A New London judge ruled Tuesday that convicted serial killer Michael Ross is mentally competent to make the decision to die. The ruling followed a competency hearing in Superior Court at which a psychiatrist and Ross testified.
Judge Patrick Clifford found that while Ross does suffer from mental diseases and defects, they do not affect his ability to make the decision to face his death sentence.
Ross, 45, decided earlier this year to waive all appeals to his death sentence. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection Jan. 26.
Ross admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York and raping many of them. He is on death row for killing four women in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, in Rockville Superior Court, Ross' father and former public defenders have filed motions to block the execution. They claim that Connecticut's death penalty is unconstitutionally discriminatory and biased. They also argue that Ross' mental state was impaired at the trial.
Connecticut last carried out an execution in 1960.
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