A former Army cook is set to die next month in what would be the U.S. military's first execution in nearly 50 years. And no, it wasn't for his cooking.Ronald A. Gray is to be executed Dec. 10 at a federal prison complex in Indiana. He was arrested in connection with four slayings and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area between April 1986 and January 1987, while he was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was convicted of murdering two women.
Only 10 members of the military have been executed since 1951, when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's modern-day legal system, was enacted. President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution. That was for John Bennett, who was hanged in 1961 for raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. In 1962, President Kennedy commuted the death sentence of Jimmy Henderson, a Navy seaman, to confinement for life.
Gray was convicted by a six-member court-martial panel for:
• Raping and killing Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay of Fayetteville on Dec. 15, 1986. She was shot four times with a .22-caliber pistol that Gray confessed to stealing. She also suffered blunt force trauma over much of her body.
• Raping and killing Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a civilian cab driver in Fayetteville. She was bound, gagged, stabbed repeatedly and had bruises and lacerations on her face. Her body was found on the base.
• Raping, robbing and attempting to kill an Army private in her barracks at Fort Bragg on Jan. 3, 1987. The victim testified against Gray and identified him as her assailant. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side.
Who says we don't train our armed servicemen? Currently, there are four other members of the military — two soldiers, a Marine and one Air Force airman — under sentence of death.
Only 10 members of the military have been executed since 1951, when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's modern-day legal system, was enacted. President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution. That was for John Bennett, who was hanged in 1961 for raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. In 1962, President Kennedy commuted the death sentence of Jimmy Henderson, a Navy seaman, to confinement for life.
Gray was convicted by a six-member court-martial panel for:
• Raping and killing Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay of Fayetteville on Dec. 15, 1986. She was shot four times with a .22-caliber pistol that Gray confessed to stealing. She also suffered blunt force trauma over much of her body.
• Raping and killing Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a civilian cab driver in Fayetteville. She was bound, gagged, stabbed repeatedly and had bruises and lacerations on her face. Her body was found on the base.
• Raping, robbing and attempting to kill an Army private in her barracks at Fort Bragg on Jan. 3, 1987. The victim testified against Gray and identified him as her assailant. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side.
Who says we don't train our armed servicemen? Currently, there are four other members of the military — two soldiers, a Marine and one Air Force airman — under sentence of death.
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