Jury votes for death penalty in parents' killing

By TIMES WIRES

Published May 4, 2007

BRADENTON - A jury recommended Thursday that a 24-year-old be executed for fatally beating his parents with a baseball bat while they slept. The jury voted 8-4 that Blaine Ross should be put on death row for the slayings of Richard A. Ross, 54, and Kathleen M. Ross, 52, on Jan. 7, 2004. Judge Ed Nicholas will make the final decision on Blaine Ross' sentence, but the jury's recommendation carries great legal weight. The same jury convicted Ross last week on two counts of first-degree murder. Ross originally told police he came home and discovered his parents' bodies. He was charged several days later with the crime. In a confession to police, Ross said he didn't remember committing the crimes because he had been using alcohol, marijuana and Xanax. Prosecutors said Ross killed his parents because they told him to grow up and they cut him off financially.