There is no question that Ricky Gray is a special kind of killer. You see, he is an individual whose crime was so heinous that only the ultimate punishment would do. Although he was executed in Virginia for the god-awful crime of killing two children and their parents as they were preparing for a New Year’s Eve party, he unfortunately got the last word in:
The Killers Final Words
When he was executed at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia, he was asked if he had any last words. He simply replied, “Nope”, and that was that.
The crime that sent Ricky Gray to death row was the murder of nine-year-old Stella Harvey and her four-year-old sister Ruby and their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey. Bryan was actually a member of a rock band called House of Freaks and Kathryn co-owned a toy store called World of Mirth. What Mr. Gray did to them was totally senseless.
First of all, after he illegally entered the residence with his nephew Ray Dandridge, he led each and every family member to the basement of the home. Once down there, he methodically slashed the throats of the mom and dad and the children, and to make matters worse, he bludgeoned them to death with a hammer.
This was simply a robbery gone bad, but Gray and Dadridge totally massacred this family, and for what? All they got out of it was a computer, some cookies, and a wedding ring.
Lethal Injection
Because of his morbid activities, Gray was executed by lethal injection even though some felt that the procedure took longer than normal. Thus, some of these bleeding hearts were concerned about the drugs being used for the process.
Gray was the first prisoner in Virginia to be executed by the three-drug cocktail of Potassium Chloride, Rocuronium Bromide, and Midazolam. Naturally, Gray’s attorneys challenged this cocktail, with even one of them saying that a firing squad would have been more humane.
Of course, there are other critics of the drugs that were used in Gray’s execution, and some even claim that Midazolam has been problematic in other executions. Some claim that the drug causes a painful death because it cannot render the person unconscious. Well, risk of complications or not, Gray didn’t show any mercy toward the family he massacred, now did he?
Killer Leaves Final Statement With His Attorney
Although he didn’t leave a final statement, he did leave a statement through his attorney, Elizabeth Peiffer, who said that he had been trying “to make amends as much as possible and make life better for other people.”
The statement read in part: “I have stolen birthdays, Easters, Christmases, Thanksgivings, graduations, weddings, and many other things from these people. There is truly no way for me to make up for that. I’m sorry they were a victim of my despair.” He should have thought about all of this before that terrible night even happened in the first place.
What do you think about this killer’ choice of last words?