Star v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Justice CUNNINGHAM.

Throughout most of his life, including around the time of the crimes in this case, Appellant, William R. Star, suffered from severe mental illness. He was admitted to a mental treatment facility from February 1997 to April 1999, where he was diagnosed with a paranoid delusional disorder. He checked himself into a mental hospital in July 2004, where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. A doctor testified that, in February 2006, Appellant was “severely mentally ill,” a description that was documented in his hospital records.

As is common of…