Scheduled Execution Date; Feb. 17, 2011
Frank Spisak #175 472
P. O. Box 788
1150 North Main Street
Mansfield, Ohio 44901
Wacky World Of Murder: Frank Spisak
Frank Spisak #175 472
P. O. Box 788
1150 North Main Street
Mansfield, Ohio 44901
Wacky World Of Murder: Frank Spisak
Frank Spisak's neighbours knew him as 'Frankie Ann Spisak.' He was a frizzy-haired transvestite who was looking forward to having a sex-change operation. They didn't know about Spisak's other side, a side that eventually took over his personality. Spisak eventually decided he no longer wanted to be a woman, but instead he wanted to be Hitler. He stopped wearing frocks and make-up, and changed to silly suits, slicked back hair and a toothbrush moustache. I'm not sure which gathered the most amount of laughs, but either way Spisak was serious about this new style.
In February 1982, Spisak launched his first "seek and destroy mission" in which he was attempting to "clean up the city". He walked onto the Cleveland State University and shot a black minister, Rev. Horace Rickerson, in a men's room. The Reverend died.
Four months later he shot another black, John Hardaway, 55, only wounding this one.
During August Spisak struck three times. The first was Timothy Sheehan, 50, also at Cleveland State University. Sheehan was Caucasian but Spisak suspected that he may have been Jewish. He then gunned down 17-year-old Brian Warford, another black, at a bus stop near the campus. His next attack failed, narrowly missing another CSU employee.
Spisak was arrested in September for firing his gun out of his apartment window, but was released on bail. Police then received an anonymous phone call telling them to check the gun, a .22-caliber pistol. The gun was linked to the Warford murder and Spisak admitted to the others.
At the trial Spisak pled insanity, saying that the one-man war was launched under direct orders from God, his "immediate superior." He also blamed his transvestite period on the Jews saying that they "seized control of my mind when I wasn't looking". No one fell for this crap and Spisak was sentenced to death on August 10, 1983.
"Even though this court may pronounce me guilty a thousand times, the higher court of our great Aryan warrior God pronounces me innocent. Heil Hitler!"
- Or so Spisak thought after the trial.
After Spisak was sentenced to death the Social Nationalist Aryan Peoples Party stepped forward to claim him as a dues-paying lieutenant. The party's leader, ex-con Keith Gilbert, announced that Spisak was "acting under direct orders of the party" when he murdered the three victims in Cleveland. The orders, according to Gilbert: "Kill niggers until the last one is dead."- Or so Spisak thought after the trial.
Frank Spisak was known to his neighbors on the east side of Cleveland as "Frankie Ann Spisak," a transvestite who looked forward to a possible sex change operation.
When not in drag, Frank worshipped Adolf Hitler, eventually he stopped wearing gowns and high heels and started immatating his idol, going as far as growing a toothbrush mustache and slicking his hair down in a Hitler fashion.
In February 1982, Spisak started a series of "search-and-destroy missions" to "clean-up" the city. He invaded the campus of Cleveland State University, shooting a black minister to death in the mens room. Four months later he wounded another black man. and in August, he started a full-scale rampage. By the end of the month he had killed 50 year old Timothy Sheehan, the assistant superintendent of the buildings and grounds at CSU, and 17 year old Brian Walford, killed near the campus. A third attack failed when he missed a CSU employee. Both the employee and Sheehan were white, but Spisak had thought they were Jews.
In September 1982 he was arrested for firing a gun out his apartment window, and released on bail before an anonymous caller advised police to re-examine his .22 caliber gun. Test bullets matched the slugs retrieved from one of the murders.
Spisak later confessed to other murders, claiming "my aim was pretty good." Pleading insanity at his trial in August 1983, Spisak declared taht his war had been launched under orders from God, his "immediate superior." Jews were to blame for his earlier transvestite episodes, having "seized control of his mind." When asked how his brain was now working he replied "never better."
The Judge asked jurors to disregard Spisak's plea for insanity for lack of evidence. After five hours of deliberation, he was sentenced to death. Frank addressed the court with deviance. "Even though this court may pronounce me guilty a thousand times, the higher court of our great Aryan warrior God pronounces me innocent. Heil Hitler!" Spisak is currently still on death row in Ohio.
When not in drag, Frank worshipped Adolf Hitler, eventually he stopped wearing gowns and high heels and started immatating his idol, going as far as growing a toothbrush mustache and slicking his hair down in a Hitler fashion.
In February 1982, Spisak started a series of "search-and-destroy missions" to "clean-up" the city. He invaded the campus of Cleveland State University, shooting a black minister to death in the mens room. Four months later he wounded another black man. and in August, he started a full-scale rampage. By the end of the month he had killed 50 year old Timothy Sheehan, the assistant superintendent of the buildings and grounds at CSU, and 17 year old Brian Walford, killed near the campus. A third attack failed when he missed a CSU employee. Both the employee and Sheehan were white, but Spisak had thought they were Jews.
In September 1982 he was arrested for firing a gun out his apartment window, and released on bail before an anonymous caller advised police to re-examine his .22 caliber gun. Test bullets matched the slugs retrieved from one of the murders.
Spisak later confessed to other murders, claiming "my aim was pretty good." Pleading insanity at his trial in August 1983, Spisak declared taht his war had been launched under orders from God, his "immediate superior." Jews were to blame for his earlier transvestite episodes, having "seized control of his mind." When asked how his brain was now working he replied "never better."
The Judge asked jurors to disregard Spisak's plea for insanity for lack of evidence. After five hours of deliberation, he was sentenced to death. Frank addressed the court with deviance. "Even though this court may pronounce me guilty a thousand times, the higher court of our great Aryan warrior God pronounces me innocent. Heil Hitler!" Spisak is currently still on death row in Ohio.
Frank Spisak suffers from a schizotypal personality disorder and an atypical psychotic disorder.
Frank Spisak did not get a fair trial:
He had insufficient counsel. Justice Stevens wrote that his “counsel’s argument grossly transgressed the bounds of what constitutionally competent counsel would have done in a similar situation….the argument [Spisak’s defense attorney’s closing argument] shares more in common with a prosecutor’s closing than with a criminal defense attorney’s. Indeed, the argument was so outrageous that it would have rightly subjected a prosecutor to charges of misconduct.”The jury was given sufficient instructions during the sentencing stage about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty.
We, the undersigned, together with the family and friends of Frank Spisak, urge Governor Strickland to commute Frank Spisak’s death sentence.
Frank Spisak suffers from a schizotypal personality disorder and an atypical psychotic disorder.
Frank Spisak did not get a fair trial:
• He had insufficient counsel. Justice Stevens wrote that his “counsel’s argument grossly transgressed the bounds of what constitutionally competent counsel would have done in a similar situation….the argument [Spisak’s defense attorney’s closing argument] shares more in common with a prosecutor’s closing than with a criminal defense attorney’s. Indeed, the argument was so outrageous that it would have rightly subjected a prosecutor to charges of misconduct.”
• The jury was given sufficient instructions during the sentencing stage about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty.
We deeply sympathize with the family and friends of Rev. Horace Rickerson, Timothy Sheehan, and Brian Warford but we respectfully offer that another death will neither heal nor resolve this tragedy
Action petitioned for: We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge Governor Strickland to commute the sentence of Frank Spisak to life without parole.
Contact the Ohio governor
Greetings Governor Strickland,
I am writing to you to express my concerns regarding the execution scheduled for Frank Spisak on Feb.17th in Ohio. Frank suffers from schizotypal personality disorder and atypical psychotic disorder. The death penalty to begin with, is inhumane, cruel, immoral, uncivilized and vengeful, but executing a mentally ill individual, is simply barbaric and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is unnecessary and ineffective. Research has proven that it does not deter or reduce violent crime. It also fails to promote healing or restore peace to the victims' families. You cannot fight death with death. The death penalty does not solve or accomplish anything positive. In addition to Spisak's mental illnesses, he also did not receive adequate legal representation. The jury was also given insufficient instructions during sentencing about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty. In these respects, Frank Spisak did not receive a fair trial. That is unacceptable.
I urge you, Governor Strickland, to commute Spisak's death sentence. The death penalty completely denies the possibility or opportunity for rehabilitation, restoration and self-improvement. Frank Spisak could greatly benefit from mental health programming treatment and services. Please help this mentally disordered man and commute his death sentence.
Triple murderer Spisak set to be executed next February
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- 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.
Frank Spisak did not get a fair trial:
He had insufficient counsel. Justice Stevens wrote that his “counsel’s argument grossly transgressed the bounds of what constitutionally competent counsel would have done in a similar situation….the argument [Spisak’s defense attorney’s closing argument] shares more in common with a prosecutor’s closing than with a criminal defense attorney’s. Indeed, the argument was so outrageous that it would have rightly subjected a prosecutor to charges of misconduct.”The jury was given sufficient instructions during the sentencing stage about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty.
We, the undersigned, together with the family and friends of Frank Spisak, urge Governor Strickland to commute Frank Spisak’s death sentence.
Frank Spisak suffers from a schizotypal personality disorder and an atypical psychotic disorder.
Frank Spisak did not get a fair trial:
• He had insufficient counsel. Justice Stevens wrote that his “counsel’s argument grossly transgressed the bounds of what constitutionally competent counsel would have done in a similar situation….the argument [Spisak’s defense attorney’s closing argument] shares more in common with a prosecutor’s closing than with a criminal defense attorney’s. Indeed, the argument was so outrageous that it would have rightly subjected a prosecutor to charges of misconduct.”
• The jury was given sufficient instructions during the sentencing stage about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty.
We deeply sympathize with the family and friends of Rev. Horace Rickerson, Timothy Sheehan, and Brian Warford but we respectfully offer that another death will neither heal nor resolve this tragedy
Action petitioned for: We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge Governor Strickland to commute the sentence of Frank Spisak to life without parole.
Contact the Ohio governor
Greetings Governor Strickland,
I am writing to you to express my concerns regarding the execution scheduled for Frank Spisak on Feb.17th in Ohio. Frank suffers from schizotypal personality disorder and atypical psychotic disorder. The death penalty to begin with, is inhumane, cruel, immoral, uncivilized and vengeful, but executing a mentally ill individual, is simply barbaric and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is unnecessary and ineffective. Research has proven that it does not deter or reduce violent crime. It also fails to promote healing or restore peace to the victims' families. You cannot fight death with death. The death penalty does not solve or accomplish anything positive. In addition to Spisak's mental illnesses, he also did not receive adequate legal representation. The jury was also given insufficient instructions during sentencing about the consequences and possibilities of a sentencing other than the death penalty. In these respects, Frank Spisak did not receive a fair trial. That is unacceptable.
I urge you, Governor Strickland, to commute Spisak's death sentence. The death penalty completely denies the possibility or opportunity for rehabilitation, restoration and self-improvement. Frank Spisak could greatly benefit from mental health programming treatment and services. Please help this mentally disordered man and commute his death sentence.
Triple murderer Spisak set to be executed next February
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- 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.
Frank Spisak testifies in his own defense in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court In on July 5, 1983.
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.
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