President Approves Soldier’s Execution
By Henry Cuningham, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
Jul. 29–President Bush on Monday approved the execution of Ronald Adrin Gray, a former 82nd Airborne Division cook convicted of murder and rape more than 20 years ago in a Fort Bragg court-martial.
A serviceman has not been put to death since Pfc. John Bennett was hanged in 1961 for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl, officials said.
The president accepted the recommendation of Army Secretary Pete Geren, said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. During six years as governor of Texas, Bush approved more than 150 executions, more than any other governor in recent U.S. history.
“While approving a sentence of death for a member of our armed services is a serious and difficult decision for a commander in chief, the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted,” Perino said. “Private Gray was convicted of committing brutal crimes, including two murders, an attempted murder and three rapes. The victims included a civilian and two members of the Army.”
White House officials declined to comment further, citing the possibility of more legal challenges. Bush’s decision is not likely the end of Gray’s legal battle. These types of death sentence appeals often take years to resolve.
On April 12, 1988, Gray, then a 22-year-old specialist was given a death sentence by the same court-martial jury that convicted him the previous week on 14 charges, including the murder of two women and rape of another.
Unlike in civilian courts, a member of the U.S. armed forces cannot be executed until the president approves the death sentence. Gray has been on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 1988.
He was convicted of premeditated murder, felony murder, rape and forcible sodomy at Fort Bragg on Dec. 15, 1986, in the death of Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery Clay, 18. Her nude body, which had been shot repeatedly according to a pathologist, was found Jan. 17, 1987, on post near McKellars Lodge.
Gray also was found guilty of premeditated murder, felony murder, robbery, rape and forcible sodomy at Fort Bragg in the death of Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a 24-year-old cab driver and mother of three. Her body, which had been stabbed repeatedly according to a pathologist, was found early the next day off No Name Road on post.
The jury also returned guilty verdicts on charges that Gray raped, robbed and attempted to murder Army Pvt. Mary Ann Nameth, 20, formerly Mary Ann Lang, on Jan. 3, 1987, in her room in Fort Bragg’s DENTAC, Dental Activities, barracks. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side. Nameth suffered a laceration of the trachea and a collapsed or punctured lung.
Gray also was found guilty of breaking and entering and larceny of a .22-caliber pistol and video cassette recorder Nov. 12, 1986, at the home of Sgt. Donald G. Miskanin at Fairlane Acres Mobile Home City near Fort Bragg’s southern boundary.
Gray, who was born in Georgia and reared in a housing project in Miami, was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Defense lawyers urged the jury to vote for life imprisonment, citing descriptions of Gray by co-workers as a good cook and “squared away” soldier and testimony by two psychiatrists about “personality disorders.” But an Army forensic psychiatrist said Gray’s mental problems did not necessarily prevent him from knowing right from wrong.
Gray received eight life sentences for 22 felonies including murder and rape to which he confessed Nov. 6, 1987, in Cumberland County Superior Court. But the Army convictions took precedence, according to state officials.
Gray could have been paroled in 60 years for the civilian convictions, officials said.
Military editor Henry Cuningham can be reached at cuninghamh@fayobserver.com or 486-3585.
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