US Army Schedules Date for Execution of Pvt. Ronald A. Gray

Seen in this 1988 photo, U.S. Army Pvt. Ronald A. Gray has been on the military's death row for 20 years.

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2008 -- The Army has scheduled the execution of Pvt. Ronald A. Gray for Dec. 10, 2008, at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 1988, a court-martial panel sitting at Fort Bragg, N.C., convicted Pvt. Gray by unanimous vote of committing crimes in 1986 and 1987 in the Fayetteville, N.C. area -- to include two murders, an attempted murder, and three rapes. The court-martial panel sentenced him to death for these crimes.

The Secretary of the Army directed that Pvt. Gray be executed by lethal injection, and the Army will be responsible for conducting the execution at the Terre Haute facility based on an agreement with the Bureau of Prisons.

Only the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, can approve the execution of a death sentence [Article 71(a), Uniform Code of Military Justice]. On July 28, 2008, the President approved the death sentence in the case of the United States v Ronald A. Gray.

The President took action following completion of a full appellate process, which upheld the conviction and sentence to death. Two petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court were denied during the appellate processing of Pvt. Gray's case.

Pvt. Gray is currently housed in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

(Report from a U.S. Army news release.)

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