In reversal, Ross calls halt to execution

HARTFORD -- A Connecticut serial killer who tried to speed his execution stopped the process hours before he was to be put to death yesterday by agreeing to have his own competency examined.

A death warrant allowing Michael Ross's execution was to expire late yesterday. Lawyers say it could be months before legal hurdles are cleared and the execution can be allowed to go forward.

"I long for the day when we can say that we've forgotten about Michael Ross, and I want everyone to remember that we should never forget his victims," Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said. "It is my hope that sometime in the not-so-distant future we will finally be able to give their families a sense of justice."

Ross would have been the first person to be executed in New England in 45 years. His death by lethal injection was scheduled for last Wednesday and postponed three times as new court challenges emerged. It had been rescheduled for 9 p.m. yesterday before the state Supreme Court granted motions from Ross's attorney and prosecutors for another stay of execution.

Under state law, the execution cannot be scheduled for at least a month after a new warrant is issued.

Ross, 45, confessed to eight murders in eastern Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s. He is on death row for the killings of four young women and girls.

Last year, he decided to forgo further appeals of his death sentence and hired attorney T.R. Paulding Jr. to expedite his execution, saying he wanted to end the pain for the families of his victims.

Ross was about an hour from being put to death Saturday morning when Paulding announced he had requested a postponement of the execution.

A few hours earlier, US District Judge Robert Chatigny had accused Paulding of not adequately investigating new evidence that Ross might not be mentally competent to decide to die.

Paulding said yesterday that he had been persuaded of the need to explore a phenomenon known as "death row syndrome." Public defenders had argued that years of harsh conditions on death row have coerced Ross to drop his appeals.

"Michael Ross's 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."

Last week Chatigny issued a stay of the execution and ordered a competency hearing. That stay was subsequently lifted by the US Supreme Court, and Ross's execution appeared on track until Paulding halted the proceedings early Saturday.

Hours before, Chatigny had called and warned Paulding that he was jeopardizing his law license by not taking evidence of Ross's incompetence more seriously.

Morano said yesterday that he found Chatigny's telephone call "troubling" and would address it in court. But it was not clear which court would hear the next round of legal battles.

"I think there should be new psychiatrists and a new judge, entirely new players," said Antonio Ponvert III, an attorney for Ross's father, Dan Ross. "Everybody has been tainted by this process."