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.
We can only hope.
People like that DISGUST me, and need to be slapped upside their heads with their Bibles.
Sheesh....they hold a vigil against the death penalty for a tried/convicted/confessed killer, TOTALLY FORGETTING THE VICTIMS WHO FACED A DEATH PENALTY.