NEW LONDON, Conn. - A judge ruled Tuesday that a confessed serial killer - set to become the first inmate executed in New England in 40 years - is mentally competent and can forgo further appeals of his death sentence.
Michael Ross, 45, is scheduled to be executed Jan. 26 for killing four young women in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s. He has admitted to killing a total of eight women and raping several of them.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford ordered Ross to testify in court and be examined by a psychiatrist to ensure he was competent to decide to allow the execution to go forward. Clifford said he found Ross to be lucid and rational. "This decision is his right to make," the judge said.
Ross testified that he was confident if he appealed, he could persuade the courts to overturn his death sentence. But he said he didn't want to do that, partly because of the pain it would cause his victims' families.
Dr. Michael Norko, who examined Ross at the judge's request, testified that Ross understands his legal options and has made a rational decision. Norko said Ross believes pursuing appeals "would be the morally wrong thing to do."
Details here from the AP via The Kansas City Star.