The execution of a serial killer who has become the strongest advocate for his own death was postponed at the last moment early yesterday, delaying what would be the first execution in 45 years in the northeastern US.
The decision came hours after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Connecticut to put Michael Ross to death, rejecting pleas by the man's father to spare his life.
But state officials postponed the lethal injection until 9pm Monday (0200 GMT Tuesday) to address a possible conflict of interest with Ross' attorney, T.R. Paulding.
"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.
Ross, an Ivy League graduate who terrorized eastern Connecticut and New York in the early 1980s, had been scheduled to die by injection at 0701 GMT (2am Saturday). Ross hired Paulding last year to help expedite his execution.
Ross confessed to eight killings and decided last year to drop all appeals, but his father and public defenders who have fought to save his life won a brief delay this week, arguing that he is not mentally competent to decide his fate.
The Supreme Court on Friday lifted an order blocking Connecticut from putting him to death, but Ross' attorney requested the delay hours later.
Family members of Ross' victims said they were shocked by the sudden delay.
"He's guilty. He wants to die. So if he isn't executed, whom would you execute?" said Lan Manh Tu, whose sister, Dzung Ngoc Tu, was Ross' first known victim.
Officials would not discuss the suspected conflict yesterday, but the decision came 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," US District Judge Robert Chatigny said Friday afternoon in a telephone conference with Paulding, according to court records. "What you are doing is terribly, terribly wrong."
Paulding would not say what he needed to consider this weekend.
"I feel that it is imperative I take the appropriate steps," Paulding said. "I will be taking those steps with all due diligence in the next two days."
Ross, who was to be executed at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut, has confessed to killing eight women in all.
Death penalty opponents have warned that an execution in liberal northeastern states could have a domino effect across the region and make it easier for other states to put criminals to death.
"Part of me says it's a one-time thing, and we're not Texas," said Robert Nave, head of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. "However, I continue to think this will leave a psychic imprint on the collective psyche that says this wasn't so bad."
There have been four executions so far this year in the US. There were 59 last year.
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