Jan. 1


CONNECTICUT:


Death row inmate Michael Ross has rejected any more appeals, but his
father, public defenders and other prisoners facing the same fate are
trying to stop the first execution in New England in decades.

A series of challenges to the execution will be heard next week in state
and federal court. For the first time, Ross' father Dan is joining the
legal battle to stop his son's execution, arguing that his son is not
mentally competent.

The state has set a Jan. 26 execution date for Ross.

"Within 20-odd days, someone is going to kill his son," said Jon
Schoenhorn, attorney for Dan Ross. "Nobody who apparently has standing is
raising any questions about it."

Ross, 45, has admitted killing 8 women in Connecticut and New York and
raping many of them. He is on death row for killing 4 young women in
eastern Connecticut in the 1980s. The execution would be the 1st in
Connecticut in more than 40 years.

Ross recently fired the public defenders who represented him for 17 of the
20 years he has been in prison. He has retained private attorney T.R.
Paulding Jr. to help him move forward with his execution, saying he does
not want to pursue any more appeals.

Paulding said Friday that Ross is upset by all the appeals.

"Their supposed intent is for the benefit of Michael Ross and their actual
effect is to harm him emotionally at this point," Paulding said. "He would
like to just spend his last few days on earth getting prepared for that."

A Rockville Superior Court judge will decide Monday whether Dan Ross or
the public defenders have any standing to force Michael Ross to appeal his
conviction. Dan Ross also contends his son received ineffective counsel
and that he was mentally ill when he committed the murders.

On Wednesday, the Connecticut Supreme Court will hear an appeal by the
state public defender's office. At issue is whether New London Superior
Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford erred when he refused to allow the public
defenders to represent Ross.

Clifford ruled last week that Ross was competent in making his decision to
forgo any future appeals.

The public defenders' office is arguing that Ross is incompetent and is
trying to commit "judicial, state-assisted suicide." Ross has tried to
kill himself in prison 3 times, officials said.

In their latest move, the public defenders are seeking a 1-week extension
to file legal arguments for the hearing.

"The defendant's life is at stake," the public defenders argue in a legal
brief filed Thursday. "The issues before this court are of the utmost
moral and legal significance, and indisputably deserve the court's most
careful and deliberate attention."

But state prosecutors and Ross objected to any delay.

The state has repeatedly argued that the public defender's office should
not be appointed because Ross already has legal representation.

Last Wednesday, four other death row inmates in Connecticut sought to
support the public defenders by arguing that the death penalty is racially
discriminatory. But the high court rejected their request to intervene,
saying the issues they wanted to raise were not within the scope of the
hearing.

This coming Thursday, a federal judge in Hartford will hear another
challenge by Dan Ross and the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union. They are
challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment.

Edwin Shelley, whose 14-year-old daughter Leslie was killed by Ross, said
he was not surprised by the appeals. But the wait never gets easier, he
said.

"It's nerve-racking," Shelley said. "This goes on everyday for 21 years.
We feel the same today as the day they came to us and told us they found
her remains."

(source: Associated Press)

I heard on the news he says he wants to die and is upset that people are trying to stop it.

Despite Monday's ruling, more challenges to Ross execution expected

By SUSAN HAIGH
Associated Press Writer

January 4, 2005, 7:28 PM EST

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Three weeks before serial killer Michael Ross is scheduled to be executed, his former lawyers and his father are embarking on the second phase of their legal strategy: appealing to the state Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.

Connecticut's highest court will hear arguments on Wednesday about whether a superior court judge erred by not allowing the state's office of public defender to intervene on Ross' behalf.

Ross has decided he does not want to pursue any further appeals. The public defenders claim Ross is not mentally competent to make that decision.

Ross, 45, has admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York, and is on death row for the murders of four young women in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s. He also raped some of the women.

The public defenders plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court again, claiming the same New London judge erroneously determined that Ross is competent. They also plan to appeal another ruling from a Rockville superior court judge who determined Monday that the public defenders and Dan Ross, Michael Ross' father, have no legal standing to intervene in Ross' execution.

The state's public defenders also filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We weren't surprised that we didn't succeed at the trial court," said Chief Public Defender Gerard Smyth on Tuesday.

"I do think that if we're going to be given the opportunity to present evidence of incompetence," he said, "it will have to be the Connecticut Supreme Court or from a federal court."

If the lawyers who Ross fired last year fail before the state Supreme Court, Smyth said they will go to a U.S. District Court to try to block the execution.

"We will continue to pursue those things we feel we are obliged to pursue for so long as he remains alive," Smyth said of Ross.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, a federal judge in Hartford is scheduled to hear another challenge by Dan Ross and the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union. They are challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment.

T.R. Paulding, Ross' personal attorney, said Ross may want to participate by closed circuit television.

Paulding and Ross both expected interest groups would try to fight the execution, which would be the first in Connecticut since 1960. Paulding said he is uncertain whether they will succeed in the state Supreme Court or the federal court after failing to be recognized by the trial courts.

"I think I'll have a better sense when this week is over," Paulding said.

"This is an important week because I think it is going to set the tone as to how the courts view all of this," he added. "I think this week is going to set some precedent."

Paulding said other groups, including out-of-state anti-death penalty organizations, also may try to intervene to help block Ross' execution.

Ross' case has attracted national and international attention because his execution would be the first in New England in more than 40 years.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press