Demagogue

Slate has an article by Martha Elliott, who was the editor in chief and publisher of the Connecticut Law Tribune when Michael Ross wrote to her about his decision to accept his death sentence for killing and raping 8 women.

Turns out there's more to this story than I had been led to believe from reading media coverage of the fight over his pending execution. Initially, I was under the impression that people were trying to postpone Ross' execution simply because Ross was depressed from his time on death row and therefore incompetent to make any decisions regarding his own fate.

In fact, that was the case - but only part of it.

According to Elliot, every psychiatrist who has ever examined Ross has concluded that he was mentally ill at the time of his crimes and that he should never have received the death penalty in the first place. According to Elliot

[Even] the prosecution's expert psychiatric witness had agreed with the defense that Ross was mentally ill and wrote to the prosecutor indicating that he could not help the state's attorney press for the death penalty.

But this was never raised in court and Ross received the death penalty.

Ross is now on medication to control his "sexual sadism" and, as a result, feels guilty for his crimes and apparently believes he is morally obligated to accept his death as punishment.

So, in essence, Ross was mentally ill when he killed and raped 8 women two decades ago - but that fact was never allowed to be entered in court. Ross is now receiving treatment for his illness and is willing to accept his punishment for the crimes he committed when he was mentally ill - but he can't because his willingness to accept it makes people think that he is now mentally ill and thus incapable of making a rational decision.

Ross should never have been on death row in the first place but a jury sent him there anyway. And now he wants to die, but a judge won't let him.

Nothing is ever easy.