VERNON, Conn. (AP) – The sister of serial killer Michael Ross asked a Superior Court judge Monday to halt her brother’s planned execution, which would be the first in New England in 45 years.

Donna Dunham sought to file papers in Rockville Superior Court claiming that Ross is not competent to forgo appeals of his death sentence because he suffers from Death Row syndrome. She also claims that that his conviction and Connecticut’s death row are unconstitutional.

In a hearing Monday, Judge Jonathan Kaplan questioned Dunham’s attorney, Diane Polan, on how Dunham’s case was different from previous efforts to halt the execution.

“There’s been rulings every which way but Sunday that he is competent,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan said he would make his decision Tuesday.

Ross, 45, is scheduled to be executed early Friday morning. He was convicted of murdering four young women in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s and has confessed to four other murders in Connecticut and New York. He decided last year to forgo his appeals and hired attorney T.R. Paulding to help him expedite his death, saying he did not want his victims’ families to suffer further.

Dunham’s claims are similar to unsuccessful attempts by Ross’ father and Connecticut public defenders to stop the execution. A Superior Court judge ruled in December 2004 that Ross is mentally competent, and that position was affirmed in January by the state Supreme Court. Ross came minutes from death in January before a federal judge pressured Paulding to postpone the execution by threatening his law license if Ross died without proper representation.

A Hartford lawyer, Thomas Groark, was then appointed to argue that Ross is incompetent to forgo his appeals, but Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford rejected the claim last month. Groark’s appeal to the state Supreme Court is pending.