylvania, injuring several.

In Los Angeles, Moosa Hanoukai had his charges reduced from murder to voluntary manslaughter after beating his wife to death with a wrench. His lawyer said that Hanoukai's wife had psychologically emasculated him—calling him names, forcing him to sleep on the floor—thus destroying his self-esteem.

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