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Thread: Ricky Javon Gray - Virginia Execution - January 18, 2017

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    Ricky Javon Gray - Virginia Execution - January 18, 2017


    Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their two daughters, from left, Ruby,4 and Stella,9
    were found on New Year’s Day in their burning Richmond home with their throats slit.




    Summary of Offense:

    Born on March 9, 1977 and sentenced to death in the City of Richmond on October 23, 2006.

    On January 1, 2006, four-year-old Ruby Harvey died from stab wounds to her back, one of which punctured her lung, while her nine-year-old sister Stella died from smoke inhalation and blunt-force trauma to the head; in addition, five others were murdered by Gray and an accomplice, including Ruby and Stella's parents, Bryan, 49, and Kathryn, 39.

    Firefighters called to West 31st Street that morning found the house filled with smoke and the bodies of Kathryn and Ruby in the basement.

    Police were called and Stella’s body was found under a futon in the basement with her hands behind her back and tape on her mouth. Bryan was found on the basement floor with electrical cord wrapped around his hands and feet and melted tape around his face.

    Bryan had been cut eight times in his neck and under his chin, his mouth was gagged and taped and his skull was struck six times with hammer blows that killed him. Kathryn was cut in her neck, chest and back and also killed by hammer blows in the head.

    Ruby’s throat was cut to her trachea; she was stabbed in the back and her head was fractured and cut, causing brain tissue to exude from her skull. Stella’s neck was cut six times and her head bludgeoned by a hammer.

    Gray and Ray Dandridge, later sentenced to life, decided to rob the Harvey’s house and forced the parents and Ruby into the basement. When Stella arrived from a friend’s house, she, too, was brought to the basement and bound.

    Gray took a knife and, starting with Kathryn, cut everyone’s throats. When he saw the family members were still moving, he took a claw hammer and began beating them in the head. When they stopped moving, Gray set a fire and he and Dandridge fled the house.

    On January 6, police found the bodies of Ashley Baskerville, 21, the getaway driver in the Harvey murders; her mother, Mary Baskerville Tucker, 47; and her husband Percyell Tucker, 55, in their home on East Broad Rock Road in South Richmond. Gray and Dandridge had suffocated them. The next day, Gray and Dandridge were arrested by a SWAT team in Philadelphia.

    He later admitted he also killed his wife, Treva Gray, in 2005, in Washington, Pennsylvania.

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    Charges suspended against Gray

    Murder suspect Ricky Jovan Gray will return to the area this morning at 9:30 for a motion in Culpeper County Circuit Court.

    Gray, 29, faces a capital murder charge for the death of Reva resident Sherri Warner, the 37-year-old legal secretary and mother of three who was found hanged with an electrical cord in her burning basement Dec. 18, 2005.

    Gray was also arrested and charged with abduction, possession of a firearm after being a convicted felon, use of a firearm in a felony and attempted arson in connection with the Warner case.

    Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office deputies will transport Gray from a Sussex County prison where he’s on death row for the January 2006 Richmond slayings of Stella Harvey, 9, and Ruby Harvey, 4.

    In addition to the death penalty, Gray is serving a life sentence for the murders of their parents: Bryan, 49, and Kathryn, 39.

    Gray’s 10-day jury trial is set for Sept. 29 at 9:30 a.m. in Culpeper County Circuit Court.

    Charges against convicted murderer Ricky Jovan Gray, accused in the 2005 killing a Reva woman, were indefinitely suspended Wednesday afternoon, putting the case against him here to an end for now.

    The capital murder charge Gray faced was suspended under a nolle prosequi motion supported by the defense and the prosecution. Under such a motion, the charges are not dismissed. Instead, they may be reintroduced in the future, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close in a statement. Circuit Court Judge John R. Cullen accepted the joint motion.

    Three other felony charges—attempted arson, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm were also suspended.

    Warner’s mother Betty Embry and other family members were present in court, but declined to comment following the hearing.

    Gray, 30, first entered a not guilty plea in the murder of 37-year-old Sherri Warner in January 2007. His trial was originally set to begin that October, but was postponed at the request of the defense counsel. It was then scheduled for February of this year, but Gray won a request for new defense attorneys and the trial—which was expected to take 10 days—was rescheduled again to Sept. 29.

    During Wednesday’s hearing, which lasted about 10 minutes, Close cited several reasons for temporarily setting the case aside. They include recently returned DNA evidence—a hair—found at the crime scene that does not match Gray, an ongoing investigation by the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office that has uncovered new evidence and cell phone records that “merited further investigation.”

    In February, Timothy Thomas, a Cumberland County prison inmate, testified that Gray’s girlfriend Ashley Baskerville had implicated Gray in Warner’s Dec. 18, 2005 murder. Gray is accused of killing Baskerville also. But Cullen threw the testimony out at a March 12 hearing, ruling that the prosecution had not established his statements as reliable. Cullen also said a “mental or physical impairment” may prevent Thomas from establishing an accurate timeline of events.

    “The commonwealth has felt that the statements of Ashley Baskerville, Ricky Gray’s self-described accomplice was important for obtaining a conviction,” Close said. “The court overruled the commonwealth’s motion to allow Timothy Thomas to testify about Ashley Baskerville’s statements.”

    Gray is already on death row for the January 1, 2006 murders of Richmond residents Stella, 9 and Ruby Harvey, 4. He is also serving a life sentence for the murders of their parents, Bryan, 49 and Kathryn, 39. Dressed in a blue prison uniform, shackled, and heavily guarded by sheriff’s deputies in the courtroom, Gray did not speak during the hearing.

    Gray’s defense attorney Joseph T. Flood praised Close for providing insight into evidence related to this case.

    “On behalf of Ricky Gray and his family, we are relieved by the commonwealth’s attorney’s decision to nolle prosequi these charges and effectively end this capital prosecution,” Flood said in a statement. “This conclusion represents a deliberate and thoughtful response to compelling evidence showing Mr. Gray is innocent of killing Sherri Warner.

    “While today’s decision relieves Mr. Gray of the burden of a unwarranted capital trial, justice for Ms. Warner’s family and this community requires that the real murderer be held to account.”

    Close said that the case would remain open and he will continue to meet regularly with investigators, using football to explain the next step.

    “The best analogy is when a team is on its own 30 yard line and its 4th and 20—you punt. It is not the end of the game—it is merely a punt for better field position.”

    http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/crime/article/charges_suspended_against_gray/16518/

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    080524 Gray v. Warden

    Virginia Supreme Court rejects appeal

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected appeals by two death row inmates.

    Ricky Jovan Gray was convicted of five counts of capital murder in the New Year's Day 2006 slayings of a Richmond couple and their two young daughters. He received two death sentences and three life prison terms.

    In Norfolk, Anthony B. Juniper was sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of his former girlfriend, her two children and her brother.

    The Supreme Court ruled Friday that one of Gray's life sentences should be thrown out because his lawyer failed to raise a double-jeopardy objection. But it rejected all his other claims and allowed the other sentences to stand.

    The justices found no merit in several claims raised by Juniper.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...h_Row_Appeals/

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    RICKY JOVAN GRAY v EDDIE L. PEARSON, Warden, Sussex I State Prison

    In today's opinions, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded Gray's case to the district court for further consideration in light of the Martinez and Trevino rulings. Stating it was a conflict of interest for Gray's state attorneys to file his federal appeals.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    April 17, 2007

    Va. Supreme Court hears Gray's appeal

    A law allowing the death penalty for a person 21 or older who kills a child younger than 14 is arbitrary and unconstitutional, a lawyer for the man convicted of killing a Richmond family told the Virginia Supreme Court yesterday.

    Attorney Theodore D. Bruns urged the court to overturn Ricky Javon Gray's death sentence stemming from the New Year's Day 2006 slayings of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their daughters, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4.

    Gray was convicted of five counts of capital murder: killing more than one person in a three-year period, killing more than one person as part of the same act, killing someone during a robbery or attempted robbery, and two counts of killing a child younger than 14 by someone at least 21 years old. He was sentenced to death on the latter two counts.

    Bruns told the Supreme Court that the provision that resulted in Gray's death sentence violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution because it "creates an arbitrary distinction between offenders based on age."

    He said the state had "no rational basis" for providing a harsher punishment for a 21-year-old who kills a child and a 20-year-old who commits a similar, perhaps even more heinous, crime.

    But Matthew Dullaghan, senior assistant attorney general, said the General Assembly is entitled to great deference in deciding such matters after weighing the public-policy benefits of protecting children and punishing adult criminals.

    Gray and his nephew, Ray Joseph Dandridge, both of Arlington County, killed the Harveys as part of a violent rampage that included the slaying of a second Richmond family less than a week later. Dandridge pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder in the second case and was sentenced to life in prison.

    Gray also is scheduled to stand trial in October in the slaying of Sheryl Warner, 37, of Culpeper.

    http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2...172-ar-205036/

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    Adminstrative Date

    Execution date set for Harvey family killer but appeal likely

    A June 16 execution date was set this morning for Ricky Jovan Gray for his role in the slaying of four members of a Woodland Heights family on Jan. 1, 2006.

    The date will almost certainly be stayed, however, because his lawyer, Jon Sheldon, said he intends to file an appeal in federal court. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office agreed the date could be stayed by federal court.

    Bryan Harvey, 49, his wife Kathryn, 39, and their daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4, were found murdered in their home on West 31st Street.

    Death sentences were imposed against Gray for each of two capital murders of a person under the age of 14 by a person 21 or older. He was given life sentences in each of three other capital-murder convictions.

    Gray's accomplice and nephew, Ray Dandridge, is serving a life sentence. The deaths were part of a killing rampage carried out by Gray and Dandridge.

    http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/l...ke-ar-1034689/

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    Court orders new lawyers for death row inmate

    New lawyers must be appointed for a Virginia death row inmate convicted in the bludgeoning and stabbing deaths of a Richmond couple and their two daughters, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

    A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered new representation for Ricky Jovan Gray, who was convicted in the New Year's Day 2006 slayings of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their daughters, 9-year-old Stella and 4-year-old Ruby.

    A lower court appointed the same lawyers who represented Gray in his unsuccessful state appeals to represent him in his federal appeals. Those lawyers argued that Gray was entitled to new attorneys who could investigate whether their efforts at the state level were constitutionally deficient. The appeals court agreed.

    "We find that a clear conflict of interest exists in requiring Gray's counsel to identify and investigate potential errors that they themselves may have made in failing to uncover ineffectiveness of trial counsel while they represented Gray in his state post-conviction proceedings," the court said. "Indeed, the Virginia State Bar Ethics Counsel advised Gray's counsel that they are ethically barred from investigating their own ineffectiveness."

    The panel sent the case back to a federal judge for appointment of new counsel. It deferred a decision on the key issue in Gray's federal appeal — whether he was improperly denied an evidentiary hearing on disputed issues during his state court appeals.

    The Harveys were preparing to host friends for a holiday chili dinner when Gray and accomplice Ray Dandridge spotted their open front door and decided to rob the occupants. They tied the Harveys up in their basement, where they were stabbed and beaten to death.

    Dandridge was sentenced to life in prison.

    http://www.chron.com/news/crime/arti...te-4587406.php
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    On May 13, 2014, Gray's amended habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...630/267378/166

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    On August 19, 2014, Gray filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...ourts/ca4/14-3

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    June 9, 2007

    Court upholds Gray conviction

    The Virginia Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the five capital murder convictions and two death sentences imposed on Ricky Javon Gray for the murders of the Harvey family last year.

    A Richmond Circuit Court jury in August convicted Gray in the New Year's Day murders of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4.

    The two death sentences were for the killings of the little girls, under the section of Virginia law that makes it capital murder for someone at least 21 years old to deliberately kill a child younger than 14. For his three other capital-murder convictions, Gray was sentenced to life in prison.

    In a hearing in April, lawyer Theodore D. Bruns argued for Gray that the state had no rational basis for allowing a harsher penalty for a 21-year-old offender than for a 20-year-old who commits a similar crime that could even be more heinous.

    Bruns argued that the statute violates Gray's right to equal protection under law because it is an arbitrary distinction between offenders based on age.

    Matthew Dullaghan, senior assistant attorney general, argued at the hearing and in court papers that the statute applies the death penalty to defendants who are older and therefore are held to be more responsible for their actions.

    He also argued that the law applies the death penalty to defendants "who have a decreased peer relationship with the child victim and thus an increased predatory relationship."

    Both of those ideas make for a rational basis for enacting the law with a legitimate governmental purpose behind it, the commonwealth argued.

    The court agreed.

    Writing the opinion, Justice G. Ste- ven Agee said there is a rational basis for the law. He pointed out that other Virginia laws make age distinctions between adults in similar situations.

    "A 21-year-old commits no crime by purchasing an alcoholic beverage," Agee wrote, "but a 20-year-old commits a Class One misdemeanor if that individual makes such a purchase."

    Gray and his nephew, Ray Joseph Dandridge, were accused of taking part in the Harvey murders and in the Jan. 6 murders of Mary Tucker, her husband, Percyell Tucker, and Mary Tucker's daughter, Ashley Baskerville. Both families were killed in their South Richmond homes.

    Dandridge went to trial for the Tucker-Baskerville murders but pleaded guilty mid-trial to capital murder, with a plea-agreement sentence of life with no release.

    Gray and Dandridge also pleaded guilty in Arlington County to aggravated malicious wounding and robbery for stabbing and beating a man there on New Year's Eve, the day before the Richmond murders. Both lived in Arlington.

    Gray is scheduled for trial in October for the killing of Sheryl Warner, 37, in Culpeper on Dec. 18, 2005.

    He also confessed to killing his wife, Treva Terrell Gray, 35, in Pennsylvania in November 2005. That brings to nine the number of deaths police attribute to Gray during a three-month period.

    http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2...164-ar-194238/

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