Army schedules execution of Pvt. Gray

By Army Public AffairsNovember 21, 2008

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 21, 2008) -- The Army has scheduled the execution of Pvt. Ronald A. Gray for Dec. 10 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind.

In 1988, a court-martial panel sitting at Fort Bragg, N.C., convicted 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 under Article 71(a) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. On July 28, the President Bush approved the death sentence in the case of the United States vs. 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 Gray's case.

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