Ronald A. Gray was convicted of crimes resulting from an 8 month crime spree dating back to the late 1980’s near Ft Bragg where he has stationed.  Gray was convicted of 2 murders, an attempted murder, and 3 rapes on 1 civilian and two soldiers by a General Courts Martial.  In the civilian courts he was convicted of 2 murders and 5 rapes.

This will be just the 11th member of the military executed since the induction of the UCMJ in 1951, and only the first since 1961.  This is the first time a President has had to make a decision on executing a member of the armed forces since President Kennedy reduced Sailor Jimmy Henderson’s sentence to life in prison.

Everyone knows that President Bush is not afraid to sign the order to have inmates executed as he signed over 130 such orders as the Governor of Texas.

Jarhead’s Thoughts

I agree with the President’s approval of this execution.  It boggles my mind that this is the first time a President has had to make this decision since 1962 even though the death penalty was outlawed from 1972 to 1984 when President Bush reinstated it.

I know there have been many heinous crimes by members of the armed forces over the past 46 years.  I can think of one such incident in the Marine Corps since I have been in.  Back in the late 90’s while I was at Camp Pendleton a Marine walked into his CO’s and XO’s office and shot them both.  I believe one died and the other lived.  That is one case that I can think of in which a Service Member should be executed for his crimes.

There was a soldier in Iraq that threw a grenade into a CP that wounded quite a few soldiers and I believe killed one or two others.  I am sure that there are many other stories out there in which the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment.