Ricky Jovan Gray, VA DR

[Jeff1857]

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.

UPDATE

Charges suspended against Gray



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/
 

[artie65]

Ricky Javon Gray has years of appeals available to him, but if history is
any indication, odds are good that he will be executed.

Of the 38 states with capital punishment, none comes close to Virginia in
carrying out the death penalty once it is imposed.

The most recent federal figures show that through the end of 2004,
Virginia had executed 65 percent of the 144 people sentenced to death. The
next closest state, Missouri, executed 35 percent. The national average is
12.5 %.

A jury recommended Tuesday that Gray should be executed for the slayings
of Stella and Ruby Harvey, 9 and 4 respectively. He also killed their
parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey, in the family's home on New Year's Day.

Nationally, the average time from death sentence to execution is a little
more than 10 years, according to federal statistics.

According to the Virginia Department of Corrections, since 1991, the
average length of time spent on death row prior to execution is 7.1 years.
However, according to the Virginia attorney general's office, the average
is now 4 to 5 years.

(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)


I, for one, cannot WAIT!

[Ron Reeger]

At 10 pm ET tonight on the Investigation Discovery Channel (if you actually have it on your cable system) there's going to be a documentary on the murders committed by Ricky Javon Gray (who currently sits on Virginia's death row).