Military Death Penalty Case

Because of what I do, I deliberately avoid discussing court-martial cases. It would be improper for me to do so. However, this development in a particular military justice case is sufficiently important that I want to mention it here, without any comment from me.

President Bush, for the first time in 46 years, has acted under Article 71(a) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and ordered execution of a death sentence handed down by a military court-martial . The former-soldier, Ronald A. Gray, has been on death row since 1988, when a court-martial convicted him of two murders, an attempted murder, and three rapes. Former-Private Gray's conviction was the end result of a 8-month crime spree in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area while Gray was stationed at Fort Bragg in the late 1980s. According to a FOXNews report, the White House press secretary Dana Perino said,

"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."