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July 29, 2008
Bush OKs Execution of Army Death Row Prisoner
Bush OKs execution of Army death row prisoner
President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army private, the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military.
Bush said yes to the military's request to execute Ronald A. Gray.
Gray had had been convicted in connection with a spree of four murders and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area over eight months in the late 1980s while stationed at Fort Bragg.
"While approving a sentence of death for a member of our armed services is a serious and difficult decision for a commander in chief, the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
In the military courts, "Private Gray was convicted of committing brutal crimes, including two murders, an attempted murder and three rapes. The victims included a civilian and two members of the Army. ... The president's thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these heinous crimes and their families and all others affected."
Unlike in the civilian courts, a member of the U.S. armed forces cannot be executed until the president approves the death sentence. Gray has been on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 1988.
Members of the U.S. military have been executed throughout history, but just 10 have been executed by presidential approval since 1951 when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's modern-day legal system, was enacted into law.
President Kennedy was the last president to stare down this life-or-death decision. On Feb. 12, 1962, Kennedy commuted the death sentence of Jimmie Henderson, a Navy seaman, to confinement for life.
President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution. In 1957, he approved the execution of John Bennett, an Army private convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. He was hanged in 1961.
The death penalty was outlawed between 1972 and 1984, when President Reagan reinstated it.
Gray was held responsible for the crimes committed between April 1986 and January 1987 in both the civilian and military justice systems.
In civilian courts in North Carolina, Gray pleaded guilty to two murders and five rapes and was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent life terms.
He then was tried by general court-martial at the Army's Fort Bragg. In April 1988, the court-martial convicted Gray of two murders, an attempted murder and three rapes. He was unanimously sentenced to death.
The court-martial panel convicted Gray of:
_Raping and killing Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay of Fayetteville on Dec. 15, 1986. She was shot four times with a .22-caliber pistol that Gray confessed to stealing. She suffered blunt force trauma over much of her body.
_Raping and killing Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a civilian cab driver in Fayetteville. She was bound, gagged, stabbed repeatedly, and had bruises and lacerations on her face. Her body was found on the base.
_Raping, robbing and attempting to kill Army Pvt. Mary Ann Lang Nameth in her barracks at Fort Bragg on Jan. 3, 1987. She testified against Gray during the court-martial and identified him as her assailant. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side. Nameth suffered a laceration of the trachea and a collapsed or punctured lung.
The six-member court-martial panel returned its unanimous verdict after about two hours of deliberations. The panel also reduced Gray from Spec. 4 to private, forfeited all his pay and ordered him to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Gray has appealed his case through the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (then known as the U.S. Army Court of Military Review) and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Services. In 2001, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Silas DeRoma, who left active duty in 1999, was one of several military attorneys who represented Gray on appeal.
"It's disappointing news, as you can imagine," said DeRoma, who now works as a regulatory attorney in Honolulu for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said the basis for some of Gray's appeals focused on the prisoner's mental competency and his representation at trial.
Bush got the secretary of the Army's recommendation to approve Gray's death sentence in late 2005. Since then, it's been under review by the Bush administration, including the White House legal counsel.
Complicating the administration's deliberation was a case under review this year by the Supreme Court.
The court ruled in April to uphold the most common method of capital punishment used across the United States. The justices said the three-drug mix of lethal-injection drugs used by Kentucky and most other states does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling in the case of Baze v. Rees cleared the way for a resumption of executions nationwide.
It was unclear where Gray would be executed. Military executions are handled by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Bush's decision, however, is not likely the end of Gray's legal battle. Further litigation is expected and these types of death sentence appeals often take years to resolve.
Wild Thing's comment..........
This man needed a bullet between the eyes a long time ago. I hope his sentance is carried out quickly. He’s eaten too many free meals at our expense already.
....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at July 29, 2008 01:50 AM
Comments
YAY!!!!
About damn time this waste of skin went to Hell where he belongs!
Time to get him off my tax dollars.
Posted by: Lynn at July 29, 2008 04:42 AM
It's a shame he's been in prison waiting execution for 20 years. What's just as worse is the picture of him disgracing an Army uniform.
Posted by: BobF at July 29, 2008 08:48 AM
What were they waiting on? For him to die of old age? -- Now Bush needs to get off his ass and Pardon the two Border agents that are sitting in prison - Dumbest shit ever!!
Posted by: Cheryl Zee at July 29, 2008 10:16 AM
Thank you WT, this needed exposure. At one time military executions were carried out at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas by hanging, it is my wish that this be his fate, not just a peaceful drugged nap. BTW hang that POS Silas DeRoma too, it's him and his likes that stagnate the system.
Posted by: Jack at July 29, 2008 12:58 PM
Lynn, Ditto that!!! It sure has taken long enough.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 29, 2008 07:03 PM
BobF, yes and that is the only photo available. He wore it to his trial, he should not have been allowed to wear it any longer imo.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 29, 2008 07:06 PM
Cheryl, LOL I think so, they sure waited eons to get to this point. And all paid for by all of us. sheesh
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 29, 2008 07:07 PM
Jack, that is what I would like to happen too. And yes, Silas DeRoma too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 29, 2008 07:09 PM
They better hurry because if O'Possum is elected, he will surely be pardoned. Ya know, for the betterment of the race.
Posted by: cuchieddie at July 29, 2008 07:39 PM
