Scheduled Execution of of US Army Pvt. Ronald A. Gray Stayed

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, Dec. 8, 2008 -- The United States District Court for the District of Kansas issued an order on Wednesday, Nov. 26, directing a stay in the execution of Pvt. Ronald A. Gray. Pvt. Gray, which was scheduled to be Dec. 10 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind.

In 1988, a court-martial panel sitting at Fort Bragg, N.C. convicted Pvt. Gray, by unanimous vote, of committing several 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.

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, he 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. On August 14, 2008, the Secretary of the Army directed that Pvt. Gray be executed at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Ind.

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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