Posted on 12/02/2008 2:57:20 PM PST by Military family member
TOPEKA, Kan. — A federal judge in Kansas has issued a stay in what would be the Army’s first execution since 1961.
U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers issued the order Nov. 26 in the case of Ronald A. Gray, who was scheduled to die Dec. 10 for murders and rapes in the 1980s. Rogers has not set a date to hear Gray’s case.
Attorneys for the Justice Department filed documents Tuesday asking Rogers to reconsider his stay order, saying Gray has had ample time to file an appeal. However, Gray’s attorney, Thomas Bath, had argued that he couldn’t appeal until President George W. Bush signed the execution order in July.
(Excerpt) Read more at tribstar.com ...
> U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers issued the order Nov. 26 in the case of Ronald A. Gray,
I thought military law was autonomous? How come a civilian judge can intervene like this?
The original military court was right on giving this guy the death penalty in this case...why was there any time given to appeal???
Are they as inefficient as our civilian justice systems?
More proof that once power is obtained wrong becomes right,
bad becomes good, perpetrator becomes victim.
I’m hoping this means we can wait until after the Holidays before I have to go to the prison for the execution.
I am kind of out of it right now. What was the reason for this?
Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to “makes rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.”
In other words, Federal Judiciary, butt out!
Every time a federal judge climbs to his bench is potentially another constitutional convention.
>>> U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers issued the order Nov. 26 in the case of Ronald A. Gray,
>
>I thought military law was autonomous? How come a civilian judge can intervene like this?
Very good question... does this mean if I’m court-martialed I can appeal it to a civilian judge?
Wow, I never knew that. [/sarc][/cynic]
...screw it...just hang the judge instead.
>I am kind of out of it right now. What was the reason for this?
I believe that he is a convicted rapist.
Thanks, but..I mean the reason for stay of execution : )
>Thanks, but..I mean the reason for stay of execution : )
Because the judge is a rapist too?[/sarc]
(They got to stick together, don’t you know.) [/cynic]
Ronald Adrian Gray (born 1966) is an American serial killer
whose convictions include four counts of murder, one count
of attempted murder and eight counts of rape.His crimes
were committed when he was in the United States Army,
stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was tried and
convicted by military courts, and was sentenced to be put
to death. His execution by lethal injection, scheduled for
December 10, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_A._Gray
The first victim, Private Vickery-Clay, disappeared from Fort Bragg on December 15, 1986. Two witnesses saw her at a local K-Mart with a man later identified as Gray. Vickery-Clay’s car, found the next morning a block from her home, appeared to have been driven through the woods, and the driver's seat was set back farther than necessary for Vickery-Clay to drive. Three of Gray's fingerprints were found on the hood of the car. On January 17, 1987, a soldier discovered Vickery-Clay’s half-naked, decomposed body in the woods in Fort Bragg. She had been raped, sodomized, and shot in the neck, forehead, chest, and back of the head. She had also suffered blunt force trauma to various parts of her body. The murder weapon, a .22 caliber pistol that Gray had stolen in November 1986, was found 60 feet from the victim's body.[4]
On January 3, 1987, Gray entered the barracks room of Private Mary Ann Lang Nameth under the pretense of needing to use the bathroom. Once inside, Gray grabbed Nameth, held a knife to her throat, and asked for her military field gear. Gray tied Nameth’s hands behind her back, removed her underclothing, and raped her. Gray then stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and on the side of her body, and threatened to return and kill her if she screamed. Nameth suffered a lacerated trachea and a collapsed lung, but survived. When Gray's photograph appeared in the news following his arrest for another crime, Nameth identified him as her assailant.[4]
On the evening of January 6, 1987, Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a local taxi driver, was dispatched to pick up a passenger named “Ron” at Gray's address. In the early morning hours of January 7, military police officers on routine patrol discovered Ruggles’ empty taxicab parked at the edge of the woods. Her nude body was discovered a short distance away. She had been raped, sodomized, beaten, and stabbed seven times. Ruggles’ mouth was gagged with a cloth belt that matched a pair of black karate pants other police officers had found in Gray's possession hours earlier. Gray's fingerprints were on the interior door handle of Ruggles’ taxi, and Ruggles’ fingerprints were found on money in Gray's possession. Gray's footprints were also found at the scene of the crime.[4]
Thank you. That’s solid evidence there.
What reason could a judge have for delaying/stopping it?
He spent most of WWII in college, probably avoided service entirely.He’s been hanging around with liberal lawyers for about sixty years. Can’t expect much more from him at his age.
Once an appeal is properly filed, a stay is automatic. The judge probably cringed issuing the stay knowing that people would have exactly the impressions that everyone here has. That said, while I have little to no doubt that this man will be executed after exhausting more tax payer funds (but who’s counting any more), we should never, ever be in a hurry to kill someone. Let the system work.
Am wondering the same thing?
Actually he was a bombardier in the USAAF from 1943-45.
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