US: Connecticut prison officials put serial killer Michael Ross to death by lethal injection early yesterday morning in the first execution in liberal-minded New England in 45 years.
Ross, who admitted killing eight women in the 1980s, was administered a chemical cocktail at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut. The drugs sedated him, paralysed his muscles, and stopped his heart.
He made no statement before his death.
Witness Gerry Brooks, from Connecticut NBC affiliate WVIT TV, said that as Ross received the intravenous fluids "there was a gasp and there was a shudder and he did not move again."
Although Ross had said he was personally opposed to the death penalty, he said he wanted his execution to serve as closure for his victims' families and last year he waived all remaining appeals.
Between 200 and 300 people, many praying aloud, marched to Osborn from a staging area about 1.5km away in protest at the execution.
Ross was originally set to die in January, but legal appeals delayed his execution several times.
His death caused much public debate in the northeast United States, where executions are rare.
There were 59 executions last year in America.
Death penalty opponents around New England were frustrated by Ross's insistence on being executed, making him what capital punishment experts call a "volunteer".