Just reported on CNN also:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/13/ross.execution.ap/index.html
Buh-Bye!
Outstanding! I hope this opens the doors of New England to further execution of killers. Anyone know the last execution in NE prior to Ross?
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3180054
Serial killer prepares for death New England's first execution in 45 years was set for this morning
People sit with bibles and rosaries during a vigil against the death penalty at the Somers Congregational Church in Somers, Conn., Thursday.
SOMERS, CONN. - A serial killer who struggled to hasten his own death — and was forced to prove he wasn't out of his mind — awaited lethal injection early today in New England's first execution in 45 years.
Michael Ross, 45, was scheduled to be put to death at 2:01 a.m. after fighting off attempts by public defenders, death penalty foes and his own family to save his life.
A federal appeals court in New York rejected two last-minute appeals Thursday afternoon, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeals late Thursday.
Both courts rebuffed a lawsuit brought on behalf of Ross' father that claimed the execution would lead to a wave of suicide attempts among Connecticut inmates.
They also rejected an attempt by Ross' sister to intervene in his case and stop the execution.
Death penalty opponents feared that Ross' execution could break down a political and psychological barrier against capital punishment in New England and start a domino effect in the region.
Michael Ross The Ivy League-educated Ross was sent to death row for the killings of four young women and girls in Connecticut in the 1980s, and confessed to four more such slayings in Connecticut and New York. He also raped most of the women.
Last fall, he announced he was abandoning all remaining appeals — which could have kept him alive for many years — because his victims' families had suffered enough.
"I owe these people. I killed their daughters. If I could stop the pain, I have to do that. This is my right," the former insurance agent and Cornell University graduate said. "I don't think there's anything crazy or incompetent about that."
Desperate to save his life, public defenders and Ross' family argued that Ross suffered from "death row syndrome" — that is, he had become deranged from living most of the past 18 years under a death sentence.
Ross was hours from death in January when a federal judge scolded Ross' attorney and threatened to lift his law license for trying to hasten Ross' execution.
The lawyer agreed to a new round of hearings on whether Ross was mentally competent.
Last month, a judge again found Ross competent to decide his fate.
Fox has there complete story up now:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156414,00.html
I feel a mix of emotions right now. Hunger mostly. I think I'll go make a sandwich. I'll toast it in memory of this dirtbag.
Good. Forget him.
Cool!
MSNBC playing the press conference from CT right now.
Shame it wasn't done with a weedeater!
MSNBC now playing a Dark Heart Iron Hand show about the now dead killer.
Nam Vet
OK, now let's execute the murderer of little Samantha Runnion out in California. I'm more than a little worried about that California jury. They've been out a day. I'm hoping Friday the 13th turns out to be the unluckiest day of that pig Avila's life. Fry the bastard.
Good.
EOM.
BBzzzzzzzz Bzzzzzzzzzzz! Hey is that the electric chair or the vibrator? hehehehe 'ANother one bytes the dust"!!!
They had a buffoon on FNC today that said Ross was "suffering" from "six different mental illnesses." In the good old days, one was either crazy or not crazy. Now you can be crazy in six different ways all at the same time. Shyster "lawyers." I'll never understand those knuckleheads.
At least 17 years too late....but we'll take it.
I don't know if anyone else is watching the MSNBC interview of Michael Ross but it's chilling. Those poor girls. I don't know why we are so stupid in this country and don't execute these bastards more often. This demon would still be alive today if it weren't for him wanting to be executed.
Paula Perrera, 16
Tammy Williams, 17
Debra Smith Taylor, 23
Robin Stavinksy, 19
April Brunias, 14
Leslie Shelley, 14
Wendy Baribeault, 17
Courtesy of Pro-Death Penalty.com. More on these women taken from this world to slake this beast's vile appetites here.
Yet another example why the death penalty isn`t a punishment and why I don`t support it. These killers don`t care if they die. What kind of punishment is being put to sleep? If it was up to me, and this may sound cruel, please don`t think me a sick sadist for suggesting it, but we should strap these killers into a seat and have them listen to a speech by Hitlery Clinton for 15 minutes. I know that is completely inhuman treatment, but these animals are killers and THIS is justice and true punsihment.