Ronald Gray Ronald Adrin Gray ( born 1966 ) is an American spree killer whose convictions include four counts of murder , one count of attempted murder and eight counts of rape . His crimes were committed when he was in the United States Army , stationed at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . He was tried and convicted by military courts , and was sentenced to be put to death . His execution by lethal injection would be the first performed by the United States military since the execution of John A . Bennett for rape and attempted murder in 1961 . On November 26 , 2008 , a federal judge issued a stay of execution stopping the planned December 10 execution . On January 26 , 2012 , the Army Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief in Gray ' s case . Gray ' s lawyers plan to appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces . Early life . Gray was born in Cochran , Georgia , but grew up in Liberty City , a public housing project in Miami , Florida . He enlisted at age 18 in 1984 , and was assigned to the Target Acquisition Battery , 1 - 39 Field Artillery Battalion . At the time of his arrest , he was stationed at Fort Bragg , near Fayetteville , North Carolina , where he was a cook assigned to 3rd Battalion , 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment , 82nd Airborne Division . He held the rank of specialist ( E - 4 ) . During his court - martial , his mother Lizzie Hurd and sister testified that he had been abused by his stepfather as a child . Colonel David Armitage , a military forensic psychiatrist , also testified that in Gray ' s early life , he had experienced : Gray ' s crimes . On December 15 , 1986 , Gray abducted , raped , sodomized , and murdered Private Laura Lee Vickery - Clay , age 18 . On January 3 , 1987 , he raped and attempted to murder Private Mary Ann Lang Nameth , age 20 . Three days later , on January 6 , he raped , sodomized , robbed , and murdered a civilian , Kimberly Ann Ruggles , age 23 . The first victim , Vickery - Clay , disappeared from Fort Bragg on December 15 , 1986 . Two witnesses saw her at a local K - Mart with a man later identified as Gray . Vickery - Clay ' s car , found the next morning a block from her home , appeared to have been driven through the woods , and the driver ' s seat was set back farther than necessary for Vickery - Clay to drive . Three of Gray ' s fingerprints were found on the hood of the car . On January 17 , 1987 , a soldier discovered Vickery - Clay ' s half - naked , decomposed body in the woods in Fort Bragg . She had been raped , sodomized , and shot in the neck , forehead , chest , and back of the head . She had also suffered blunt force trauma to various parts of her body . The murder weapon , a . 22 caliber pistol that Gray had stolen in November 1986 , was found 60 feet from the victim ' s body . On January 3 , 1987 , Gray entered the barracks room of Private Mary Ann Lang Nameth under the pretense of needing to use the bathroom . Once inside , Gray grabbed Nameth , held a knife to her throat , and asked for her military field gear . Gray tied Nameth ' s hands behind her back , removed her underclothing , and raped her . Gray then stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and on the side of her body , and threatened to return and kill her if she screamed . Nameth suffered a lacerated trachea and a collapsed lung , but survived . When Gray ' s photograph appeared in the news following his arrest for another crime , Nameth identified him as her assailant . On the evening of January 6 , 1987 , Kimberly Ann Ruggles , a local cab driver , was dispatched to pick up a passenger named " Ron " at Gray ' s address . In the early morning hours of January 7 , military police officers on routine patrol discovered Ruggles ' empty cab parked at the edge of the woods . Her nude body was discovered a short distance away . She had been raped , sodomized , beaten , and stabbed seven times . Ruggles ' mouth was gagged with a cloth belt that matched a pair of black karate pants other police officers had found in Gray ' s possession hours earlier . Gray ' s fingerprints were on the interior door handle of Ruggles ' taxi , and Ruggles ' fingerprints were found on money in Gray ' s possession . Gray ' s footprints were also found at the scene of the crime . Arrest , trial , conviction and sentence . On August 7 , 1987 , Gray was charged with two counts of murder ( Ruggles and Vickery - Clay ) and two counts of attempted murder on a military reservation . On November 5 , 1987 , Gray pleaded guilty in Cumberland County Superior Court to 22 felonies : two counts of second degree murder , two counts of first degree burglary , five counts of first degree rape , five counts of first degree sexual offense , attempted first degree rape , three counts of second degree kidnapping , two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon , assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill , and inflicting serious injury . He was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent terms of life imprisonment for those crimes . Gray was also tried by a military court . The general court - martial lasted from December 1987 until April 1988 and was composed of commissioned and enlisted soldiers at Fort Bragg . Gray was convicted of 14 charges , including the premeditated murders of Ruggles and Vickery - Clay , the attempted premeditated murder of Lang Nameth , three rapes , two robberies , and two counts of forcible sodomy . On April 12 , 1988 , he was unanimously sentenced to death . He was additionally sentenced to a Dishonorable Discharge , total Asset forfeiture of all pay and allowances , and reduction in rank to Private E - 1 . On July 29 , 1988 , the Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division approved the sentence . Gray was 22 at the time of his sentencing . Gray remained on death row at the U . S . Disciplinary Barracks , at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . As a member of the United States Armed Forces Gray cannot be executed until the president approves the death sentence . On July 28 , 2008 , President George W . Bush approved Gray ' s execution , making Gray the first service member sentenced to death since 1957 . One month later , Army Secretary Pete Geren set the execution date as December 10 , 2008 , and ordered that Gray be put to death by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute , Indiana . The military released the news of Gray ' s execution date on November 20 , 2008 . Army personnel will be responsible for conducting the execution , based on an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons . Appeals . Immediately following Gray ' s court - martial , the records of the trial were forwarded to Defense Appellate Division and received by them on August 8 , 1988 . Counsel filed initial pleadings with the Court of Military Review on September 15 , 1989 . On February 13 , 1990 , that court ordered a sanity board , which , on June 30 , 1990 , found that Gray was responsible at the time of the offenses and that he was competent to understand his trial and the present appellate proceedings . On July 20 , 1990 , the Government Appellate Division answered Gray ’ s assignment of errors . On December 27 , 1990 , Gray filed a motion with the Court of Military Review requesting that court to order the Government to provide $ 15 , 000 for an expert psychiatrist , a death penalty qualified attorney , and an investigator . Oral arguments were heard on the motion in January 1991 . On March 12 , 1991 , the Court of Military Review denied the motion . Gray renewed his request for a psychiatrist and an investigator on August 7 , 1991 , but the Court of Military Review denied it on August 23 , 1991 . On September 12 , 1991 , Gray filed a writ - appeal petition requesting that this Court order the Government to provide $ 10 , 000 and an emergency stay of the proceedings before the Court of Military Review . On October 18 , 1991 , this Court denied the writ - appeal petition and the stay application . On December 16 , 1991 , Gray filed a motion with the Court of Military Review requesting that court to order additional medical and psychological tests be performed by military authorities . On December 31 , 1991 , that court granted Gray ’ s request and ordered a Magnetic Resonance Imaging ( MRI ) scan of the brain ; a 20 - channel scalp electrode , sleep - deprived EEG ; and a SPECT scan of his brain , as well as intellectual , psychological , academic , psychological , and personality tests . On February 18 , 1992 , a report based on these tests was completed by Captain Fred H . Brown , Jr . , Ph . D . , a clinical psychologist from Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg . Brown stated in an affidavit filed with the appellate court that Gray was sane at the time of the offenses and during the proceedings . On March 9 , 1992 , counsel filed a petition for new trial based on newly discovered evidence of lack of mental responsibility . On February 26 , 1992 , Gray filed a supplementary assignment of errors , to which the Government responded on March 27 , 1992 . On April 8 , 1992 , the Court of Military Review heard oral arguments , and on December 15 , 1992 , denied the petition for a new trial and affirmed the findings and sentence . On December 30 , 1992 , Gray filed a motion renewing his request for funds for an expert investigator and a behavioral neurologist . Gray filed a petition for reconsideration of this decision on January 4 , 1993 . The Court of Military Review heard oral arguments on the motion for funding on January 21 , 1993 , and denied the motion for funding and the petition for reconsideration on January 22 , 1993 . On February 11 , 1993 , Gray filed a motion and suggestion for reconsideration by the court sitting en banc of the denial of funding , and a motion and suggestion for reconsideration by the court sitting en banc of the decision of December 15 , 1992 . On March 11 , 1993 , the court denied both motions and the suggestions for reconsideration en banc , but granted a motion allowing Gray to file a supplemental assignment of errors ( XXVIII - LVI ) . The Government answered this assignment of errors on April 12 , 1993 . On June 9 , 1993 , the Court of Military Review again affirmed the findings and sentence . Gray filed a motion for reconsideration on June 28 , 1993 , which the court denied on June 30 , 1993 . With Gray ' s sentence affirmed by the President and the warrant issued by the Secretary of the Army , execution was scheduled for December 10 , 2008 . Army spokesman Lt . Col . George Wright said on November 20 ( the date when the execution date was announced ) that Gray had two legal options remaining : filing a petition with a federal appellate court to stay the execution , or requesting that the president reconsider approval of the execution . On November 26 , 2008 , a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals . On January 26 , 2012 , the U . S . Army Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief . As of September 2013 , no further action has been announced by the Army .