State v. Wong, 2016 Ohio 96

Background

On Feb 24, 2013, Glenn Wong stabbed his wife Tami at least 103 times in the master bedroom while their two children were present; Tami died of blood loss. Wong admitted to police and medics that he stabbed his wife, claiming he believed she was having an affair.
A grand jury indicted Wong on aggravated murder (prior calculation and design), aggravated felony murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, and domestic violence; Wong notified intent to assert an insanity defense and underwent three sanity evaluations.
Two evaluators concluded Wong was legally sane; Dr. John Fabian diagnosed a delusional disorder but would not testify within a reasonable psychological certainty that the disorder rendered Wong unaware of the wrongfulness of his acts.
The State moved in limine to exclude Dr. Fabian’s expert testimony; the trial court granted the motion and precluded the insanity defense for lack of supportive expert testimony.
A jury convicted Wong on all counts; the court merged allied offenses and, on the State’s election, sentenced Wong to life without parole for aggravated murder. The appellate court affirmed.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Wong)	Held
Whether trial court abused discretion by excluding Dr. Fabian’s expert testimony supporting insanity	Trial court properly excluded testimony that did not meet standard for proving legal insanity; expert could not opine that defendant did not know wrongfulness	Excluding Fabian deprived Wong of right to present an insanity defense and violated due process and Sixth Amendment rights	No abuse of discretion; testimony would only show mental illness/diminished capacity (inadmissible), so exclusion was proper
Whether exclusion of expert testimony violated right to present a defense	State: exclusion of inadmissible evidence does not violate due process; defendant still had meaningful opportunity to present defense	Wong: exclusion deprived him of meaningful opportunity to present complete defense	Court: Due process satisfied; no unfettered right to present incompetent or inadmissible testimony
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated murder (prior calculation and design)	Evidence (103 stab wounds, procurement of knives, strained marital relationship, prior investigation of wife) supports prior calculation and design	Wong: stabbing was spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment, not planned	Evidence sufficient; protracted nature, travel to kitchen for knives, and relationship support prior calculation and design
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated felony murder/kidnapping (restraint and mens rea)	Evidence of prolonged attack, defensive wounds, obtaining weapons supports restraining liberty and purposeful infliction of serious harm	Wong: acted irrationally (not knowingly) and victim’s movement shows no restraint	Evidence sufficient; restraint can exist despite victim movement and mens rea for inflicting serious harm was proven

Key Cases Cited

Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217 (Ohio 1983) (abuse of discretion standard)
Pons v. Ohio State Medical Bd., 66 Ohio St.3d 619 (Ohio 1993) (appellate review of discretion limits)
State v. Harris, 142 Ohio St.3d 211 (Ohio 2015) (insanity is an affirmative defense burdened by preponderance standard)
State v. Taylor, 78 Ohio St.3d 15 (Ohio 1997) (limitations on diminished-capacity evidence unrelated to insanity)
State v. Wilcox, 70 Ohio St.2d 182 (Ohio 1982) (diminished capacity not a recognized defense in Ohio)
State v. Cooey, 46 Ohio St.3d 20 (Ohio 1989) (expert psychiatric testimony may not be used to negate mens rea absent insanity defense)
State v. Hale, 119 Ohio St.3d 118 (Ohio 2008) (due process and right to present a complete defense not absolute where evidence is inadmissible)
California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479 (U.S. 1984) (meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense principle)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (Ohio 1997) (sufficiency and manifest-weight standards)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (Ohio 1991) (standard for sufficiency review)
State v. Allen, 73 Ohio St.3d 626 (Ohio 1995) (protracted nature of a murder may support prior calculation and design)
Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (U.S. 1982) (appellate court as 'thirteenth juror' in weight review)