Where Execution Feels Like Relic, Death Looms
On January 26 Michael Brice Ross is scheduled to be executed in Connecticut. "It would be the first time in more than 40 years that an inmate has been put to death north or east of Pennsylvania."
This is one of those death penalty cases where innocence isn't a question...and where the crime was gruesome and unimaginable (Ross confessed to strangling six teenage girls and two young women).
The depravity of Mr. Ross's crimes, the number of them, as well as his apparent willingness to enter the execution chamber, complicate the efforts of death penalty opponents seeking a platform to repeal the state's capital punishment law.
But they aren't giving up.
Opponents of the death penalty are planning a public awareness campaign in the coming weeks, and say that religious leaders will speak out against the execution. Some death penalty experts, like Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, say that Connecticut residents may not even know that capital punishment is an option here.
Posted by katherine at 01:44 PM
Comments
I learned something on the blog today. I knew that the execution in Connecticut was probably going to take place but did not know that it was such a horrible crime. Yeah, this is going to be a tough one. I think a lot of people who are in favor of the death penalty who live in the tri-state area are really going to push for this one because it will show the capital punishment system as one that is up and running.
Posted by: angela at November 22, 2004 10:52 AM
You know, when I read about the crimes, I was horrified. This was a case that fit all the criteria for having the death penalty in the first place.
But I know that there are so many cases where it's not so clear, not so black and white. I know race and class have more to do with death penalty cases than the severity of the crime. I know that irresponsible lawyers is another factor, forced confessions, etc.. So even though Ross' cases fits all the criteria...there are hundreds that simply don't..and hundreds of people sitting on death row who shouldn't be. I had to remind myself of this.
Posted by: Katherine at November 22, 2004 11:27 AM
