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President Obama's judicial nominees are getting more dangerous with each White House announcement. If you don't believe us, consider one judge's opinion that the "sexual sadism" of a multiple rapist-murderer was "clearly a mitigating factor" that argued against executing the murderer and perhaps even against convicting him in the first place. Or that a type of Megan's Law sex-offender registry should be overturned because it "stigmatizes nondangerous registrants." Even a child-porn convict should serve a sentence less than half as long as official guidelines suggest if his mental and emotional condition is fragile. U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny of...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the hearing for a controversial Court of Appeals nominee after the panel received a letter from a home-state prosecutor blasting the candidate as a judicial loose cannon and after Republicans raised concerns about bias in favor of sex offenders. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny gained notoriety in 2005 for his role in trying to fight the execution of convicted serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, also known as The Roadside Strangler, whom Chatigny had described as a victim of his own "sexual sadism." His conduct in that case, which included threatening to go...

Israel planned 1991 strike on NKorea-Syria ship: report Wed Jan 9, 2:47 AM ET Israeli agents prepared to strike a ship suspected of smuggling missiles from North Korea to Syria in 1991 but cancelled it at the 11th hour under US pressure, a Japanese newspaper reported Wednesday. Undercover agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency secretly attached a guidance system for an airstrike on a cargo vessel believed to be carrying 23 short-range Scud missiles to Syria, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The Yomiuri, reporting from Jerusalem, said it spoke to one of the agents involved in the operation, whose name was...

The lethal injection that peacefully dispatched Michael Ross did far more violence to New England's sense of self than to the serial killer. The region hadn't witnessed an execution in four decades. The sight of harsh Southern customs creeping into their blue-state bastion deeply unnerved many New Englanders. Twelve states currently do not have the death penalty. They are mostly in New England and the upper Midwest. Many others, including Connecticut, have it on the books but generally don't execute people. Capital punishment has become a major source of anti-U.S. feelings in Europe and elsewhere. But most Europeans don't understand...

The lethal injection that peacefully dispatched Michael Ross did far more violence to New England's sense of self than to the serial killer. The region hadn't witnessed an execution in four decades. The sight of harsh Southern customs creeping into their blue-state bastion deeply unnerved many New Englanders.

SOMERS, Conn., May 12 - Demonstrators Thursday protested Connecticut's plans to execute a convicted serial killer early Friday morning, after two decades of legal efforts to prevent his death appeared to have failed and he declared his desire to die. Death penalty opponents held vigil outside the rural complex of state prisons where the killer, Michael Bruce Ross, was waiting for a warden to lead him to the execution chamber and an unidentified executioner was to administer a lethal injection into his arm at 2:01 a.m.. Mr. Ross, 45, had sought that fatal moment for nearly a year. In defiance...

Serial Killer Michael Ross Executed in Connecticut

Connecticut Carries Out Its First Execution in 45 Years By WILLIAM YARDLEY and STACEY STOWE SOMERS, Conn., May 13 - Connecticut carried out its first execution in 45 years early today, administering a lethal injection to Michael Bruce Ross, a convicted serial killer who abandoned his appeals and died willingly after 18 years on death row. About 300 death penalty opponents held vigil in the cold and dark outside the rural complex of state prisons where a warden led Mr. Ross to the execution chamber and an unidentified executioner began administering a lethal injection into his arm shortly after the...

(Somers-WTNH/AP, May 13, 2005 Updated 5:30 AM) _ A serial killer who fought to hasten his own execution and was forced to prove he wasn't out of his mind was put to death early Friday in New England's first execution in 45 years. Michael Ross, 45, died by injection at 2:25 a.m. after fighting off attempts by public defenders, death penalty foes and his own family to spare his life. "Today is a day no one truly looked forward to, but then no one looked forward to the brutal, heinous deaths of those eight young girls," Gov. M. Jodi Rell...

(Somers-AP, May 12, 2005 Update 11:28 PM ) _ 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 Friday 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. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected two last-minute appeals from Ross' relatives late Thursday afternoon, and the U.S. Supreme...

SOMERS, Conn. (AP) _ Here is how serial killer Michael Ross spent the day before his execution: 5:45 a.m. _ Woke up. 6:00 a.m. _ Ate oatmeal for breakfast. 6 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. _ Read the newspaper, watched television. 8:10 a.m. _ Moved to the holding cell next to the death chamber. He took with him a Bible, a book of Bible verses, some candy and a coffee cup. 9 a.m. _ Received communion. 11 a.m. _ Ate a cheeseburger and hash browns for lunch. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visited by family, friends and attorney. 3 p.m. _...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) May 11,2005 A lawsuit aimed at blocking the Friday morning execution of serial killer Michael Ross has been filed in Bridgeport federal court. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of an inmate in the state prison in Newtown, claims Ross' voluntary execution will set off suicided among other prison inmates. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Antonio Ponvert (PAHN'-vehr), claims Ross' execution is like to cause what is known as "suicide contagion" among suicide prone state prison inmates. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a state prison inmate, Duane Ziemba, who is imprisoned at the Garner Correctional center....

With Connecticut less than 24 hours away from its first execution in nearly 45 years, legal challenges that could derail the execution of serial killer Michael Ross remained undecided this morning and are certain to be appealed. But those closest to the case say they believe Ross will be dead by day's end Friday, though none would lend their names to such speculation. They cite the speed with which the federal appeals courts dealt with a barrage of appeals in the days leading up to Ross' original execution date in late January. The families of Ross' victims, who were stunned...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Death penalty opponents set off yesterday on a five-day walk to protest the state's plans to execute a serial killer who admitted killing and raping eight young women in Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s. About two dozen protesters began the 30-mile journey that will end at the prison where Michael Ross is scheduled to be put to death Friday in what would be the first execution in New England in 45 years. "So many people have asked me, 'Why are you doing this for Michael Ross?' " said Robert Nave, executive director of...

HARTFORD - Death penalty opponents set off Sunday on a five-day walk to protest the state's plans to execute a serial killer who admitted killing and raping eight young women in Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s. About two dozen protesters began the 30-mile journey that will eventually lead to the prison where Michael Ross is scheduled to be put to death Friday in what would be the first execution in New England in 45 years. "So many people have asked me, 'Why are you doing this for Michael Ross?'" said Robert Nave, executive director of the Connecticut...

New Haven, Conn - Serial killer Michael Ross is competent to forgo his death penalty appeals, a judge said Friday, ruling that New England's first execution in 45 years can proceed as scheduled next month.... Ross, who has admitted killing and raping eight young women in Connecticut and New York in the early 1980's, is scheduled to die by lethal injection.

STAMFORD, Conn. - In Oklahoma, Susan Powers is known as a bright mathematician who created a Web site for a group that cares for abused animals. In Connecticut, she is the mysterious woman who became romantically involved with serial killer and rapist Michael Ross. Ross, who has confessed to raping and killing women in New York and Connecticut in the early 1980s, agreed last year to drop his appeals against the death penalty. His execution, scheduled for May 11, would be the first in New England in 45 years. He and Powers, however, have rekindled a romance she had broken...

"We are not in this profession to help people get killed," Chatigny said. The judge also threatened to go after Paulding's law license if Ross died and further investigation revealed evidence that Ross was, indeed, incompetent.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Shortly after his third suicide attempt, serial killer Michael Ross wrote that life on death row was increasingly unbearable. He described the isolation of sitting in his cell 23 hours a day for years amid the endless slamming of metal and dark thoughts of his own horrific crimes and his impending execution. ``I've been doing this for 19 years now -- 16 on death row -- and it gets harder every year,'' Ross wrote in 2003, according to court papers. ``I honestly don't think I can do much more of this. I now understand why 12...

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...