A federal court in Kansas has set a February hearing for Ronald A. Gray, a former Fort Bragg soldier sitting on military death row for a series of rapes and murders that began nearly 30 years ago.
Gray is appealing a military court's decision to not grant him extraordinary relief in his attempts to have his death sentence lifted.
The federal case, in U.S. District Court in Kansas, was first filed in 2008 but has sat dormant for nearly two years while he exhausted his military appeals.
Last month, the case was reassigned to Chief Judge J. Thomas Marten, and last week officials set a hearing for Feb. 23.
The 9 a.m. hearing will take place in Kansas City, and Gray will be present for the proceedings, according to online court records.
"By mid-January, the court will set forth the matters to be addressed at the hearing," the records state. "The court has reserved six hours for this hearing."
Gray has been held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since his conviction at a court-martial in 1988.
A former Army cook who held the rank of specialist when he was arrested, Gray was convicted of two counts of murder and three counts of rape. He also pleaded guilty to 22 felonies in Cumberland County Superior Court, including two additional murders and five other rapes.
His crimes were committed in 1986 and 1987 in Fairlane Acres Mobile Home City near Fort Bragg.
The military jury convicted Gray in the deaths of Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery Clay and Kimberly Ann Ruggles. A civilian court convicted Gray in the deaths of Linda Jean Coats and Tammy Wilson.
He was sentenced to death in the military court and to eight life sentences in civilian court, three of which were to be served consecutively.
His execution was approved by President George W. Bush in 2008, but it has been on hold while Gray appeals his conviction.
Gray's lawyers have previously claimed he had an ineffective lawyer in his earlier case, argued that he lacked the mental capacity to stand trial and questioned the military's jurisdiction over the case.
Lawyers for the government have previously asked a federal judge to lift the stay of execution that has delayed Gray's death for six years.
He originally was scheduled to be executed in December 2008. If Gray is eventually put to death, it would likely be the first military execution in more than 50 years.
———
©2014 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.)
No comments:
Post a Comment