First US Military Execution Since 1961 Scheduled for December

The U.S. military has scheduled its first execution since 1961 for December 10. Two decades ago, Pvt. Ronald Gray was convicted in a North Carolina civilian court for two murders and five rapes and was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent life terms. Then, the general court-martial panel at Fort Bragg tried and convicted him of the same two murders and three of the rapes and sentenced him to death.

President George W. Bush approved the Army’s request to execute Gray in July. Gray, who has been on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas since 1988, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection by Fort Leavenworth soldiers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. 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 and the U.S. military hasn’t actively pursued an execution for a military prisoner since President John F. Kennedy commuted a death sentence in 1962. There are currently 9 men on death row.

(CNN, “First military execution since 1961 scheduled next month,” November 20, 2008). See also U.S. Military and Federal Death Row at Death Penalty Information Center (be sure to go often to the links lower right column for an easy click and keep watching Rick Halperin's Death Penalty Information and Updates)

Blogger's Note:

Since, as Kristin Houle does on her "Prevention Not Punishment Site", we abolitionists need to be clearly, consistently seeking and acting for prevention or our work will not get far...

Research Fort Bragg and find plenty of reasons why there are so many similar cases - often hidden - among so many military folk who train there over the years!
(Try Quaker House Fort Bragg and also here:

Here

Also if you do research, you will find - even among some of the military's own stats and training of women that there are an inordinate number of rapes going on in the Iraq war - many of these are US military men on US military women (some leading to deaths attributed to other causes) Also you may find as I have that many US military women die of dehydration for fear of going out at night to get water.(See Marjorie Cohn dot com, Democracy Now! and various search engines)