Ricky Javon Gray 

Date of Birth:  March 9, 1977

Sex: Male

Race: Black

Entered the Row: Oct. 23, 2006

District:  Richmond

Conviction: Capital murder-two counts

Virginia DOC Inmate Number: 364382

RICHMOND CASE

A popular local musician Bryan Harvey, 49, his wife, Kathryn 39, and their two children, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4, were slain at their South Richmond home on New Years Day 2006.[i]  Ricky Javon Gray was arrested in Philadelphia for the murders Jan. 7. [ii]   

Shortly after his arrest in a taped interview, Gray confessed to police detectives that he had killed the Harvey family.  Gray described the murders to authorities including intimate details about the slayings.   On Feb. 8, 2006, Gray was indicted on five-counts of capital murder.  At the trial, prosecutors played the graphic tape of Gray’s confession to the jury pool.[iii]

Defense attorneys hoped that in spite of Gray’s admission of guilt, his openness, in combination with testimony of child sexual abuse, would save him from the ultimate punishment during the penalty phase of the trial.  On Aug. 17, 2006, the jury deliberated for a mere thirty minutes before finding Gray guilty of all five-counts of capital murder.[iv]

During the penalty phase, Gray’s sister testified that a half-brother had systematically sodomized Gray from the time he was four until he was 11 or 12.  When the sexual abuse stopped, Gray began his drug career with the psychotropic drug PCP, a hallucinogen that often leads to violent psychotic reactions.  Court testimony also revealed that Gray displayed hyperactivity as a child and had difficulties learning in school.  Gray’s tearful mother recounted in court stories of physical abuse at the hands of his father.  The father readily admitted that he used beatings as a way to enforce family discipline at home. 

After twelve hours of deliberation, the jury recommended Gray be sentenced to death for the capital murder of the two Harvey children (two capital murder counts for killing someone under the age of 14 by someone 21 or older)[v]   For the other guilty of capital murder verdicts (killing a person during a robbery, killing more than one person at any one time and killing more than one person in three years), the jury recommended life in prison without parole. [vi]  On Oct. 23, 2006, Circuit Court Judge Beverly W. Snukals of Richmond agreed with the jury’s recommendations and sentenced Gray to death.[vii]

CULPEPER CASE

On Dec. 18, 2006, Culpeper authorities charged Ricky Javon Gray of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sherri Warner of Culpeper who was found with an electrical cord tied around her neck in a burning basement on Dec. 18, 2005.[viii] Commonwealth Attorney Gary L. Close later switched the charge of first-degree murder to capital murder for killing more than one person during a three-year period.[ix] Defense counsel has requested a change of venue from Culpeper County, a rural enclave of 42,530 (based on the 2005 Census estimate) to another jurisdiction.  A hearing is scheduled for March 28, 2007.  Culpeper Circuit Judge John R. Cullen also set the trial date for July 30 to Aug. 2.[x]  Gray will have the same counsel team.[xi]