Posted on 12/13/2004 11:07:43 AM PST by Ellesu
HARTFORD, Conn. - More than 940 people have been executed since the United States reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Not one was in New England.
That is set to change Jan. 26, the date for the execution of serial killer Michael Ross.
Ross, 45, admits killing eight women in Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s, and raping most of his victims. He has been in prison for 20 years - 17 on Connecticut's death row - for four of those murders and faces lethal injection.
After numerous appeals, including two decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court, Ross has chosen not to fight any more. He said he wants to avoid inflicting more pain on his victims' families.
Public defenders are trying to intervene against Ross' wishes and file more appeals. A judge has ordered a psychiatric evaluation to make sure Ross is mentally competent to choose death. And at least one bill to repeal capital punishment is expected to be introduced in the General Assembly when it convenes Jan. 5.
Of the six New England states, only Connecticut and New Hampshire have the death penalty. New Hampshire has nobody on death row and has not executed anyone since 1939. Rhode Island has not put anyone to death since 1845; Maine, 1885; Massachusetts, 1947; and Vermont, 1954.
There are seven inmates waiting to die in Connecticut, which conducted New England's last execution when it sent Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky to the electric chair in 1960 for a series of murders and robberies.
Death penalty opponents worry the Ross execution will start a domino effect in the region.
"You break precedent and it becomes fashionable," said John Fitzgerald, a member of the Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty.
Others say two decades is long enough to wait for a sentence to be carried out. They reject the notion that executing Ross would amount to a shift away from New England values.
"Perhaps this execution will pinpoint that innocent people die, and that juries support capital punishment for those who kill them, and that the lack of capital punishment in these other states is as disappointing as those who oppose capital punishment in this case," said Dianne Clements, president of Justice for All, a victim advocacy group based in Houston.
There have been no recent efforts to reinstate capital punishment in Maine, Rhode Island or Vermont. In Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney formed a committee to explore a limited death penalty, but the idea has gone nowhere. New Hampshire's Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty in 2000, but then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill.
In Connecticut, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she will veto any bill to repeal the death penalty. The governor has no power to commute Ross' death sentence. But she declined to use her authority to issue a reprieve that would have delayed the execution until after the upcoming legislative session.
"I do believe that there are crimes and actions which are so repugnant to society as to warrant the death penalty," she said. "And this is such a case."
Democratic state Rep. Michael Lawlor, a leading opponent of capital punishment, said it will be difficult to persuade his colleagues to abolish the death penalty and save the life of a serial killer.
"If Michael Ross is actually killed," he said, "my sense is people will walk away and think Connecticut slipped a couple notches on the civilization scale."
the new "Title Town" is now "Terminal Town"??? hmmmm
Still far to early for him to order his 'last meal'.
Maybe it really is time to cut New England loose and let them be their own little prissy Neo-Europe/Half-Canada nation or maple syrup slurping, cranberry-nibblers -- or whatever they want to be.
Are they still using the chair up there?
Hey, while he admitted that he murdered 8 women, he didn't rape them all. Doesn't he deserve a break for that? He probably killed and raped more than these, just didn't get caught. If they don't want to snuff him in CN send him to Texas, they know how to execute justice. Second option, send him to PA and I'll be OK {with approval from gov. fast eddy rendall} of shooting his sorry butt.
Actually Mr. Lawlor, the only true measure of "civilization" is that one does face the consequences of their actions. If not, what is left? People doing whatever without ever having to face justice if those actions warrant it. That is not civilization that is barbarism.
...this wouldn't have anything to do with the Electoral Vote being made today, would it?
You silly little man, desite your insipid statement pray tell why there's even a death penalty up there along with a jury that handed it down.
Send him on down here to Texas, seein' as how y'all ain't got no grit (as well as missing other body parts) we'll take care of him for ya.
I have friends here in Connecticut who had twin boys in 1987. They named them "Micheal" and "Ross".
Unusual sense of humor.
How very European of him. Barf Alert
He'll sorta-kinda-maybe have to pass through Virginia to make that trip ... And we'll be happy to dispatch the SOB ... save on transportation costs that way ...
And yet, liberals somehow can't see the merits of that argument when it is applied to gay marriage. ;)
Have these New England states produce a few more serial killers and the death penalty might be reinstated.
A funny comment coming from the leading proponent of gay marriage in CT.
Huh? Could you possibly have more meaningless points in your argument? And what is your argument anyway?
Yeah, even us dumbasses get it right sometimes. Hope you never have to sit in a courtroom watching a bunch of bleeding hearts judge the killer of your loved one.
Wow! Bill Belichick is really cracking down on discipline as he readies his team for the playoffs. Why not though, as they're playing for history. Three Super Bowl championships in four years would put them among the elite franchises in league history.
I wonder who the player will be? Corey Dillon has been behaving himself, and I haven't heard of any simmering problems in the Patriots' clubhouse. Although I guess it doesn't have to be a player, but rather someone such as offensive coordinator Charlie Weis in retaliation for accepting the Notre Dame position, in which case I would assume that Belichick would wait until after New England's season is over.
Its hard to believe, though, that as an original AFL franchise, the Patriots haven't executed anybody in their history. Those early AFL days are remembered for all sorts of whacky publicity stunts and promotions, in addition to the wide-open style of play.
Seventeen years on death row is craziness. I believe strongly in our Constitution and I believe strongly in due process, but due process does not take seventeen years.
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