Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 314

Cite as: 558 U. S. 139 (2010) 

153 

Opinion of the Court 

mum amount of damage on the enemies as I am able to do.” 
Id., at 1780–1781. 

The  State  replied  by  attempting  to  show  that  Spisak  was 
lying  in  his  testimony  about  the  Nazi-related  motives  for 
these  crimes.  The  State  contended  instead  that  the  shoot­
ings  were  motivated  by  less  unusual  purposes,  such  as  rob­
bery.  See id., at 1680, 1816–1818. 

The  defense  effort  to  show  that  Spisak  was  not  guilty  by 
reason  of  insanity  foundered  when  the  trial  judge  refused 
to  instruct  the  jury  to  consider  that  question  and  excluded 
expert  testimony  regarding  Spisak’s  mental  state.  The  de­
fense’s  expert  witness,  Dr.  Oscar  Markey,  had  written  a 
report  diagnosing  Spisak  as  suffering  from  a  “schizotypal 
personality  disorder”  and  an  “atypical  psychotic  disorder,” 
and as, at times, “unable to  control his impulses to assault.” 
6 id., at 1882–1883, 1992 (July 11, 1983).  His testimony was 
somewhat more ambiguous during a voir dire, however.  On 
cross-examination, he conceded that he could not say Spisak 
failed  Ohio’s  sanity  standard  at  the  time  of  the  murders. 
After Markey made the same concession before the jury, the 
court  granted  the  prosecution’s  renewed  motion  to  exclude 
Markey’s testimony and instructed the jury to disregard the 
testimony  that  it  heard.  And  the  court  excluded  the  de­
fense’s  proffered  reports  from  other  psychologists  and  psy­
chiatrists who examined Spisak, because none of the reports 
said  that  Spisak  met  the  Ohio  insanity  standard  at  the  time 
of  the  crimes.  Id.,  at  1898–1899,  1911–1912,  1995;  id.,  at 
2017, 2022 (July 12, 1983). 

During  the  sentencing  phase  of  the  proceedings,  defense 
counsel  called  three  expert  witnesses,  all  of  whom  testiﬁed 
that  Spisak  suffered  from  some  degree  of  mental  illness. 
Dr.  Sandra  McPherson,  a  clinical  psychologist,  said  that 
Spisak  suffered  from  schizotypal  and  borderline  personality 
disorders  characterized  by  bizarre  and  paranoid  thinking, 
gender identiﬁcation conﬂict, and emotional instability.  She 
added  that  these  defects  “substantially  impair  his  ability  to