Soldier Gets Death Sentence for Raping, Killing 2 Women
A military court sentenced a 22-year-old Ft. Bragg soldier to death today for the murder and rape of two young women at the North Carolina military post.
The court imposed the sentence on Spec. 4 Ronald Adrin Gray of Cochran, Ga., a cook assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division.
Gray was reduced in rank to private and ordered sent to the military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., for carrying out of the death sentence.
Three-Hour Deliberation
The sentence was recommended to the court by a jury of three enlisted men and three officers who deliberated for about three hours this morning.
The same jury convicted Gray last Thursday of murdering and raping Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery Clay, 18, in December, 1986, and Fayetteville cab driver Kimberly Ann Ruggles, 24, in January, 1987.
Army prosecutors called Gray a cold and calculating killer.
Gray was convicted of raping and sodomizing the two young women before killing them. Clay was shot to death and Ruggles was stabbed to death.
Gray was already under eight life sentences for rape and murder imposed by the Cumberland County Superior Court on Nov. 6, 1987.
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