Posted on 01/27/2005 2:07:03 PM PST by Tarpaulin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A closely divided U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a stay of execution for Connecticut death row inmate Michael Ross in a move that could clear the way for New England's first execution in 45 years.
Ross, a convicted serial murderer who has admitted killing eight women in the 1980s, says he wants to waive his appeals and die. But a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld a stay of execution and sent the case back to a federal judge to decide whether a public defender may intervene on his behalf.
Connecticut prosecutors asked that the stay be set aside, and the nation's high court granted the request without any comment in a one-sentence order.
Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, the court's most liberal members, said they would allow the stay of execution to remain in place.
The public defender has argued that Ross is mentally incompetent to make the decision to want to die after years of solitary confinement on death row.
Ross, 45 and a Cornell University graduate, originally had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday.
Public defenders represented Ross for 17 years but he fired them last year and has a private attorney fighting for his execution. The public defenders have continued to act on his behalf without his permission and have sought a mental competency hearing before a federal judge in Connecticut.
Ross was arrested in 1984 after a three-year spree of rapes and murders. His scheduled execution has sparked debate in the northeast United States, where executions are rare.
The Supreme Court also on Thursday rejected a request for a stay of execution for Ross filed by group called the Missionary Society of Connecticut.
We'll all die before Michael Ross does.
When the media doesn't like the decision it was "closely divided." Same for issues. If they don't like it, then it is "controversial."
'Bout time this man met his maker
Are they collecting money for this? Are their taxpyer funded salaries still being collected for work not done on the state's behalf? I say someone should sue for backpay, class action lawsuit, since these people were fired and not supposed to waste taxpayer money on this.
Anyway, what does this mean?
A 5-4 vote is "closely divided."
Yes, but it is closely divided at other times too. They only emphasize it when they don't like it. That's my point. It's like they are saying, "We almost won.."
Have you seen the movie Friday Night Lights? It was told from the perspective of the team that lost. It ended focusing on the fact that they were less than 1 yard short of winning the game. Do you think the winning team was focused on that? No way. They won. Period. They act like they won by a landslide. That's the difference in reactions between winners and losers. So it is easy to spot the ideology of the headline/story writer.
So he has to hire a private attorney so he can end his appeals, while the fired public defenders work against his wishes using taxpayer money.
What a totally screwed up justice system we've got.
Michael Ross was educated in the City of Evil.
When is the new date? Asap I hope.
I saw a one-hour show on MSNBC about this guy the weekend before last. He was obviously sane when he committed the crimes. He said that if they ever carry out the sentence, lethal injection will be too good for him considering what he put his victims through.
The psychiatrists found him a very complex character. One of them went on at great length about his childhood and his parents' unhappy marriage. However, if I understood Ross correctly, his motive was very simple. He raped and strangled the women because he really enjoyed it.
Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, the court's most liberal members, said they would allow the stay of execution to remain in place.
These judicial wizards have "compassion" for a serial killer of eight, but they turn a blind back of their liberal hands to a disabled woman in the state of FL.
Go figure.
He wants to die! I think it was Dennis Miller, or maybe George Carlin that said "if he's that mentally ill, just strap him to the electric chair and tell him he's going for a ride." That's a little harsh, but for someone who has actively confessed and waived his appeals, shouldn't we focus a little less on his appeals and more on prosecuting criminals who deserve to be behind bars?
A 129-vote Washington victory for the D, after the R led the first, second, and almost all of the third count until the very end is a "model election for the nation" (elected Rat's own words).
I think it was Bobby Slayton, but what does it matter? This guy is not mentally ill. If you ask me, what's harsh is making the families of the victims wait 20 years for his sentence to be carried out.
I agree. If it wasn't specified on my previous post, I'm with you. Personally I'm sick of people claiming insanity or diminished capacity and I think it would have been justified to carry out his sentence immediately (and preferably by a family member)but unfortunately in our court system we always make the perpetrators out to be victims of society
Ross was arrested in 1984 after a three-year spree of rapes and murders.
Obviously nobody that these liberal justices knew, though. The scumbags.
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