Frank Spisak

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Ohio to ask U.S. Supreme Court to allow execution of Frank Spisak, who killed 3 at Cleveland State University

The state of Ohio will try to convince the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that a notorious murderer with "impulsive psychotic rages" deserves to die for three killings in 1982 at Cleveland State University.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who will argue the state's case, says there is no doubt as to Frank Spisak's guilt. Instead, the issue is whether Spisak should have a prison sentence rather than the death penalty because of the way the sentencing phase of his 1983 trial was handled. That issue has been kicked up and down appeals courts for years and included a previous trip to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.

Spisak, who sported a Hitler-style moustache and gave the Nazi salute during his trial, killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson, CSU student Brian Warford and Timothy Sheehan, CSU's assistant superintendent for buildings and grounds. Spisak was "unrepentant toward the jury and court during the trial," Cordray said in an interview.

In a brief to the Supreme Court, the attorney general said, "At trial for a series of murders on a college campus, respondent Frank G. Spisak Jr. proudly testified at length as to his neo-Nazi beliefs and told the jury that those beliefs had motivated the murders ... Spisak's guilt of the underlying crimes was not [and could not be] contested."

But an appeals court has said Spisak deserves to be resentenced to life in prison because of legal errors at the end of his trial. Spisak's new attorneys said in legal filings that jurors were led to believe inaccurately that any verdict to spare Spisak's life must be reached unanimously, creating a presumption in favor of a death sentence. The attorneys also said that Spisak's trial lawyer was ineffective, costing Spisak a chance for a different sentence.

For example, they said, psychiatric tests had found that Spisak, who at times dressed as a woman, had paranoid obsessions, "focusing on hatred of blacks, sadistic morbid fantasies of dead babies and identifications with powerful Nazi figures." But Spisak's lawyer barely attempted to use the defendant's psychological state as a reason to find mercy, the new lawyers said in their Supreme Court brief.

Instead, the brief said, Spisak's lawyer told jurors: "Don't look for good deeds, because he has done none. Don't look for good thoughts, because he has none."

The trial lawyer "abdicated his role as defense counsel and assumed the role of a prosecutor," the new attorneys' brief said.

Cordray disagrees. The state as well as lower courts have said that Spisak's trial lawyer was merely trying a strategy -- one that didn't work -- and that jurors clearly knew of Spisak's mental state.

Nothing "could have affected the minds of jurors who had sat through a lengthy trial and heard Spisak's own chilling, hate-filled testimony," Cordray's newest brief said.
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10/ohio_to_ask_us_supreme_court_t.html

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Supreme Court receptive on arguments to reinstate death sentence for neo-Nazi who killed 3

The Supreme Court seemed receptive Tuesday to reinstating the death sentence of a flamboyant neo-Nazi convicted of murdering three men in Ohio more than a quarter century ago.

Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray told justices during oral arguments that Frank Spisak had a fair trial and deserves death. Cordray urged the high court to reverse a federal appeals court ruling that found Spisak had an ineffective trial lawyer and found that his jury received faulty sentencing instructions.

Spisak, 58, was convicted of three murders at Cleveland State University over a seven-month period in 1982 — crimes he said were motivated by his hatred of gays, blacks and Jews. At the same time, Spisak claimed his crimes were sparked by mental illness related to confusion about his sexual identity. He wants to have surgery to become a woman.

The 1983 trial became a public spectacle as Spisak celebrated his killings in court and openly discussed his hateful views. He even grew a Hitler-style mustache, carried a copy of Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf" during the proceedings and gave the Nazi salute to the jury.

The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that Spisak's trial attorney essentially gave up on his client in closing arguments by conceding that Spisak was "demented" and "undeserving of sympathy."

Cordray acknowledged the defense lawyer's argument was far from perfect, but said the attorney — now deceased — did the best he could with an unsavory client. He said the defense lawyer instead appealed to the jury's sense of humanity to spare from death a defendant who was obviously very troubled.

"I don't see easily how he could have done better," Cordray said.

Michael Benza, representing Spisak on appeal, said the former defense lawyer essentially abandoned his client.

"It is the role of a defense counsel to advocate," Benza said.

But most of the justices were skeptical of Benza's arguments.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that the Supreme Court had never found a defense lawyer to be ineffective solely on the basis of a closing argument if his conduct during the rest of trial was acceptable.

"You're asking us to take a new tack," she told Benza.

Chief Justice John Roberts said Spisak's lawyer seemed to be trying to make the best out of a difficult situation by admitting to the jury that his client's behavior was awful.

"It seems to me this disagreement is over different styles of strategy," Roberts said.

Benza also argued that the instructions to jurors were flawed because they were not told that one juror's vote against the death penalty would prevent a death sentence. Ohio law now includes such an instruction, although none was required at the time of Spisak's trial.

It's the second time the case has come before the high court. The justices reinstated Spisak's death sentence two years ago in a 6-3 decision that scolded federal appeals courts for second-guessing trial judges in murder cases.

However, the appeals court reached the same conclusion it did the first time and threw out Spisak's death sentence.

www.sfexaminer.com/politics/ap/64095567.html

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Neo-Nazi deserves death, Cordray says
Attorney general asks high court to overturn ruling

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray yesterday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to clear the way for the execution of a self-described neo-Nazi convicted in 1983 of murdering three people at Cleveland State University.

Appearing before the nine justices, Cordray asked the high court to overturn a decision last year by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati that set aside the death penalty for Frank Spisak Jr., now 58.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge incorrectly told jurors during the sentencing hearing that they had to turn down the death penalty unanimously before they could consider a life sentence.

The court of appeals ruled that prevented individual jurors from considering whether Spisak was so insane that he should serve a life sentence instead.

In addition, the court of appeals ruled that Tom Shaughnessy, Spisak's original defense attorney, provided an ineffective defense when, during closing arguments of the sentencing phase, he told jurors that "when you turn and look at Frank Spisak, don't look for good deeds, because he has done none. Don't look for good thoughts because he has none. He is sick, he is twisted."

But Cordray contended that while Shaughnessy -- who died in 1997 -- did not make a "perfect closing" argument, he was trying to persuade the jury to give Spisak a life sentence.

Cordray, a former state solicitor, made his seventh appearance before the justices, but his first as attorney general. Cordray told the justices that the case is "one of the most infamous in Ohio history." Spisak wore a Hitler-style mustache at trial, gave the Nazi salute and boasted of his hatred of African-Americans and Jews. Spisak also has sued state officials because prison officials refuse to refer to him as a woman, as he prefers.

The justices seemed incredulous that the trial judge had rejected an insanity defense. Justice Stephen Breyer said Spisak "sounds like he was a little bonkers," adding that Shaughnessy appeared to be telling the jurors that "we don't execute guys who are crazy, and this guy is crazy."

But at least three of the justices indicated they were appalled by Shaughnessy's closing argument. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg characterized it as "disjointed," while new Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained that it was "no defense whatsoever."

The justices seemed far more interested in Shaughnessy's defense strategy than the judge's instructions to the jury. At one point, Justice Samuel Alito asked Cordray, "Have you ever read a defense summation that was more derogative?"

That created the situation in court where Cordray had to defend Shaughnessy, telling reporters afterward that Shaughnessy "had a very tough road to hoe because his client had obviously committed gruesome murders."

But Cordray repeatedly told the justices that Shaughnessy employed the best strategy to keep Spisak from execution.

By contrast, Michael J. Benza, an attorney from Chagrin Falls appointed by the high court to defend the 6th Circuit ruling, assailed Shaughnessy, asserting, "I have litigated capital cases since 1993, and I have never seen a closing argument like this."

www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/14/copy/cordrayargue.ART_ART_10-14-09_A5_U9FC865.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

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Killer's guilt not questioned; justices take on his penalty

Frank Spisak Jr. was one evil fellow, from his racist speech to his Nazi salute to, finally, his cold-blooded murder of three people at Cleveland State University in 1982. Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seem united in that sentiment.

But in lively arguments Tuesday during an appeal of Spisak's death sentence, the justices appeared split on whether Spisak's trial lawyer bungled the case by bludgeoning jurors with repeated statements of how awful his own client was. That determination is important because incompetence of counsel is one of the arguments Spisak's new attorneys hope will spare Spisak's life.

Spisak hated black people and Jews, and said "Heil Hitler" while giving the Nazi salute during his 1983 trial. He killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson; CSU student Brian Warford; and Timothy Sheehan, CSU's assistant superintendent for buildings and grounds, during a bloody spree at the university, and tried to kill two others. He was sentenced to death but has filed several appeals, including two that have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court on Tuesday began weighing two legal questions that could determine whether Spisak, who also dressed as a woman sometimes and has called himself Frances Anne Spisak, is ever executed. One is related to instructions jurors got when deciding whether to recommend a prison sentence or capital punishment.

Although jurors need not be unanimous when they find reasons for mercy, such as the defendant's mental state or background, the vague instructions given to Spisak's jury did not give that impression, Spisak's appellate lawyers say.

They say that set up an unfair presumption in favor of a death recommendation.

The other legal question is whether Spisak's lawyer practically guaranteed a death sentence by telling the jury repeatedly just how demon-like and crazy the defendant was.

It was as if the lawyer was acting for the prosecution rather than representing his client, say Spisak's appeals lawyers, represented before the high court by Michael Benza of Chagrin Falls.

"I've been litigating cases since 1993, and I've never seen a closing argument like this," Benza told the high court.

Spisak's lawyer who made these statements during the trial, Thomas Shaughnessy, died in 1997. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray told the Supreme Court that Spisak's lawyer was hardly incompetent but rather, was shrewd. The lawyer was building his credibility with jurors by suggesting that of course Spisak had no redeeming social qualities - and that only the jury's sense of humanity could spare him, Cordray said.

"I don't see how he could have done better," Cordray told the high court.

Justice Antonin Scala practically agreed, saying, "I thought it was a brilliant closing argument."

And Chief Justice John Roberts said this seems to be a dispute "over different styles of advocacy," not his purported blundering.

But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the lawyer's closing argument "disjointed," said it went "off on tangents," and was seemingly "stream of consciousness."

And Justice Samuel Alito asked, "Have you ever read a defense summation that was more derogatory" toward a defendant?

Cordray said no, but that it didn't mean the lawyer was not doing his job.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a former trial judge and the newest Supreme Court justice, allowed that there could be two interpretations of the lawyer's actions.

"But at some point you can have a strategy and execute it so poorly that it is ineffectiveness of counsel," she said.

The court will rule on the Spisak case later in its term.
www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1255509056101060.xml&coll=2

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Execution for Nazi-loving Cleveland murderer can move forward, despite his lawyer's "outrageous" representation

U.S. Supreme Court justices made clear Tuesday that they unanimously agree with the collective judgment of the Cleveland community: Frank Spisak, the Hitler-loving triple murderer who terrorized Cleveland State University, was one demented guy -- one whose attempted legal defenses have finally failed.

The high court overruled appellate judges who had saved Spisak, a former cross-dresser who fashioned himself as a modern-day Nazi, from death for his 1982 killing spree. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office says it will soon ask Ohio to impose the capital sentence that has been delayed by appeals ever since a Cleveland jury recommended it in 1983.

"I don't ever feel triumphant about death-penalty cases," Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said in a phone interview after the Supreme Court's ruling. Cordray had argued to the high court in October that Spisak's legal claims had no merit. "But it's a good result, it's a just result, and we feel good about it."

Spisak's appellate attorneys, however, are troubled by the ruling. That's because part of their case rested on the fact that before his conviction, Spisak's trial lawyer appeared to side not with his own client but, rather, with the prosecution, telling jurors during closing arguments how awful and murderous Spisak was. Other attorneys and even justices on the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that it was a bizarre, if not wholly incompetent, defense.

Yet the high court refused to overturn Spisak's death penalty on that basis. Instead, it ruled that the totality of Spisak's actions -- not only his murder spree but his Nazi salute and "Heil Hitler" remarks and lack of remorse -- provided the jury with ample grounds on which to recommend a death sentence.

"The court seems to be saying that in some cases, it doesn't matter how badly the lawyer performs, let's just kill the defendant," said Michael Benza of Chagrin Falls, who argued Spisak's case before the high court. Spisak might have been better off had his trial lawyer, the late Thomas Shaughnessy, simply slept through the case, Benza said.

Between February and August, 1982, Spisak shot and killed three people at CSU -- the Rev. Horace Rickerson; CSU student Brian Warford; and Timothy Sheehan, CSU's assistant superintendent for buildings and grounds. He tried to kill two others.

He said he did it because he was a follower of Adolph Hitler and was in a war for survival "of the Aryan people," according to court records.

Defending a client like Frank Spisak, who sometimes called himself Frances Anne Spisak, would have been a challenge for any lawyer, especially after a judge denied the use of the insanity defense. So Shaughnessy, who died in 1997, tried something that has been characterized as either one of the worst defenses known to man or a tactic of utter brilliance.

He told jurors during closing arguments just how "sick," "twisted" and "demented" his client was. He described the crimes in vivid detail, saying at one point, "You can almost smell the blood." And he told the jurors not to look for good thoughts or deeds from Spisak, because they would find none.

But the attorney appealed to the jury's sense of "humanity," although he did not explicitly ask for leniency. Instead, he told the 12 jurors, "Whatever you do, we are going to be proud of you."

The jurors concluded that Spisak should die.

New lawyers filed several appeals, contending that Shaughnessy practically guaranteed a capital sentence with his odd tactics. The appeals lawyers also said that poor jury instructions might have led jurors to disregard factors such as Spisak's mental health -- experts testified of borderline personality disorder and gender identity conflict -- that could have resulted in a different verdict.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, however, upheld the death sentence. This was the high court's second time dealing with the case. At the heart of the opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer were the basic facts of Spisak's behavior and crimes.

Even assuming "that the closing argument was inadequate," Breyer wrote," there is "no reasonable probability" that a better closing argument "would have made a significant difference."

In a separate, concurring opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said he agreed that Shaughnessy's closing argument was "rambling" and "outrageous."

Nevertheless, Stevens wrote, Spisak's own behavior "alientated and ostracized the jury, and his crimes were monstrous."

"In my judgment," Stevens said, "even the most skillful of closing arguments -- even one befitting Clarance Darrow -- would not have created a reasonable probability of a different outcome in this case."

Spisak is being held in the Mansfield Correctional Facility.

To read more;
www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/01/execution_for_nazi-loving_clev.html

[thinkinkmesa]

Triple murderer Frank Spisak set to be executed next February

Frank Spisak, the notorious cross-dressing, Hitler-loving triple murderer, is set to be executed on Feb. 17, 2011.
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday set Spisak's execution date. Spisak killed three people and tried to kill two others between February and August of 1982 at Cleveland State University.

He was sentenced to death in 1983 but since then his attorneys have filed a string of a legal challenges that have repeatedly delayed the execution.

Two of those challenges reached all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Spisak's current attorneys have argued that their client received poor legal advice from his previous legal team during his trial nearly three decades ago. And the sanity of Spisak, an admitted racist who hated black and Jewish people and liked to cross-dress and refer to himself as Frances Anne Spisak, was also at question.

The U.S. Supreme Court in January overturned a ruling by federal appellate court judges and reinstated Spisak's death sentence. The high court said the totality of Spisak's actions, not his bizarre behavior at trial -- which his attorneys said warranted a new trial -- gave the jury ample reason to convict him and recommend the death sentence.

Spisak killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson; Cleveland State University student Brian Warford; and Timothy Sheehan, CSU's assistant superintendent for buildings and grounds.

More;
www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/05/notorious_triple_murderer_fran.html

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Frank G. Spisak Jr., sentenced to die Feb. 17 for a notorious 1982 triple murder in Cleveland, will have a final clemency hearing at 9 a.m. Jan. 13 before the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

www.wkyc.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=168090&catid=45

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Facing execution, man says he's mentally ill

A prisoner with Nazi sympathies who has spent 27 years on Death Row for killing three men at Cleveland State University is asking the state's new governor for mercy. His attorneys contend that a severe mood disorder went undiagnosed for decades.

If put to death Feb. 17, Frank Spisak would set the Ohio record for the longest time on Death Row before execution.

Spisak, 59, blamed the 1982 murders on his hatred of gays, blacks and Jews and also said his crimes were sparked by mental illness related to confusion about his sexual identity.

During his 1983 trial, he grew a Hitler-style mustache, carried a copy of Hitler's book Mein Kampf during the proceedings and gave the Nazi salute to the jury.

More;
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/14/facing-execution-man-says-hes-mentally-ill.html?sid=101

[thinkinkmesa]

Mercy For Spisak Rejected, February Execution Date Set

By a unanimous vote, the Ohio Parole Board has recommended that new Governor John Kasich deny clemency and allow the execution of convicted killer and Nazi sympathizer Frank Spisak.

More;
www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-frank-spisak-clemency-denied,0,7366904.story

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governor.ohio.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rcWr-c86RE4%3D&tabid=40

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Frank Spisak, a serial killer who dreamed of igniting a race war, is scheduled to be executed this week in Ohio.

Gov. John Kasich denied clemency Friday, accepting the unanimous recommendation of the parole board and clearing the way for a lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, The Dayton Daily News reported.

Over six months in 1982, Spisak, now 59, killed three men, wounded a fourth and shot at a woman. Most of the attacks occurred on the Cleveland State University campus. Known as "Frances Anne," he was a cross-dressing Hitler fan who intended to go on "hunting parties" to kill blacks.

Federal Public Defender Alan Rossman said Spisak has been diagnosed as bipolar and is heavily medicated with lithium.

"Spisak is no threat to anyone now that he's properly medicated," he said. "It is easy to hate people who are mentally ill, and it's easy to kill people we label as evil."

www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4888367

[thinkinkmesa]

As Nazi sympathizer Frank Spisak prepares for execution, a surviving victim recalls his attack nearly 30 years ago

www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/as_nazi_sympathizer_frank_spis.html

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Spisak appeals his execution to the U.S. Supreme Court

Frank G. Spisak Jr., the convicted killer of three who is scheduled to be executed Thursday, is making a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution based on comments against the death penalty by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer.

More;
www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=175369&catid=3

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High court refuses stay for Ohio killer

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to grant a last-minute stay to a triple killer who has been on Death Row in Ohio for 28 years.

Read more: www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/02/16/High-court-refuses-stay-for-Ohio-killer/UPI-53731297907969/#ixzz1EBewo2w0

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Ohio ready to execute Cleveland campus killer of 3


Read more: www.heraldonline.com/2011/02/16/2841260/ohio-ready-to-execute-cleveland.html#ixzz1EBfvXU7i

[thinkinkmesa]

Hitler devotee set to be executed for murder spree

Serial killer Frank G. Spisak Jr., a Hitler devotee whose 1982 murder spree on the Cleveland State University campus terrified a city, was to go to his death today reading from the Book of Revelation — in German.

Spisak, 59, told officials at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility his final statement would be a German-language reading of Revelation 21:1-7, which begins, “Then I saw a new heaven and earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

Witnesses to Thursday’s lethal injection were to include two brothers of murder victim Brian Warford, the daughter of victim Timothy Sheehan and John Hardaway, who survived being shot by Spisak. The lead prosecutor in the case, Donald Nugent, now a federal judge, also was to witness the execution. Spisak’s attorneys and a friend, Bill Kimberlin, were to witness on his behalf.

Kimberlin is a professor of psychology at Lorain Community College who studies death row inmate. Kimberlin became acquainted with Spisak while doing that research, said Carlo LoPara, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Spisak arrived at the Lucasville prison from death row in Mansfield just before 10 a.m. Wednesday. “His mood was calm and reserved,” LoParo said.

He ate a “special meal” of spaghetti, tossed salad, chocolate cake, root beer and coffee Wednesday night, LoParo said. He spent the night resting in bed and listening to music. He wrote a letter.

Two priests conducted a Roman Catholic Mass for Spisak at the death house at 7 a.m. Thursday, three hours before the scheduled execution. “There was an indication during the Mass he was a bit emotional,” LoParo said.

He said Spisak’s body is to be cremated and the state will handle disposition of the remains.

A self-acknowledged disciple of Adolf Hitler, Spisak, 59, killed three men, wounded Hardaway and shot at a woman. He later admitted he went on “hunting parties” to kill blacks in hopes of fomenting a race war in Cleveland.

The survivors later identified Spisak as their assailant. Spisak admitted to the crimes, but unsuccessfully argued at his 1983 trial that he was legally insane.

In a clemency report last month that unanimously recommended against sparing Spisak’s life, the Ohio Parole Board told Gov. John Kasich that Spisak remains fascinated by Nazis and still reads books about Hitler, though he says he no longer agrees with Hitler’s philosophies. Spisak has said he learned racial tolerance by associating with blacks on death row.

“Spisak’s expressions of remorse for his victims are insincere and manipulative,” the report said. It noted that in 2004, Spisak wrote a threatening letter to the son of one of his victims. The son, Brendan Sheehan, was an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor and is now a common pleas judge.

Kasich denied clemency, and a federal appeals court on Tuesday denied Spisak’s last-minute bid for a stay of execution. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in.

Spisak’s attorneys attempted to halt the execution by quoting anti-death penalty statements this year by former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, a Republican who helped to write the state’s death penalty law while in the legislature. Pfeifer said he no longer supports the death penalty and the process lacks the proper reviews.

More;
www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/hitler-devotee-set-to-be-executed-for-murder-spree-1083972.html

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Video
www.fox8.com/news/wjw-i-team-spisak-final-interview-execution-txt,0,3851090.story

Spisak's Final Interview: 'I Don't Think I Should Die'

In his final interview, condemned killer Frank Spisak said his life should be spared.

"I don't think I should die," Spisak told the Fox 8 I-Team in a death row interview. "I don't think mine is a death penalty case."

Spisak estimated he had not done a television interview in 25 years when he sat down with the I-Team in 2008 to discuss his case. Prison officials say he has not done any interviews since.

The 59-year-old Spisak is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday morning in Lucasville for the murders of three people around Cleveland State back in 1982.

He turned his 1983 trial into a spectacle. He wore a Hitler mustache and gave the Nazi salute as he entered the courtroom.

On the witness stand during the trial, Spisak said he didn't want to get caught because "I'm not crazy." But he has spent many of the past 30 saying he should have been able to argue insanity to the jury.

Spisak knew none of his victims, and said in the interview, "I think the repetitive pattern shows it was mental illness."

He says gender identity issues -- he wanted to become a woman -- fueled an insane and murderous rage.

His lawyers took an unusual approach of not portraying their client as sympathetic, apparently hoping Spisak's antics in court would help show the jury that he was not the type of person who should be put to death.

Twice after his death sentence was imposed, a federal appeals court ruled Spisak should be re-sentenced because of ineffective assistance from his lawyers.

Twice, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The first time, the high court basically told the lower appeals court to reconsider its decision in light of a recent case decided by the Supreme Court.

The appeals court once again ruled that Spisak should be re-sentenced.

On the second appeal to the Supreme Court, the justices were divided on the approach taken by Spisak's defense team. But a majority essentially ruled that the lawyers did the best they could with what they had and that the death penalty should stay in place.

"Only the few, most deserving of murderers, should be put to death," Spisak said in his interview with the I-Team. "It's not there for everyone who commits a murder."

The Ohio Parole Board recommended 9-0 that Spisak should not be shown mercy by the governor.

It cited many reasons, including part of Spisak's interview with the I-Team where he talks about Brendan Sheehan. Sheehan was the teenage son of one of Spisak's victims in the 1980's. He grew up to become, first a prosecutor, and now a judge.

"The problem I have with him," Spisak said, "is that he's making this so personal."

At other points in the interview, Spisak did express remorse for the murders.

Last week, Governor John Kasich said he would not grant Spisak clemency. Then, on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal to delay Spisak's execution.

During the interview with the I-Team, Spisak was asked: "Are you facing the possibility that this might come to an end -- that you might face execution?"

"Anything's possible," Spisak said before later adding "death is not an appropriate punishment."

But death is what Frank Spisak now faces Thursday morning.

[thinkinkmesa]

Condemned Ohio killer of 3 arrives at death house
A condemned Ohio killer of three who identifies himself as a woman and who has spent 27 years on death row has arrived at the state death house a day before his scheduled execution.

Prison officials say Frank Spisak was calm and reserved as he reached the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville Wednesday morning.

The 57-year-old Spisak was sentenced to die for killing two men and a teen at Cleveland State University as part of what he called "hunting parties" to find and shoot blacks.

Witnesses scheduled to watch him die Thursday include his attorneys, the brother of one victim and the daughter of another.

Spisak has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution based on anti-death penalty comments by a state Supreme Court justice.

www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/state/condemned-ohio-killer-of-3-arrives-at-death-house

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Cleveland State Killer Set to Die at 10 a.m.

www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/02/17/cleveland-state-killer-set-to-die-at-10-am

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Spisak has 'special meal' of spaghetti, salad, chocolate cake

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal Wednesday to delay the execution of Frank Spisak, a Nazi sympathizer who shot and killed three people on Cleveland State University's campus nearly 30 years ago.


The high court's ruling paved the way for the state's first execution under Gov. John Kasich. Spisak appeared calm and relaxed Wednesday morning when he arrived at the Lucasville prison where he is to be put to death by lethal injection.

He had his special meal, what used to be known as a last meal, Wednesday evening. He ate spaghetti with tomato sauce, tossed salad with Italian dressing, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, coffee with cream and sugar and root beer.

He will be offered breakfast this morning.

More;
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/02/high_court_rejects_appeal_spis.html

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Killer Frank Spisak, not his attorney, brought on death penalty, justices rule
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011203576.html

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Video


Hours Before Execution, Spisak Calm
www.fox8.com/videobeta/?watchId=7a300308-3570-4483-9557-56ce331d7c45

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Serial Killer Frank Spisak is Executed
Video
www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-frank-spisak-execution,0,7607087.story

Frank Spisak, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who killed three people around the Cleveland State University campus back in 1982, has been executed.

The official time of death was 10:34 a.m. Thursday. The execution was carried out at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Spisak spent his final hours listening to music on headphones and planning his final statement, which he intended to recite in German.

Spisak killed three people -- the Rev. Horace Rickerson, Timothy Sheehan and Brian Warford. His final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected late Wednesday afternoon.

"He arrived calm and reserved," said Carlo LoParo, the communications chief of Ohio prisons. LoParo added that Spisak did appear emotional during an early morning Catholic mass said on his behalf, but then regained his composure.

Prison officials say Spisak informed them that his final statement will be the recitation of Biblical verses from the book of Revelations. Spisak plans to say the first seven verses of the 21rst chapter of Revelations in German. The passge deals with the end of the world, the return of Christ and the elevation of everyone to heaven.

In his last interview, done with I-Team reporter Bill Sheil in 2008, Spisak said he is "not the monster people think I am." He said his Nazi fascination was a demented version of himself brought on by a mental illness.

Family members of his victims attended the execution, as did John Hardaway -- a man who survived an ambush by Spisak.

Spisak's veins were tested prior to the execution and were found to be in good shape.

[thinkinkmesa]

Spisak execution was 'barbaric,' say two attorneys
Triple murderer deserved care for his mental illness, lawyers contend

www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/18/execution-was-barbaric-say-two-attorneys.html?sid=101