Ricky Javon Gray, 39, was executed by injection last night in Virginia for the killing of two young Richmond sisters on New Year’s Day 2006, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It appeared to take an inordinately long time — more than a half-hour — to place the IV lines and do other procedures behind a curtain that blocked the view of witnesses. The delay was due to difficulty in placing the IV line in a vein, officials said today.
Gray was sentenced to die for the slayings of Ruby Harvey, 4, and Stella Harvey, 9. He and accomplice Ray Dandridge, 39, also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, and Kathryn Harvey, 39. A few days later, Gray and Dandridge killed three other people. Dandridge, Gray’s nephew, was sentenced to life for those killings. Gov. Terry McAuliffe turned down a clemency request to commute Gray’s death sentence to life without possibility of parole. Gray’s lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay, which the justices denied yesterday evening.