Michael Ross was exe­cut­ed in Connecticut on May 13, 2005. He was found com­pe­tent and waived his appeals.

Michael Ross was about an hour away from becom­ing the first inmate exe­cut­ed in New England in 45 years when his lethal injec­tion was abrupt­ly put on hold in 2005. Ross had waived his appeals and accept­ed his exe­cu­tion. But his for­mer pub­lic defend­ers, along with a death-row expert and a for­mer prison offi­cial, raised seri­ous doubts about whether he was com­pe­tent to make such deci­sions, or whether despair over his liv­ing con­di­tions on death row had caused him to become men­tal­ly unhinged – per­haps suf­fer­ing from death row syndrome.

Ross had attempt­ed sui­cide three times while in prison, writ­ing after the last attempt of the iso­la­tion he felt sit­ting in a cell 23 hours a day, think­ing of his crimes and his impend­ing lethal injec­tion. He once admit­ted that he was seek­ing his exe­cu­tion large­ly because of ​“a desire to end my own pain.” (Associated Press, February 1, 2005). Public defend­ers argued that the extreme con­di­tions he lived in essen­tial­ly coerced him into drop­ping his appeals. A for­mer deputy war­den at the super-max­i­mum-secu­ri­ty Connecticut prison in which Ross was con­fined described the envi­ron­ment as sim­i­lar to ​“liv­ing in a sub­ma­rine or cave,” and an expert on death-row pris­on­ers said such inmates often vol­un­teer for exe­cu­tion. (Ibid).

“The con­di­tions of con­fine­ment are so oppres­sive, the help­less­ness endured in the roller coast­er of hope and despair so wrench­ing and exhaust­ing, that ulti­mate­ly the inmate can no longer bear it, and then it is only in drop­ping his appeals that he has any sense of con­trol over his fate,” Dr. Stuart Grassian wrote in court papers. (Ibid).

Ross’ attor­ney had been assist­ing him in his efforts to waive his appeals, but a fed­er­al judge was so con­cerned about Ross’ men­tal state that he took the unusu­al step of threat­en­ing to have the lawyer dis­barred if he did not suf­fi­cient­ly inves­ti­gate the incom­pe­tence claims. The lawyer request­ed a post­pone­ment, and the exe­cu­tion was delayed to per­mit a court-appoint­ed attor­ney to inves­ti­gate and raise issues about Ross’ men­tal state. Ultimately, the courts deter­mined that Ross was com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed, and Connecticut did so on May 13, 2005.