Posted on 12/28/2004 4:51:44 PM PST by The Teen Conservative
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Serial killer Michael Ross, at times crying, testified Tuesday that he believes he deserves to live, but doesn't want to pursue any more appeals of his death sentence because of the pain it would cause his victims' families.
"I understand why they hurt," Ross said. "I've been trying for 10 years to stop this. Hopefully in 28 days I'll be able to stop it, and that's my goal."
(Excerpt) Read more at stamfordadvocate.com ...
Is this news site on the FR do not publish whole story list ?
Whatever you meant by that, it required an excerpt.
After hearing testimony from Ross and the results of a psychiatric exam, Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford ruled that Ross is competent to make that decision.
Clifford said he found Ross to be lucid, educated, insightful and rational.
"This decision is his right to make," Clifford said.
Ross is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Jan. 26.
Ross, 45, has admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York and raping many of them. He is on death row for killing four young women in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s. His execution would be the first in New England in more than 40 years.
Dr. Michael Norko, who examined Ross at Clifford's request, testified that the serial killer suffers from sexual sadism, has narcissistic tendencies, a personality disorder and is prone to depression and anxiety attacks.
But Norko, the chief forensic psychiatrist at the Whiting Forensic Institute, said Ross is not suicidal, and his mental problems are being controlled by medication.
Ross understands his legal options, Norko said, and has made a reasoned and rational decision. Ross believes pursuing appeals "would be the morally wrong thing to do," Norko said.
Ross testified that his degree in economics from Cornell University helped him weigh the costs and benefits associated with going forward with his execution.
He said he was confident that if he appealed, he could convince the courts to overturn his death sentence and order a third penalty hearing. But he said he was convinced that a third jury would simply sentence him to death again.
"The cost isn't worth it," Ross said. "The life sentence isn't worth dragging it out another ten or 15 years."
Edwin Shelley, whose 14-year-old daughter Leslie was killed by Ross, said he has no sympathy for his daughter's murderer, but is pleased that Ross has been thinking of his family.
"It's thoughtful of him, and I hope that he gets his wish, because his wish is my wish - that he die," Shelley said. "Whether he has remorse or not, that's between him and God."
The state's public defender's office, which was not allowed to intervene in the hearing, has since filed litigation in several other courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking a stay of the execution. The state Supreme Court on Monday denied another motion for a stay.
Next week, a Superior Court judge in Rockville is expected to rule on a motion by the public defenders to force Ross to file another state appeal.
Patrick Culligan, the chief of capital defense and trial services for the state Division of Public Defender Services, said they believe Judge Clifford's competency ruling was improper, because both the state and Ross were arguing the same side.
"The court based its ruling on information that was not subject to cross-examination," he said.
Ross fired his public defenders earlier this year, and obtained the services of a private lawyer, T.R. Paulding, to help him expedite his execution.
Ross said he feels angry and betrayed by his former lawyers.
He cried on the stand while recounting a visit from a public defender who told him that if he didn't pursue a certain appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, he would be responsible for the executions of others on death row in Connecticut.
"This is hard enough as it is," Ross said.
Ross also accused the public defenders of lying by pursuing arguments that he is incompetent and trying to commit a state-assisted suicide.
"I'm not incompetent," Ross said. "I've never been incompetent, and they know that."
Culligan declined to comment on those allegations.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
Light him up!
Why did it reguire an excerpt ?
To whom are you referring, "to light up," him or I ?
Edwin Shelley, whose 14-year-old daughter Leslie was killed by Ross, said he has no sympathy for his daughter's murderer, but is pleased that Ross has been thinking of his family. "It's thoughtful of him, and I hope that he gets his wish, because his wish is my wish - that he die," Shelley said
Or the guy wanting to be fried ?
Nobody gets lit up anymore. It's a figure of speech that goes back to the days when faulty electric chairs made peoples' eyeballs catch on fire. I still say: Light him up.
There was a Patricia Cornwell novel that involved an execution. The classic line from the guard character was...
"When our children ride the sparky".
I will admit, when I heard that Ross wanted to die, part of me said f' him. Lock him up for eternity because he wants to die. Most of his victims families want him to dead so that fate is good enough for me! They are the ones who should decide, not Ross.
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