Ricky Gray (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on January 18, is seek­ing clemen­cy from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, and his clemen­cy peti­tion has been joined by a diverse group of men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als and the Virginia Catholic Conference. A let­ter signed by more than 50 men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als, includ­ing two for­mer com­mis­sion­ers of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, urges McAuliffe to com­mute Gray’s sen­tence because of Gray’s his­to­ry of ​“hor­rif­ic” child­hood abuse and his addic­tion at the time of the crime. Gray’s jury nev­er heard evi­dence that he was raped and sodom­ized almost dai­ly from the ages of four to eleven, and that he turned to drugs as ear­ly as age 12 to numb the result­ing trau­ma. At the time of his crime, he was under the influ­ence of PCP. ​“In Mr. Gray’s case, his abuse and trau­ma were left unad­dressed and pre­dictably led to pro­found despair and oth­er seri­ous trau­ma symp­toms, drug addic­tion, and the drug use that result­ed in the trag­ic crimes he com­mit­ted with Ray Dandridge,” the let­ter states. Gray’s lawyers seek to have Gray’s sen­tence com­mut­ed to life — the same sen­tence that Dandridge received. Gray’s clemen­cy peti­tion includes reports from men­tal health experts who say that the extreme child­hood trau­ma Gray endured altered his brain devel­op­ment, mak­ing him par­tic­u­lar­ly sus­cep­ti­ble to the effects of drugs. Gray has apol­o­gized for his involve­ment in the crimes, say­ing, ​“Remorse is not a deep enough word for how I feel. I know my words can’t bring any­thing back, but I con­tin­u­ous­ly feel hor­ri­ble for the cir­cum­stances that I put them through. …There’s noth­ing I can do to make up for that. It’s nev­er left my mind, because I under­stand exact­ly what I took from the world by look­ing at my two sis­ters. I’m remind­ed each time I talk and see them that this is what I took from the world.” Governors in oth­er states have grant­ed clemen­cy in some cas­es with sim­i­lar cir­cum­stances. In September 2011, Ohio Governor John Kasich com­mut­ed the death sen­tence imposed on Joseph Murphy, cit­ing Murphy’s ​“bru­tal­ly abu­sive upbring­ing.” In January 2012, Delaware Governor Jack Markell com­mut­ed Robert Gattis’ death sen­tence based on evi­dence of severe phys­i­cal, emo­tion­al, and sex­u­al abuse by fam­i­ly mem­bers. Both are now serv­ing life sen­tences. Gray is also seek­ing a stay of exe­cu­tion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit as he chal­lenges the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Virginia’s pro­posed lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. UPDATE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied Gray’s request for a stay on January 13.

(F. Green, ​“Ricky Gray apol­o­gizes; more than 50 men­tal health experts urge clemen­cy,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 11, 2017; K. Whitney Daniels, ​“Judge denies stay of exe­cu­tion for Ricky Javon Gray,” National Catholic Reporter, January 11, 2017; D. Hylton and J. Turner, ​“Ricky Gray: ​‘I robbed Harveys of a life­time of joy’,” News12, January 11, 2017.) See Mental Illness and Clemency.

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