Supreme Court lifts stay on Ross execution
Friday hearing to address restraining order against execution
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution Thursday for a Connecticut death row inmate who says he wants to die, possibly clearing the way for the first execution in New England in 45 years.
The court voted 5-4 to grant an appeal from Connecticut prosecutors to allow the execution of serial killer Michael Ross to proceed.
But a separate 10-day restraining order against the execution remains in effect, pending a hearing Friday morning.
So it remains unclear when or if the execution will take place. It was originally scheduled for early Wednesday morning and rescheduled for early Friday morning after court rulings earlier this week. (Appeals court halts execution)
Ross was convicted in 1987 of murdering four women in Connecticut in the 1980s, part of a string of eight killings Ross admitted he committed in that state and neighboring New York.
The victims were 14 to 25 when Ross strangled them to death. He admitting raping all but one of them first.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has jurisdiction over emergency appeals filed from Connecticut, referred the matter to the full nine-member court.
Ginsburg voted with justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Stephen Breyer to stay the execution.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed late Tuesday to postpone the execution.
The ruling affirmed a decision Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny in Hartford to stay the execution so he could hold a hearing to determine whether Ross was competent to waive further appeals.
That hearing will now not be held.
"We're done," said Chief Public Defender Gerry Smyth. "There's nothing more we can do."
But Thursday's decision does not affect a hearing scheduled Friday before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on the 10-day restraining order, which was issued by Chatigny late Wednesday.
Chatigny issued the order after Ross' father, Dan, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that his rights to associate with his son are being violated by the state. Arguments are to start at 10:30 a.m. ET.
If the appeals court upholds the order, the next step would be for the state to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At issue is whether Ross' public defenders and his father should be allowed to continue filing legal motions on his behalf.
Connecticut's highest court, in a separate decision, ruled Tuesday that neither the attorneys nor Ross' father could file such motions.
State officials argue Ross should be allowed to make his own legal decisions.
Ross' public defenders argued their client is mentally incompetent to make a decision to die, saying he suffers from "death row syndrome."
They contended his will to live is overwhelmed by being on death row, so he is not voluntarily choosing to die.
Ross has rejected efforts to postpone his execution. He fired his public defender last year and hired another attorney to accelerate his execution date.
