The Twinkie Defense is a journalistic term that started with a famous murder trial in San Francisco.
The origin of the term was the trial for the murder of San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1997.
The defense was that the defendant had lost his mental capacities due to major depression. The patient had a junk food diet that included Twinkies. Journalists suggested that sugary foods caused a transient "sugar high" that amplified the patient's mood swings and contributed to a temporary insanity.
The term can be used as a derogatory term for an improbable legal defense.
It may also be used by someone condemning a junk food diet.
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