April 22 ILLINOIS: Judge denies bond for former death row inmate In Chicago, a federal judge today refused to set bond for former death row inmate Aaron Patterson after he refused to leave a federal jail to appear in court. Patterson is being held on drug and firearms charges. Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer told attorneys that Patterson is going to have to explain his failure to appear in court before she considers bond for him. The 40-year-old Patterson went to prison for 17 years for murder after making a confession that he says was the result of torture at the hands of police. He was pardoned in 2003 by then-Governor George Ryan. Patterson has been held without bond since his arrest last August on charges of selling marijuana and illegally purchasing 4 guns. He has pleaded innocent and claims that police set him up. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Timeline of Ross' crimes, convictions and court rulings----Serial killer competent to appeals; Execution set for May 11 A chronological look at Michael Ross' crimes, convictions and death sentence: - May 1981: Dzung Ngoc Tu, a 25-year-old Cornell University student, disappears from an agriculture building at the school. Tu's body is found 3 days later in a gorge on campus. Years later Ross admits to killing Tu, but he is never prosecuted. - August 1981: A 25-year-old woman is raped and beaten in Rolesville, N.C. Years later, Ross admits to the attack, but is never tried. - September 1981: Ross attacks a 15-year-old girl in La Salle City, Ill. by pulling her into the woods. Police discover Ross and he is convicted of unlawful restraint. He is fined $500 and put on probation. - January 1982: Tammy Williams, 17, of Brooklyn, is raped and killed while walking home from her boyfriend's house in Brooklyn. - March 1982: Paula Perrera, 16, of Wallkill, N.Y., is raped and killed. Her body is later found in Wallkill near a road Ross used often while he was a student at Cornell. - April 1982: A 26-year-old off-duty policewoman is attacked after answering her door in Licking County, Ohio. Ross is arrested the next day and charged with assault. - June 1982: Debra Smith Taylor, 23, of Griswold, disappears after a fight with her estranged husband. The two had run out of gas and walked in opposite directions, and Taylor is last seen sitting on a park bench in Danielson. She was raped and killed. - August 1982: Ross pleads guilty in the Ohio assault case. He is fined $1,000 and sentenced to 6 months in jail. - December 1982: Ross is released from jail and he returns to work on his family's farm. - November 1983: Robin Stavinsky, 19, of Norwich, is raped and killed. Her body is later found under a blanket of leaves on the ground of the Uncas-on-the Thames Hospital in Norwich. - April 1984: Best friends Leslie Shelley and April Brunais, both 14 and of Griswold, are killed on Easter Sunday. Brunais was sexually assaulted. The friends had been walking toward a pizza parlor located three miles from their homes. - June 1984: Wendy Baribeault, 17, of Lisbon, is raped and killed while walking along Rt. 12 in Lisbon. Her body is found inside a stone fence off the highway. - June 1984: Police knock on Ross' Jewett City apartment after witnesses report seeing a man in a blue car stop behind Baribeault. Ross is listed in the area as having a blue Toyota. He confesses to killing Baribeault and leads police to the bodies of Shelley and Brunais. - June 1984: Ross leads police to Williams' remains in a wooded section of Brooklyn. He is formally charged with the murder of Baribeault. - July 1984: Ross is charged with the deaths of the remaining 5 Connecticut victims. - November 1985: Ross pleads guilty in Windham Superior Court to murder in the deaths of Williams and Taylor. He later receives life sentences. - July 1987: Ross is sentenced to 6 separate death sentences for killing Baribeault, Stavinsky, Shelley and Brunais. - July 1994: In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court upholds Ross' convictions but overturns the death sentences because the judge hearing the case at the time incorrectly excluded a letter from a psychiatric report. The court orders a new penalty phase. - March 1998: Acting as his own attorney, Ross signs a 10-page agreement promising not to oppose the state's efforts to execute him. - July 1998: A judge rules that the agreement is unconstitutional. - April 2000: Jurors in the second penalty hearing reject Ross' defense that a mental disorder - sexual sadism - drove him to rape and kill. He receives 6 death sentences. - September 2001: Ross pleads guilty to 1st degree manslaughter charges in Perrera's death. He is later sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. - September 2003: Lawyers for Ross again ask the Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence, claiming errors were made in the 2000 hearing. - May 2004: The state Supreme Court upholds Ross' death sentences. - October 2004: Ross' execution date is set for Jan. 26, 2005 after Ross says in court that he does not want to pursue any more appeals. - December 2004: Gov. M. Jodi Rell says she will not issue a reprieve for Ross. The reprieve would have given state lawmakers the opportunity to eliminate Connecticut's capital punishment law and possibly stop Ross' execution. - December 2004: A Superior Court judge rules that Ross is mentally competent to make the decision to die. Connecticut's public defenders and Ross' father continue legal attempts to stop the execution. - Jan. 24, 2005: A federal judge issues an indefinite stay of Ross' scheduled Jan. 26 lethal injection. The ruling came after a psychiatrist testified that Ross may not have been competent when he decided to end his appeals because of the mental effects of years in seclusion on death row. - Jan. 25, 2005: A state Supreme Court rejects attempts by Ross' father and the state's public defenders to file appeals on Ross' behalf, but the justices are divided over whether to postpone the lethal injection until a study of the state's death penalty can be completed. Officials delay the execution until Friday, Jan. 28 at 2:01 a.m. - Jan. 26, 2005: A federal judge issues a restraining order that would prohibit the state from executing Ross for at least 10 days, even as the U.S. Supreme Court considers lifting the stay. - Jan. 27, 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court lifts the stay of execution for Ross. It does not affect the 10-day restraining order. The execution is rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29 at 2:01 a.m. - Jan. 28, 2005: A federal appeals court lifts the restraining order, but delays the execution one more day to give Ross' father a chance to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both an attorney for Ross' father and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal appeal to the nation's highest court. - Jan. 28, 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court lifts the delay and rejects a motion by Ross' father to stop the execution. - Jan. 29, 2005: Ross' attorney, T.R. Paulding, receives a delay of execution to address a possible conflict of interest. Prison officials say they were bound by state law to honor his request. - Feb. 10, 2005: New London Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford sets Ross' new execution date for May 11, 2005, and allows Paulding to continue to represent Ross. However, he appoints Hartford attorney Thomas Groark to argue that Ross is incompetent. - April 15, 2005: Clifford completes a 6-day competency hearings that includes conflicting testimony from 4 psychiatrists and hours of videotaped interviews. - April 22, 2005: Clifford rules that Ross is mentally competent to forgo his appeals. (source: Associated Press)
