Posted on 01/30/2005 8:05:24 PM PST by Former Military Chick
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A defense attorney for a serial killer who wants to die said Sunday that he will remain on the case, a decision that officials said keeps the inmate on track to become the first person executed in New England in 45 years.
State officials said the execution of Michael Ross remained scheduled for Monday at 9 p.m.
Ross had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection Saturday, but defense attorney T.R. Paulding asked for a delay so he could explore a possible conflict of interest.
Paulding did not say Sunday what he had concluded, but legal experts had speculated that if there was a conflict Paulding would step down.
Paulding's request came hours after a federal judge criticized the attorney, saying he was not adequately investigating claims that Ross was mentally incompetent to make the decision to die. Paulding was hired by Ross after he dropped his appeals and said he wanted to be executed.
Ross, a 45-year-old Cornell University graduate, has confessed to eight murders in eastern Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said state lawyers have worked through the weekend preparing to contest last-minute appeals from outside groups. Such appeals, filed over Ross' objection, have delayed the execution for almost a week.
``Assuming he has made this decision and the last legal impediment has been removed, the criminal justice process should go forward on Monday evening,'' Blumenthal said.
He has been on death row nearly 20 years. Frankly, they should have carried this out long ago. Hey commit a murder and get the death penalty and then die of old age in prison.
I just feel there is just to much drama as it regards this inmate.
Witness: Ross said goodbyes, refused last meal before execution was delayed
Wake me when they really off this eight time murderer please.
this guy aint toast yet... sheesh
Yo Conn.,just man up and take out the trash
This is what happens to a legal system when it suffers the Liberal Midas touch...but it does not turn to gold...
we've been trying, but, too many liberals here...(sigh)...
For what this guy did to those girls in his perverse sadistic pleasure trip. Seems like these ACLU lawyers think why kill this guy. He's like one of us! Bastards all of them. Just take Ross off death row and put him in the general population so he can put away that way.
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
He should donate his body parts to surviving families, should they have a use--eyes, lung, kidney.
"He should donate his body parts to surviving families, should they have a use--eyes, lung, kidney."
How weird would it be to look through the eyes of a murderer..literally
channel 3 (htfd) reports execution delayed by yet another hearing. dunno specifics...
Oops, on second thought...Execution Delayed.
Over the weekend a liberal judge threatened & badgered Atty. Paulding (Ross' atty.) law license if the execution went forward citing a conflict of interest. Paulding has now reopened the competency phase, apparently at Ross's request, to put the questions about Ross's decision to get put to death, well, to death.
My guess is that this POS will never get put to death and in the meantime the newer, more liberal state legislature will no doubt move to remove the death penalty from the books.
I'm not a supporter of the death penalty, but dragging this out with open and frequent media coverage is just wrong.
Whatever small element of deterence that exists in having a death penalty has been completely eliminated.
For example, if someone was contemplating committing a murder, they would view the Micheal Ross situation and think, "gee, even IF I get caught, and even IF I get the death penalty, and even IF I WANT to die...they won't let me." This would simply encourage a would-be murderer to go ahead with his plans to kill.
There was an interesting show on the History Channel recently about that. It seems that the chemicals used in lethal injections are so powerful that almost no organs are useful for transplant. Ironically, the most effective method, for donor reasons, is the firing squad. Only the heart is destroyed, and it was pointed out then when Utah executed Gary Gilmore, all of his organs were harvested, including his eyes to a young girl, IIRC.
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