President OKs 1st Military Execution Since 1961

Death Penalty

President OKs 1st Military Execution Since 1961

Posted Jul 29, 2008, 03:11 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

President George W. Bush has approved an Army request to put a private to death, giving the go-ahead to what would be the first execution by the U.S. military in nearly 50 years. However, further appeals are expected.

The defendant, Ronald Gray, was convicted by a military court in 1988 of two murders, one attempted murder and three rapes, reports the Voice of America News. All were committed while he was serving at Fort Bragg, N.C.

On death row since 1988, Gray was sentenced to eight life terms in a separate non-military case after he admitted raping and murdering two women in North Carolina, reports the London Times.

"While approving a sentence of death for a member of our armed services is a serious and difficult decision for a commander-in-chief, the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," a spokeswoman says.

President Dwight Eisenhower was the last to approve a military execution, in 1957. That prisoner was put to death in 1961.

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