At the brink

SOMERS, Conn. -- When Lan Tu arrived at the Hartford train station, his sister's killer was scheduled to be put to death in two hours -- at 2:01 a.m. yesterday.

But by the time he arrived at the Osborn Correctional Institution, the execution of serial killer Michael Ross had been postponed until tomorrow at 9 p.m.

"It's somewhat disappointing but not unexpected," Tu said soon after learning of the turn of events. "He's guilty; he wants to die. So if he isn't executed, whom would you execute?"

New England's first execution in 45 years was abruptly put on hold at the request of Ross' lawyer, T.R. Paulding, who said he needed to address a possible conflict of interest in representing Ross.

Paulding did not explain the potential conflict. But he said Ross -- who has dropped all appeals and hired Paulding to expedite his execution -- had not sought the delay.

And the announcement came just hours after Connecticut's chief federal judge had berated Paulding, threatening to take away his law license if it turns out that deplorable conditions on death row drove Ross to seek death.

"What you are doing is terribly, terribly wrong," Chief U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny told Paulding, according to a transcript of the conversation. "No matter how well motivated you are, you have a client whose competence is in serious doubt, and you don't know what you are talking about."

CHATIGNY is the judge who twice halted Ross' execution, saying he wanted a hearing into whether Ross was mentally competent to decide to forgo appeals. The judge expressed concerns that Ross wanted to die because of conditions at Northern Correctional Institution.

State court judges, including Connecticut's Supreme Court, have found Ross competent to waive the appeals still available to him. And Chatigny's rulings were later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But with Ross' execution looming, Chatigny initiated a conference call at 3 p.m. Friday with eight lawyers involved in the case.

The judge told Paulding he'd done a poor job of investigating whether Ross was desperate to kill himself because of conditions at Northern. "When I was in practice as a litigator, my investigation -- I don't mean to pat myself on the back but -- my investigation in a typical run-of-the-mill injury case would be more comprehensive than your investigation of this," he said.

Chatigny noted that he'd recently received a handwritten letter from an inmate, Ramon A. Lopez, who said Ross had told him "he did not want to die."

And during the conference call, Herbert Santos, a lawyer trying to halt the execution, said that in the previous 24 hours, he'd spoken to John Tokarz, a former deputy corrections commissioner, who had concluded "that the conditions at Northern were a substantial factor in Ross' decision to seek to waive his rights to further litigation and to elect to be executed." He said Tokarz compared living at Northern to living in a submarine or cave.

"I warn you, Mr. Paulding," Chatigny said, "between now and whatever happens Sunday night, you better be prepared to live with yourself for the rest of your life. And you better be prepared to deal with me if, in the wake of this, an investigation is conducted and it turns out that what Lopez said and what this former program director says is true, because I'll have your law license."

IN RESPONDING to the judge, Paulding said that when Ross "professes that the primary motivation for what he's doing is the concern for the victims' families, I believe that he's telling the truth."

Chatigny told Paulding, "I think you're a kind-hearted, decent, gentle soul. But you know what? Oftentimes those are the ones who wind up making the worst mistakes."

Toward the end of the 55-minute conference call, the judge urged Paulding to tell Ross: "Michael, I can bring you in off this limb that we're both on."

After that call, Paulding asked the state to postpone the execution, and at 12:45 a.m. yesterday, state officials joined Paulding at a news conference to announce the new execution date.

ROSS, 45, is on death row for killing four young women and girls in eastern Connecticut in 1983 and 1984. He's been convicted for killing two other Connecticut women in 1982, and he's admitted to killing two women in New York State when he was a student at Cornell University.

The first to die was Dzung Ngoc Tu, 25, a Cornell graduate student who was raped and strangled. On May 12, 1981, the petite Vietnamese immigrant disappeared and her body was found three days later at the bottom of Fall Creek Gorge in Ithaca, N.Y., near Ross' fraternity house. Ross later admitted to killing her, but he was never prosecuted for the crime.

Lan Tu, her older brother, said he just learned last week that Ross was the killer. He found out thanks to the efforts of Victoria Balfour, his sister's freshman-year roommate at Vassar College. She said she contacted a reporter, who contacted Tu's family.

Tu is not allowed to witness the execution since Ross is not on death row for his sister's death. But Tu wanted to be near the prison when the execution took place.

So Tu said he left from the Washington, D.C., area Friday at 7 p.m. and drove to the Hartford train station to pick up Balfour, who'd come up from New York City. At 11:45 p.m., Balfour asked a police officer at the station whether the execution was still on, and he said it was.

So they drove to Somers, arriving at the Robinson Correctional Institution yesterday at about 1:20 a.m. Ross was to receive a lethal injection at 2:01 a.m. at the nearby Osborn Correctional Facility. But then they heard about the postponement.

Balfour wondered whether the execution would happen tomorrow. "I'll believe it when I see it," she said.

When asked about what he would like to see happen, Tu said he wished his sister was still alive -- with "a family, kids and a house with a picket fence."

Executing Ross "is not really justice," Tu said. "But it's a start. Nothing will really be fitting punishment for his crime, but it would be the last chapter in the story of my sister's life. It would finally be over."

THE END of Ross' life appeared to be near at 10 p.m. Friday when word spread that the U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for his execution.

At that moment, a group of death-penalty opponents were gathered at Somers Congregational Church for a prayer vigil. "We just got the news," said Robert Nave, executive director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. "It's going to happen."

The Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., executive director of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, stepped to the lectern.

"If we proceed apace with this rescheduled execution of Michael Ross, it will be tantamount to an act of state-assisted suicide, casting Connecticut in a Kevorkian-like starring role," Sidorak said. "On this bitterly cold 'dark night of the soul,' we need to acknowledge the bitterness we coldly feel in the bottoms of our hearts over the execution about to take place in our name."

At midnight, a brilliant moon had risen, and the temperature had plunged below zero.

State officials had designated one parking lot for death-penalty opponents and another lot for proponents. At the entrances, corrections officers asked people where they stood on the issue.

There were more reporters than supporters at the proponents' lot. Deanise and James Shewokis, of Somers, had driven down to show their support, wearing newly made T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of a hypodermic needle and the words "Your Final Shot to Fame!"

Deanise Shewokis said the execution should go forward, given that Ross had admitted his guilt and was ready for face the death penalty. "Why should us taxpayers be paying for him to sit there with three square meals a day?" she asked.

"You shouldn't have to wait 17 years," she said, referring to Ross' time in prison. "Once the gavel hits, you should hit the dirt. That's it. The good book says 'Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.' Even God had an attitude, with the floods, famine and locusts."

James Shewokis said, "Certain cases deserve it, and this is one of them. It's going to be closure for the victims' families."

Just after midnight, more than 100 death-penalty opponents headed from the church to their designated parking lot. They planned to march about a mile and a half, carrying candles, to a spot as close to Osborn as officials would allow.

"It's a profound moment," said Nan Hirst, of South Kingstown, R.I. "When a state decides to act as murderer, we need to stop and think."

So she and her husband, George Hirst, were there in the parking lot, ready to march.

"The madness has to stop," she said. "If this goes forward, I see it happening more and more in New England. The economy is bad, the country is on a conservative bent, and we need someone to blame. That's usually the ingredients for more executions."

Nan Hirst said she could see the death penalty's return to Rhode Island. "There was a time I said, 'I can't see it in Connecticut,' " she said. "And here we are tonight."

After the execution was called off, Nan Hirst said, "Thanks be to God." But now, she said, the question is: What's next?

"It's a profound moment," said Nan Hirst, of South Kingstown, R.I. "When a state decides to act as murderer, we need to stop and think."

So she and her husband, George Hirst, were there in the parking lot, ready to march.

Nan Hirst said she could see the death penalty's return to Rhode Island. "There was a time I said, 'I can't see it in Connecticut,' " she said. "And here we are tonight."

-A conservative bent?? As I Rhode Islander I anxiously await a return of the death penalty, and according to the polls I'm not alone. If ever put to a popular vote in Rhode Island and Mass. the death penalty would pass overwhelmingly, as would a ban on gay marriage. I wonder what the Hirst's think about the Terri Schiavo case? On second thought, I doubt the Hirst's have ever even heard about it.

"What you are doing is terribly, terribly wrong,"

No Judge, what YOU are doing is terribly wrong - Substituting your prejudices/preferences over the jury's verdict, the will of the people AND the wishes of a convicted, sentenced serial killer. Please retire your ignorant, elitist self from the bench NOW.

I have been looking forward to the day that the death penalty came back to New England. As a Red state thinker living in Blue MA - i am desperately waiting for the death penalty to come back. Eye for an Eye! Judgment was given to the people from God and this is the rightful way to terminate those that do not follow the path of God!

Chief U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny is a perfect example of judicial activism .... especially in light of the fact that the SCOTUS vacated TWO STAYS clearing the way for the execution to move forward. This Chatigny fellow was appointed by 'BJ Bill' - so you know what a flaming liberal mindset he must have.

I feel so sorry for the victims and their families. Chatigny .... what a piece of work!

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