Washington: President George W Bush approved the execution of an army private, administration officials said. It was the first time in more than half a century that a President has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the US military.
With his signature from the Oval office, Bush said yes to the military’s request to execute Ronald A Gray, said the officials on Monday, who revealed his decision on grounds of anonymity. Gray had had been convicted for a spree of four murders and eight rapes during an eight-month period in the late 1980s in the area near his post, Fort Bragg, north Carolina. Unlike in civilian courts, a member of the US armed forces cannot be executed until the President approves the death sentence.
Gray has been on death row at the US disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since April 1988.
Members of the US military have been executed throughout history, but just 10 have been executed by presidential approval since 1951 when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military’s modern-day legal system, was enacted into law. President Dwight D Eisenhower was the last previous President to approve a military execution. AGENCIES
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