May 13
CONNECTICUT --- execution
Timeline of Ross' crimes, convictions and court rulings
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 2 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 3 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 first 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 six-day competency hearings that
includes conflicting testimony from four psychiatrists and hours of
videotaped interviews.
# April 22, 2005: Clifford rules that Ross is mentally competent to forgo
his appeals.
# May 2, 2005: The state Supreme Court postpones the execution until May
13 to give attorneys sufficient time to file court appeals.
# May 9, 2005: The state Supreme Court rejects Groark's appeal and affirms
that Ross is competent.
# May 10, 2005: Rockville Superior Court Judge Jonathan Kaplan rejects a
request by Ross' sister, Donna Dunham, to intervene in the case, citing
previous state Supreme Court rulings.
# May 11, 2005: The state Supreme Court rejects Dunham's appeal.
# May 11: 2005: A federal lawsuit alleges that Ross' death could spark a
wave of suicide attempts among troubled Connecticut prisoners. The lawsuit
is brought by an attorney hired by Ross' father, who said he was
authorized by Dan Ross to do whatever he could to save Ross' life.
# May 12, 2005: A federal appeals court rejects appeals from Ross' sister
and father. The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to overturn the decisions.
(sources: Associated Press & Hartford Courant)
*********************************
Death penalty opponents protest New England execution
As serial killer Michael Ross was executed Friday morning, protesters
stood in silence. Some embraced and cried.
"My stomach is turning," said Suzanne Strum of Waterford. "My heart is
pounding. I can't believe Connecticut has become that state that's done
it."
"It's over," a woman next to her said before bursting into tears.
In the hours before the execution, protesters moved closer to the Somers
prison, saying the Hail Mary and clutching rosary beads and candles.
"I believe by this prayer I send comfort to Michael Ross and hope God will
take his soul into heaven," said James Russell, a Spanish teacher from
Longmeadow, Mass.
He was among some 300 death penalty opponents who gathered near the prison
in anticipation of New England's 1st execution in 45 years. A handful of
death penalty supporters also walked nearby.
Ross' execution triggered debate throughout the state and in the General
Assembly. Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled legislature have said they
lack the votes to override a promised veto by Republican Gov. M. Jodi
Rell, and few legislators wanted to be seen as trying to save the life of
a serial killer.
Death row inmates have also claimed in appeals that capital punishment is
sought disproportionally in Connecticut when the crime involves a white
victim. A 2-year-old order by the state Supreme Court for hearings to
determine if Connecticut's death penalty is biased remains unfulfilled.
Protest groups organized a 5-day, 30-mile march from Hartford to the
prison that concluded Thursday night.
"I think we all are feeling more and more sad as the hour gets closer,"
said Elizabeth Brancato, a systems programmer from Torrington.
Hundreds of people on both sides of the death penalty issue gathered late
Thursday and early Friday in a field adjacent to Osborn Correctional
Institute.
One death penalty supporter stood with a sign that read, "Liberalism is a
mental disease."
Among the death penalty supporters, Craig Miner of Enfield put white
lettering on the sides of his black Hummer: "Ross must go, 5/13/05."
"I have 4 kids of my own and I really feel sorry for the families of the
girls," Miner said.
A group of Somers High School students turned up in support of death
penalty. Lauren Mashiak, a 17-year-old junior at Somers High, sat in the
parking lot wrapped in a purple blanket holding a sign, "Ross deserves to
be sauce."
"Knowing that they were our age, knowing that he killed and raped them and
stuff, I'm putting myself in their shoes," Mashiak said.
Kaylah Winter, a 16-year-old junior at Somers High, wore big fluffy
mittens, holding a sign, "Turn Ross into Moss."
"He doesn't deserve the satisfaction of having the publicity. He just
deserves to die," Winter said.
Bud Welch, whose daughter died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City, told about 100 people at an interfaith
vigil at Somers Congregational Church earlier in the evening that the
execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh brought him no solace.
"We have come upon at 2:01 a.m. tomorrow morning a huge staged political
event for all of New England," Welch said. "Let's hope this doesn't
happen, but I'm afraid it will."
The Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., executive director of the Christian
Conference of Connecticut, said: "May the ending of Michael Ross' life be
the beginning of a renewed determined and sustained movement to abolish
capital punishment in Connecticut."
"Amen," the audience responded at the church.
(source: Associated Press)
*************************
Eatery celebrates scheduled execution
Anne Kudelchuck wanted to give Michael Ross what she considered a proper
sendoff Thursday night.
Kudelchuck, owner of Altone's Italian American Restaurant on Main Street,
held a Michael Ross execution party at midnight at her bar.
"I hope they fry him because I just feel bad for the families," Kudelchuck
said as she prepared for the party earlier Thursday evening.
Ross, who has admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York in
the 1980s, lived in Jewett City and worked as an insurance salesman. Three
of his victims -- Debra Smith Taylor, April Brunais, Leslie Shelley --
were from Griswold. Wendy Baribeault was from Lisbon.
Kudelchuck posted three signs outside her restaurant Thursday that read:
"Party time. Michael Ross will die Friday 13th," "Ross burn in hell," and
"Honk if Ross should die."
A passerby, who didn't give her name, said she thought the party and signs
were in poor taste. But Kudelchuck said she and her patrons were glad Ross
is scheduled to die and they felt like celebrating.
"I don't care what people think. If it was their kid, they wouldn't think
that way," Kudelchuck said.
The bar served a free drink Kudelchuck concocted called a Michael Ross
Execution. It was made with raspberry vodka, raspberry liqueur, cranberry
juice and other ingredients she wouldn't divulge. She said she made the
drink red in remembrance of the blood Ross shed during his killings.
The drink, a shot, will be a mainstay of the bar after the execution and
will cost $4, she said.
Several customers at the bar around 8 p.m. said they planned to stay until
1 a.m. (closing time) to celebrate.
"They should have killed him a long time ago," Rich Mackin of Griswold
said. "It should be a party for the closing of the people who had to
suffer all these years."
Kudelchuck said she is especially bothered by Ross' crimes because she
gave Wendy Baribeault a ride from Taftville to Lisbon when she saw
Baribeault hitchhiking 3 days before Ross killed her.
"I kept thinking, if that was my daughter, I don't know what I'd do,"
Kudelchuck said.
This is the 2nd time Kudelchuck has tried to throw the party. She was
preparing to hold it when Ross was scheduled to be executed in January.
If the execution doesn't go off as planned this time, she said she and her
patrons "are not going to be happy," but they'll just have to plan another
party if a new date is set.
(source: Norwich Bulletin)
*********************
Media witness Smith reflects on execution
With a deep gasp for air and a body shudder it appeared to be over.
Michael Bruce Ross, inmate number 127404, was officially pronounced dead
at 2:25 a.m. But by all accounts the convicted serial killer had passed on
within seconds of the 1st of 3 chemicals entering his body through an
intravenous line.
Few sounds could be heard among the 21 witnesses standing in a narrow
observation room peering through a window into the execution chamber at
Osborn Correctional Institution.
"Inmate Ross, do you have final statement?" came a disembodied voice over
speakers mounted behind witnesses.
"No thank you," Ross replied when a gooseneck microphone was bent towards
his head by prison warden David Strange.
They were Ross' last words.
For some witnesses the death of the serial killer was anticlimactic. There
were no wailing cries of sorrow among witnesses invited by Ross. There
were no yells or cheers among family members of some of his victims.
Through curtains separating media witnesses a woman could be heard saying,
"oh, feeling some pain?" in a mocking tone. Someone else whispered it was
too easy. But that was it.
Media witnesses strained to find signs of life in the 45-year-old who was
strapped to a gurney with arms spread wide when curtains hiding the
execution chamber were opened at 2:08 a.m.
Ross never opened his eyes and never gave any outward signs of life, until
he uttered his last words. He was covered with a white sheet to his chest
and appeared resigned to his fate.
After a 4-minute call to check for any last minute impediments to the
execution, the Warden took his position against the wall with three other
observers.
The curtains closed at 2:21 a.m. Months of legal battles to save Ross life
ended in that instant.
Some of the family members of Ross 8 victims said the death would provide
them a sense of closure. They will cherish the fact there will be no more
court appeals and no more Ross headlines.
(source: Associated Press)
