State v. Ross
Connecticut Supreme Court
646 A.2d 1318 (1994)

- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
Michael B. Ross (defendant) picked up two 14-year-old girls in Connecticut when they were hitchhiking and drove them into Rhode Island against their will. Ross tied them up and raped one of them and strangled her to death and then killed the other girl. Ross placed both bodies in his car and drove back to Connecticut and dumped their bodies. Ross was convicted of multiple counts of capital felonies and sentenced to death. Ross claimed that the trial court lacked territorial jurisdiction over these two murders because they were committed in Rhode Island. The state argued that Connecticut’s continuing jurisdiction over Ross’s kidnapping provided authority to prosecute Ross for the capital felonies arising out of the murders committed in Rhode Island. The trial court, which found that Ross had the intent to sexually assault and kill the girls when he abducted them in Connecticut, held it had jurisdiction over the capital-felony counts because the murders were committed in the course of a kidnapping that began in Connecticut. Ross appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Peters, C.J.)
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