## Facts

- Michael B. Ross was prosecuted for multiple capital felonies arising from kidnappings, sexual assaults, and murders of young female victims in the early 1980s.
- In three prosecutions, the state charged eight counts of capital felony under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-54b; two counts were dismissed for lack of territorial jurisdiction.
- A jury found Ross guilty of six capital felony counts, including murders committed in the course of kidnapping and murders involving multiple victims.
- Two victims (both 14 years old) were picked up in Connecticut while hitchhiking and were transported into Rhode Island against their will; Ross restrained them, sexually assaulted them, and killed them in Rhode Island.
- Ross returned with the victims’ bodies to Connecticut and disposed of them there.
- The trial court found Ross formed the intent to sexually assault and kill the two girls at the time he abducted them in Connecticut and that the murders occurred “in the course of” a kidnapping that began in Connecticut.
- In a separate penalty phase under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-46a, the same jury found a statutory aggravating factor and found no mitigating factor for each count; the trial court imposed death sentences on all six counts.

## Issues

1. Whether Connecticut had territorial jurisdiction to prosecute capital felony counts for murders physically committed in Rhode Island when the kidnapping began in Connecticut and continued across state lines.
2. Whether the capital felony convictions were invalid due to asserted guilt-phase errors (including statutory interpretation, sufficiency of evidence, and constitutional challenges).
3. Whether the penalty-phase hearing complied with Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-46a and constitutional requirements, particularly regarding evidentiary rulings affecting mitigating evidence.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed all six capital felony convictions.
- The court held Connecticut had territorial jurisdiction over the counts based on the Rhode Island killings because the murders were committed “in the course of” a kidnapping that began in Connecticut and continued into Rhode Island.
- The court reversed the death sentences and remanded for new penalty-phase hearings on all counts.
- The court concluded that evidentiary rulings during the penalty phase improperly excluded relevant mitigating evidence and impaired Ross’s ability to establish a mitigating factor, rendering the sentencing proceeding inconsistent with § 53a-46a.

## Legal Principles

- A state may exercise territorial jurisdiction over a homicide committed outside its borders when the charged offense is statutorily defined as murder committed “in the course of” a continuing offense (such as kidnapping) that began within the state and continued across state lines.
- For jurisdictional purposes, a kidnapping may be treated as a continuing offense; when substantial elements of the criminal transaction occur in the forum state, the forum may prosecute the related capital felony even if the fatal act occurs elsewhere.
- Capital sentencing under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-46a requires a fair opportunity to present and have the jury consider relevant mitigating evidence.
- Improper exclusion of relevant mitigation evidence that affects the sentencer’s ability to find a mitigating factor requires vacatur of the death sentence and a new sentencing hearing, while leaving valid guilt-phase convictions intact.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Connecticut’s authority to prosecute capital felonies tied to a kidnapping that began in Connecticut even though the killings occurred in another state, affirmed Ross’s six capital felony convictions, and ordered new penalty-phase hearings because the exclusion of relevant mitigating evidence undermined the reliability of the death sentences under the governing sentencing statute.


State v. Ross, 230 Conn. 183, 646 A.2d 1318 (Conn. 1994)