Jan. 28
CONNECTICUT: Legal filings continue as clock ticks toward Ross execution Protesters and state prison workers prepared for New England's 1st execution in 45 years Friday night as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed dueling requests -- one to execute serial killer Michael Ross and one that would at least temporarily spare his life. "We are fully mobilizing for the impending execution," said Robert Nave, executive director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. "We are going ahead assuming this is going to happen. We have people coming in from six states." Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to dissolve a temporary stay and allow Ross' execution by lethal injection. On Friday night, attorneys for Ross' father, Dan Ross, filed a petition asking for a stay of execution. There was no immediate indication of when the petitions would be heard, although both the state and protesters were preparing for a possible execution for early Saturday. Michael Ross has been seeking his execution since deciding to forgo his appeals last year. It was scheduled for 2:01 a.m. Saturday. "We are prepared and ready to proceed at 2:01 a.m.," said Brian Garnett, spokesman for the state Department of Correction. "We are awaiting direction from the court." "There have been frequent delays as well as legal maneuvers in this case and our feeling is there needs to be an effort to ensure justice and finality for the victims' families as well as the state's citizens," Blumenthal said. A 10-day restraining order was issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny on Wednesday after Dan Ross filed a civil lawsuit against his son's wishes to stop the execution. "The bottom line is that it's in the courts' hands," Gov. Jodi M. Rell told The Associated Press Friday. "I know there are appeals going back and forth, and frankly, that's the way it is and that's what the decision ultimately has to be." Rell opted in December against granting Ross a reprieve that could have given lawmakers more time to debate the death penalty. By state law, the Connecticut governor cannot commute a death sentence. Michael Ross is on death row for the murders of 4 women in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s, but has admitted killing 8 women in Connecticut and New York. A 3-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Friday agreed to lift the restraining order, but not until 12:01 a.m. Sunday to give Ross' father a chance to appeal. In his petition to the high court, Blumenthal argued there was no reason for further delays. "This action is Dan Ross' third attempt to stop the execution of his son, Michael Ross, who has been found competent by four separate courts, including the Connecticut Supreme Court, is represented by counsel, and has expressed his intention not to seek further appeals of his sentence," Blumenthal wrote. Jim Nugent, one of the attorneys representing Ross' father, condemned the move. "It's pitiful how bloodthirsty they are," Nugent said. "They're doing everything possible to get this death machinery greased and running in fear Mr. Ross will change his mind." Nugent said their appeal to the nation's highest court would include new evidence, including an affidavit from a retired assistant warden who says conditions on death row may have led Michael Ross to drop his appeals. "The living conditions at Northern were harsh. I can best describe Northern as living in a submarine or cave," former warden John T. Okarz said. The appeal also will cite a letter from another inmate who alleged state mental health workers may have coerced Ross into volunteering to die. Blumenthal dismissed that letter as unreliable. In its ruling earlier Friday, the 2nd Circuit said in could find no case law that establishes the right of relatives of a condemned inmate to challenge the death sentence on their own behalf. The court said Dan Ross had raised some troubling questions, but pointed out that the high court on Thursday had already rejected arguments that Michael Ross was incompetent to make his own decisions. Nave said protesters were planning a vigil late Friday at a Somers church before marching to the prison. "Part of me says it's a one-time thing, and we're not Texas," he said. "However, I continue to think this will leave a psychic imprint on the collective psyche that says this wasn't so bad." (source: Associated Press)
