In a recent Hartford Courant opinion piece, psychiatrist Robert C. Goodwin spoke about the mental illness afflicting Michael Ross, who is scheduled for execution in Connecticut on January 26. Dr. Goodwin was a psychiatric consultant to the state of Connecticut from 1983-2001 and took part in Michael Ross’ evaluation and treatment over the years, appearing as an expert witness in Ross’ second trial. Dr. Goodwin believes the execution should be stopped:

Although demonstrably sane, Ross suffers from a clear-cut, well-documented case of the most severe sort of paraphilia (sexual deviation). This is not just my view. It is the considered opinion of almost every psychiatrist and mental health professional who has examined him, including at least one who customarily testifies for the prosecution. In Ross’ case, the condition resulted in intense, constant and virtually irresistible violent fantasies toward women.

He likened his fantasies to a loud, abrasive college roommate who plays music at maximum volume all day long. In other words, they weren’t fun.

An indication of the forcefulness of his desire to rid himself of them: Shortly after his first sentencing, he began to receive a hormonal preparation called Provera. The drug proved extremely effective in curbing his fantasies, but it had an insurmountable drawback; it caused abnormal liver-function tests. If he remained on it, he would almost certainly die of liver failure. Ross said he wanted to stay on the drug, even knowing it might kill him. He was even willing to sign a waiver absolving the state from responsibility for adverse consequences. When his request was denied, he successfully brought suit to receive a similar but more expensive drug called Depot Lupron.

The Ross case brings up a point so obvious that it can easily be overlooked: Someone might be absolutely sane, yet have an incapacitating psychiatric disorder. Consider the businessman who washes his hands 100 times a day and spends the entire morning taking a shower, or the housewife too depressed to get out of bed, or the college student who panics whenever he enters a classroom. They may all be sane (they probably are). Still, their symptoms wreak havoc with their lives.

Jurists appreciate this point, at least in theory. In most states, and most nations, a criminal is absolved of responsibility for his acts if they result from mental illness, whether or not the illness is a psychosis. Putting aside the niceties of psychiatric diagnosis and criminal law, however, one intuitively senses that a man who rapes and kills half a dozen women, who takes huge chances in doing so (his last crime was committed in broad daylight near a busy highway), and who risks his life and liberty in the process isn’t thinking right. By the same token, a man who submits to chemical castration to rid himself of his symptoms is apt to be significantly impaired, whether or not he meets the criteria for insanity.

The many arguments against the death penalty, however convincing to some of us, remain abstractions. Michael Ross, whatever else he might be, is no abstraction. He is a profoundly impaired man whose life is made marginally tolerable by potent medication that turns him into a eunuch. To execute him would be analogous to executing a schizophrenic, a man with an IQ of 50 or a psychotically depressed woman who killed her children because she thought she was rescuing them from an evil world. I submit that in any or all of these cases, including Ross’, a state-sponsored killing is unacceptable.

(Hartford Courant, January 16, 2005). See Mental Illness and New Voices.