Arrest, Trial, Conviction and Sentence
On August 7, 1987, Gray was charged with two counts of murder (Ruggles and Vickery-Clay) and two counts of attempted murder on a military reservation.
On November 5, 1987, Gray pleaded guilty in Cumberland County Superior Court to 22 felonies: two counts of second degree murder, two counts of first degree burglary, five counts of first degree rape, five counts of first degree sexual offense, attempted first degree rape, three counts of second degree kidnapping, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and inflicting serious injury. He was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent terms of life imprisonment for those crimes.
Gray was also tried by a military court. The general court-martial lasted from December 1987 until April 1988 and was composed of commissioned and enlisted soldiers at Fort Bragg. Gray was convicted of 14 charges, including the premeditated murders of Ruggles and Vickery-Clay, the attempted premeditated murder of Lang Nameth, three rapes, two robberies, and two counts of forcible sodomy. On April 12, 1988, he was unanimously sentenced to death. He was additionally sentenced to a Dishonorable Discharge, total Asset forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction in rank to Private E-1. On July 29, 1988, the Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division approved the sentence. Gray was 22 at the time of his sentencing.
Gray remained on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. As a member of the United States Armed Forces Gray cannot be executed until the president approves the death sentence. On July 28, 2008, President George W. Bush approved Gray's execution, making Gray the first service member sentenced to death since 1957. One month later, Army Secretary Pete Geren set the execution date as December 10, 2008, and ordered that Gray be put to death by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. The military released the news of Gray's execution date on November 20, 2008. Army personnel will be responsible for conducting the execution, based on an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Read more about this topic: Ronald A. Gray
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