Military Execution of Army Cook a Step Closer

Private Ronald Gray asked for the courts mercy, citing "incompetence" to withstand a trial and arguing that he had lawyers who were "ineffective," according to NBC News.

However, the court rejected the petition this month of the ex-military man who was convicted in 1988 of murdering four women and raping another in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1986 and 1987.

"Pvt. Gray now has 30 days to file for reconsideration with the court or, alternatively, 20 days to petition for review at the next appellate level, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces," the Army said in a statement.

This comes more than eight years after Gray was originally supposed to be put to death, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

Gray and his lawyers attempted to keep in effect a stay of execution order granted in 2008 by a U.S. District Court in Kansas. Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled against the motion in December, the Fayetteville Observer noted.

The latest ruling came on May 9, when an Army Court of Criminal Appeals panel of nine judges denied Gray's petition to vacate his convictions and death sentence, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

Ed Bowman, the father of one of Gray's victims, Kimberly Ann Ruggles, who was stabbed to death at 23, said it's ridiculous that this killer is still sitting in a jail cell alive.

"He should be executed, and dragging it out and dragging it out is absolutely insane," he said, according to NBC News. "He should have been dead a long time ago. There's a lot of people been waiting a long time to see this man die."

Gray could be the first prisoner to be executed by the military in more than 50 years.

• Tommy Arthur Scheduled for Execution After it Was Postponed 7 Times
• Rolando Ruiz Executed for 1992 Murder-for-Hire Death of Texas Woman
• Missouri Execution: Man Put to Death 14 Years After Double Homicide