Can a Serial Killer Be Executed in New England?

All eyes are on Connecticut to see if it really is possible for a serial killer to face justice in New England.

It would be the first execution in 45 years, so of course lots of blue state sympathy is now required for murderer Ross, and if we can find a legal technicality at the last second, all the better:


(Boston Globe)

An hour before serial killer Michael Ross was scheduled to be executed this morning in Connecticut, state officials postponed the lethal injection after Ross's lawyer said he had a conflict of interest, which he declined to explain. Connecticut officials rescheduled the execution -- the first in New England in 45 years -- for Monday at 9 p.m.

T.R. Paulding, hired by Ross last year to help expedite his execution, said he had requested the delay, not Ross.

''The request made by Mr. Paulding today is appropriate and we have no choice but to honor it," Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said.

Officials would not discuss the suspected conflict, but the decision came just hours after a federal judge scolded Paulding for helping Ross end his life.

''I see this happening and I can't live with it myself, which is why I'm on the phone right now," Chief US District Judge Robert Chatigny said in a telephone conference yesterday afternoon with Paulding, according to court records. ''What you are doing is terribly, terribly wrong."