UPDATE: The United States District Court for the District of Kansas entered a stay of exe­cu­tion in Private Ron Gray’s case on November 26. The U.S. mil­i­tary had sched­uled its first exe­cu­tion since 1961 for December 10. Two decades ago, Pvt. Ronald Gray was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a gen­er­al court-mar­tial pan­el at Fort Bragg for mur­der and rape com­mit­ted in the Fayetteville area of North Carolina. Earlier, a North Carolina civil­ian court had con­vict­ed him of the same crimes, but that court sen­tenced him to a series of life terms, rather than death.

Two decades ago, Pvt. Ronald Gray was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a gen­er­al court-mar­tial pan­el at Fort Bragg for mur­der and rape com­mit­ted in the Fayetteville area of North Carolina. Earlier, a North Carolina civil­ian court had con­vict­ed him of the same crimes, but that court sen­tenced him to a series of life terms, rather than death.

In July, President George W. Bush approved the Army’s request to exe­cute Gray. He has been on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since 1988, and is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion by sol­diers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, which has been the site of exe­cu­tions under the fed­er­al death penal­ty. While the Army has sched­uled the exe­cu­tion, there are still impor­tant legal issues in the case that have not been fully reviewed.

The last U.S. mil­i­tary exe­cu­tion was in 1961. President John F. Kennedy com­mut­ed a mil­i­tary death sen­tence in 1962. There are cur­rent­ly 9 men on the mil­i­tary death row.

(CNN, ​“First mil­i­tary exe­cu­tion since 1961 sched­uled next month,” November 20, 2008). See also U.S. Military and Federal Death Row.

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