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Stanley Fitzpatrick’s death sentence has been lifted under new Ohio law

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A mentally ill man who spent 20 years on death row in Ohio saw his death sentence handed down Monday under a recent state law that says people with serious mental illness are not eligible for the death penalty.

Stanley Fitzpatrick, 56, is now the third person convicted in Hamilton County to have his death sentence overturned under the law, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

During a hearing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, Judge Jody Luebbers ruled that Fitzpatrick — who appeared on video from a state prison in Chillicothe — was ineligible for the death penalty. Both prosecutors and Fitzpatrick’s attorneys submitted expert reports that found Fitzpatrick has a serious mental illness.

Luebbers sentenced him to prison for the rest of his life, without the possibility of parole. Fitzpatrick was convicted in 2002 of killing three people, attempting to kill a police officer and other crimes.

One of his attorneys, Tim Sweeney, also appeared on video, sitting next to Fitzpatrick. Another attorney, Rob Linneman, was in Luebbers’ courtroom.

Fitzpatrick declined to make a statement.

The law, which came into effect in 2021, says a person is exempt from the death penalty if a mental illness significantly affects that person’s ability to make rational decisions or “the nature, consequences or wrongfulness” of a crime to appreciate.

The law lists four eligible conditions: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and delusional disorder.

Experts from both Fitzpatrick’s attorneys and prosecutors diagnosed schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder with psychotic features, according to court documents.

“Fitzpatrick was delusional, hallucinated, and exhibited bizarre behavior toward everyone he came into contact with,” Linneman said in the petition to vacate the death sentence. “Although brutal and tragic, these crimes were the product of a man who suffered from severe psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairment.”

Fitzpatrick was scheduled to be executed in 2018, 2020 and 2023, but the execution was postponed each time because pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to supply the drugs used for executions.

Mental illness undiagnosed

Fitzpatrick’s plea came after the opening statements of his 2002 jury trial were completed.

According to court documents, he was allowed to enter pleas to all charges even though he exhibited “multiple and severe mental symptoms” before the trial.

While in jail after his arrest, Fitzpatrick’s symptoms included an inability to sleep due to nightmares, hearing voices and visual hallucinations, the documents said. Family, friends and colleagues had also described suffering from hallucinations and paranoia in the years before the murders.

However, his mental illness was undiagnosed. His criminal record at the time included a single drug arrest.

Court documents show Fitzpatrick insisted on pleading guilty despite not remembering killing his girlfriend, Doreatha Hayes, or her 12-year-old daughter, Shenay. Documents also say he expressed confusion during the plea hearing.

When the judge asked during the 2002 hearing about the type of drugs he was taking, Fitzpatrick responded that the drugs “kept him from hearing voices and seeing things.”

Fitzpatrick said the devil appeared to him

The violence began on June 7, 2000. Fitzpatrick stabbed Shenay several times and hit her in the head with an ax handle. He also wrapped a ligature around her neck.

That same evening, after Doreatha came home, he beat her to death with an axe.

Fitzpatrick kept their bodies in the house for two days. On June 9, 2001, he walked across the street, rang the neighbor’s doorbell and asked the neighbor, Betty Rose, to have her husband, Elton, come to his house. Once inside, Fitzpatrick killed Elton Rose with the axe.

Fitzpatrick then went back to the Roses’ door and tried to convince Betty Rose to come to his house. She refused and told Fitzpatrick to bring her husband to the door. Around the same time, Lincoln Heights Police Officer Deangelo drove over Sumler in response to a silent 911 call.

Betty Rose pointed out Fitzpatrick standing on the sidewalk. Fitzpatrick approached Sumler and said, “Come in, he needs help” and then ran into his house. When the officer entered the house, Fitzpatrick pointed a .38-caliber revolver at him.

Sumler raised his hands, backed up to the door and ran. Fitzpatrick fired twice, missing the officer.

Sumler took cover behind a large metal dumpster. Fitzpatrick came out, took aim at Sumler and fired a third shot. Sumler fired back. Fitzpatrick then got into Sumler’s cruiser and drove away.

That same night, Fitzpatrick attacked a woman in her home and also robbed a woman of her car at knifepoint.

On June 10, 2001, Fitzpatrick told his cousin about the murders – and that the devil had appeared to him and sucked the life from his body. The cousin called the police and Fitzpatrick was arrested at a motel in Sharonville.

Other death sentences

Last year, two other Hamilton County death sentences were overturned.

In September 2023, Judge Megan Shanahan found that Bobby Sheppard had schizophrenia, which significantly impaired his ability to exercise rational judgment when he murdered a man during a robbery in 1994.

And in October 2023, Judge Jennifer Branch found that Timothy Dunlap, who killed his girlfriend in 1991, had a serious mental illness. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Dunlap had participated in several inpatient mental health programs before the murder, and while incarcerated he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

Both Sheppard and Dunlap were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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