Ross attorney moves to delay execution
Liza Hall at 11:51 AM
Tonight's scheduled execution officially canceled
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http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx
?re=1A2B0C15-BEF3-40DF-891D-88B631C9B167
By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ State officials on Monday canceled plans to execute serial killer Michael Ross after new evidence emerged that Ross' attorney said raises questions about his competency.
"Based on advice from both the chief state's attorney and the attorney general that a legal impediment does now exist prohibiting the administration of capital punishment in the case of Michael Ross, the Department of Correction has canceled tonight's scheduled execution," said Brian Garnett, spokesman for the department.
Ross would have been the first person in 45 years to be executed in New England. The execution was first scheduled for Wednesday and was postponed three times as new court challenges emerged. It was set for 9 p.m. Monday before being canceled.
Officials will now have to go back before a state judge and obtain a new death warrant.
Ross had said for months that he would forgo any appeals of his death sentence and hired attorney T.R. Paulding to expedite his execution. That changed on Monday when Paulding filed papers in U.S. District Court questioning Ross' competency. It's unknown when those issues will be resolved.
"He took a U-turn," Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said Monday. "And that is why we are doing what we are doing today."
Paulding's motion was filed after months in which Paulding had maintained that Ross is mentally competent to forgo his appeals.
"On Friday, new information was revealed to me that made me question Mr. Ross' competency," Paulding said. "The last 48 hours have reinforced my belief that the execution of Michael Ross should be delayed to determine whether he is competent. New and significant evidence has come to light that I simply cannot ignore."
Ross was about an hour from execution Saturday morning when Paulding announced he had requested a postponement of the lethal injection. The announcement was hours after U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny accused Paulding of not adequately investigating new evidence in the case.
Paulding said in his motion that a state psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Norko, previously declared Ross competent but now believes that he may have come to a different conclusion had he had access to information cited by the state's public defenders.
Paulding said he is persuaded of the need to explore a phenomenon known as "death row syndrome." Public defenders have argued that years of harsh conditions on death row have in effect coerced Ross to drop his appeals.
"Michael Ross' decision to forgo any additional appeals remains unchanged, but he has pledged his cooperation," Paulding said. "He recognizes that serious questions have been raised regarding previous expert findings and has decided to allow a more thorough evaluation of his competence."
Gerard Smyth, the state's chief public defender, said state officials "are duty bound" to honor the request.
"It would appear that finally a competency hearing will be held to make a valid determination as to whether Michael Ross is mental competent to waive his appeal and we look forward to being included in the case," Smyth said.
Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano also filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to halt the execution.
Ross, a 45-year-old Cornell University graduate, has confessed to eight murders in eastern Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s. He has said he wants to die to end the pain for the families of his victims.
In his filing, Paulding submitted two letters that he said calls Ross' competency into question.
In a 1998 letter to a journalist about an attempt that year to accept a death sentence, Ross wrote: "I did then (and I do truly now) care for the welfare of the families of my victims. But the truth is I was driven more by a desire to end my own pain than out of a noble cause. However, I knew that I couldn't say that publicly, so I denied my own desire to leave this world and played on the noble cause of protecting the families of my victims."
In June 2003, Ross wrote to supporters: "I honestly don't think that I can do much more of this. I now understand why 12 percent of the men executed in this country were men who gave up their appeals and 'volunteered' for execution. If I can ever get past the mandatory state appeal, I will do it myself."
The issue of Ross' competency has been debated several times in the last two months. In December, New London Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford ruled that Ross was competent, basing his decision on the recommendations of Norko, the former director of the Whiting Forensic Institute. Norko conducted a similar exam of Ross in 1995, finding Ross competent.
But in an affidavit submitted by Paulding on Monday, Norko said that if he had access to those letters before his evaluation of Ross, "it is possible my eventual conclusions and opinion would have been different."
Ross' former public defenders, whom he fired last year when trying to expedite his execution, submitted the letters as part of their appeals to the state Supreme Court and to Chatigny, seeking a competency hearing.
Chatigny issued a stay of execution to hold a competency hearing, but the U.S. Supreme Court last week lifted the stay without comment.
On Friday, Chatigny called and warned Paulding that he was jeopardizing his law license by not taking evidence of Ross' incompetence more seriously.
"I see this happening and I can't live with it myself," Chatigny said in a telephone conference with Paulding, according to court records. "What you are doing is terribly, terribly wrong. No matter how well motivated you are, you have a client whose competence is in serious doubt and you don't know what you're talking about."
Morano said Monday that he found that telephone call troubling and would address it in court.
"I understand his motivation and he was doing what he felt was right. But in essence what may have occurred here is some action that caused a stay to this execution without giving us the ability to appeal that," Morano told WTIC-AM.
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Associated Press Writer John Christoffersen in Hartford contributed to this report
from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty:
Michael Ross
Connecticut
STAYED from Jan. 29; rescheduled to Jan. 31, 2005
The state of Connecticut is scheduled to execute Michael Bruce Ross, a white man, on Jan. 26 for the 1983 and 1984 New London County murders of Robin Stavinsky and minors Wandy Baribeault, Leslie Shelley, and April Brunais. All four victims were white.
If the death sentence is carried out, it will be the first in Connecticut in nearly 45 years. In 1994, the Supreme Court overturned Ross's death sentence because the jury had not been able to consider evidence that the murders were the result of sexual sadism, a psychiatric disorder. At a re-sentencing in 2000, the jury rejected the sexual sadism claim as a mitigating factor and once again sentenced Ross to death.
Ross, a graduate of Cornell University, has been diagnosed with mental illness by several mental health professionals, including the state's own psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Miller.
According to evidence presented at trial, Ross' childhood consisted of abuse from his mother. His siblings testified at trial that he often received the brunt of their mother's anger through physical and mental abuse. Ross' mother was institutionalized twice for issues pertaining to suicidal tendencies and for the abuse of her children.
One psychiatrist who evaluated Ross, Dr. Borden, stated, "All you have to do is look at the Norwich hospital records and right there in black and white they talked about the child abuse going on." Borden went on to note that there is reason to believe that the abuse was serious as it was rarely documented at that time.
After spending years trying to prove that he is suffering from a mental illness which he says drove him to rape and kill eight women in total, Ross now says he prefers to be executed. He believes it to be the least painful scenario for the families of his victims.
The execution of the mentally ill is a deplorable violation of international human rights standards. In April 2000, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights urged all states that maintain the death penalty "not to impose it on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder" and "not to execute any such person."
Profile of Michael Ross [from ABOUT.COM]
The story of confessed serial killer Michael Ross is a tragic tale of a young man who came from a farm life he loved, although he cannot remember the abuse he suffered as a child. It is also a tale of this same man who, driven by sexually violent fantasies, brutally raped and murdered eight young girls. And finally it is a tragic tale of a judicial system that is riddled with imperfections in its responsibility of deciding life or death.
Michael Ross -- His Childhood Years: Michael Ross was born on July 26, 1959 to Daniel and Pat Ross in Brooklyn, Conn. According to court records, the two married after Pat discovered she was pregnant. The marriage was not a happy one. Pat hated farm life and after having four children and two abortions, she ran off to North Carolina to be with another man. When she returned home she was institutionalized at Norwich Hospital. The admitting doctor wrote that Pat talked of suicide and of beating and striking her children.
A Child Abused: Ross' sister says that as a child, Ross took the brundt of his mother's anger. It is also suspected that an uncle of Ross's who committed suicide may have sexually molested Ross while babysitting him. Ross says he remembers very little about his childhood abuse, but does remember how much he loved helping his father around the farm. After his uncle committed suicide the job of killing sick and malformed chickens became eight-year-old Michael's responsibility. He would strangle the chickens with his hands. As Michael got older, more of the farm responsibilities became his and by the time he was in high school his father depended a lot on Ross' help. Michael loved farm life and met his responsibilities while also attending high school. With a high IQ of 122, balancing school with farm life was manageable.
Ross' College Years: In 1977, Ross entered Cornell University and studied agricultural economics. He began dating a woman who was in ROTC and dreamed of someday marrying her. When the woman became pregnant and had an abortion, the relationship began to falter. After she decided to signup for a four-year service commitment, the relationship ended. In retrospect Ross says as the relationship became more troubled he began to have fantasies that were sexually violent. By his sophomore year he was stalking women.
Fantasies of Rape and Murder: In his senior year at college, despite being engaged to another woman, Ross' fantasies were consuming him and he committed his first rape. In that same year, he also committed his first rape and murder by strangulation. Ross said afterward he hated himself for what he did and tried to commit suicide, but lacked the ability to do it and instead promised himself he would never hurt anyone again.
Finding Ross: Michael Malchik was assigned chief investigator after the murder of Wendy Baribeault in 1984. Witnesses provided Malchik with both the description of the car -- a blue Toyota -- and the person who they believed kidnapped Wendy. Malchik began the process of interviewing a list of blue Toyota owners which brought him to Michael Ross. Malchik testified that during their initial meeting, Ross enticed Malchik to ask more questions by dropping subtle hints that he was their man.
Ross Confesses: By now, Ross was living in Jewett City as an insurance salesman. His parents had divorced and sold the farm. During the interview with Malchik, Ross told of his past two arrests on sex offenses. It was at this point Malchik decided to bring him to the station for questioning. At the station the two talked like old friends: discussing family, girl friends, life in general. By the conclusion of the interrogation Ross confessed to the kidnapping, rape, and murder of eight young women.
The Judicial System: In 1986, Ross' defense team moved for a dismissal on two of the murders, Leslie Shelley and April Brunais, because they were not murdered in Connecticut and not within the jurisdiction of the state. The state said that the two women were murdered in Connecticut, but even if they hadn't been, the murders began and ended in Connecticut which granted the state jurisdiction.
The Credibility Factor: But then a question of credibility came up when the state produced a statement by Malchik claiming that Ross gave Malchik directions to the crime scene. Malchik claimed that somehow the directions were left out of statements, both written and taped, two years earlier. Ross denied ever giving such directions.
Evidence in Rhode Island: The defense produced cloth matching a slip cover in Ross' apartment which was found in the woods in Exeter, Rhode Island, along with a ligature used to strangle one of the girls. The defense also produced a taped statement of Ross offering to take the police to the crime scene, although Malchik stated he didn't recall such an offer.
Possible Cover up: Superior Court Judge Seymour Hendel exploded during the closed hearing, accusing the prosecutors and police of purposely misleading the court with lies. Some of the counts against Ross were removed, but the judge refused to reopen the suppression hearing on Ross' confession. When sealed records were opened two years later, Hendel retracted his statements.
Ross is Convicted: In 1987, Ross was convicted for the murders of four of the eight women he confessed to killing. It took the jury 86 minutes of deliberations to convict him and only four hours to decide on his punishment -- death. But the trial itself faced a lot of criticism in regards to the Judge who presided over it.
The Judge Rolls His Eyes and Reads His Mail, During Testimony: Karen Clark, who covered his case for The Day of New London reported that Judge Ford allegedly demonstrated inappropriate behavior toward the defense team and their witnesses. He read mail, clipped his hails, rolled his eyes and appeared bored during defense testimony. Some felt his lack of respect toward the defense could have influenced the jury.The Judge Badgers Ross' Sister: An example was Judge Ford's behavior during the testimony of Ross' sister regarding his childhood abuse. Ford verbally lashed out at her, firing questions at her regarding her childhood, which were interpreted as an attempt to discredit her testimony.Psychiatrist's Felt Disrespected by the Judge: Psychiatrist Borden said that Ford would whisper disapproving comments to him during his testimony. Dr. Berlin was quoted as saying that the doctors who were testifying to things that might have mitigated in Michael Ross' behalf were not dealt with in a polite and respectful fashion by the judge.Berlin later filed a complaint with the Judicial Review Council but the council decided that there was insufficient evidence showing misconduct on Ford's part and the complaint was dismissed.
Did Ross Receive His Miranda Rights?: During Ross' appeals, his defense team questioned whether Ross was read his Miranda rights as soon as it was reasonable to assume he was in custody. Ross and Malchik both agree that Ross confessed to the murders before he was read his rights. Malchik testified that Ross knew he could leave at any point prior to the confession. The custody question remains debatable.Ross Writes About His Illness: After his conviction, Ross spent his time in prison submitting his writings and doing interviews about what he viewed as mistreatment by the judicial system. He seemingly cooperated with the investigation of the murders he committed, but in return wanted his acts to be seen as what he believes they are: an illness that he cannot control.A Cover Up?: Dr. Miller, who was originally set to testify for the state, asked to be pulled from the trial because he no longer could testify that Ross didn't in fact suffer from a mental illness, sexual sadism, and felt that the death penalty was not warranted. But his words were never heard by the jury because Judge Ford would not let the doctor's letter to the state be seen.Later, in 1994, six death sentences were thrown out on appeal because of the Judges decision regarding Miller's letter.
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