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Ricky Gray apologizes for Harvey murders as groups urge clemency

Posted at 4:55 PM, Jan 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-13 17:37:23-05

RICHMOND, Va. -- “I’ve stolen something from the world,” says death row killer Ricky Gray, at the start of a video created by attorneys seeking his clemency.

Earlier this week Judge Henry Hudson denied Gray’s request to delay his execution. Gray’s legal team argued the lethal injection used to execute Gray amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Gray’s execution is scheduled for January 18, but it remains unclear if the execution will take place on that date. His legal team has 30 days to file an appeal after the recent court ruling by Judge Hudson.

Gray is a central figure in one of the most horrific crime sprees the Richmond area has ever seen. He is on death row for the killings of Kathryn and Bryan Harvey and their two young daughters, Ruby, age 4, and Stella, age 9.  On New Year’s Day 2006, the Harveys were found bound, beaten, and stabbed inside the basement of their Woodland Heights home.

The home was also set on fire.

Gray was also involved, though not convicted, in the murders of Ashley Baskerville, 21; her mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepdad, Percyell Tucker, 55.

The video, released by Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, shows Gray apologizing for the deaths of the Harvey family.

It’s never left my mind, because I understand exactly what I took from the world by looking at my two sisters. I’m reminded each time I talk and see them that this is what I took from the world. You know, the potential for greatness in those kids.

The 18-minute videoalso examines the impact of the severe childhood sexual abuse Gray suffered.

In the video, Gray’s family members and the experts who have met with him since his trial describe and explain the evidence that jurors who sentenced Gray to death did not hear. Gray became addicted to drugs as a child as a way to cope with the horrific sexual and physical abuse he suffered for years at the hands of his family members, they said. In addition, he was high on PCP and other drugs at the time of his crimes with Ray Dandridge, they said in the video.

Gray became addicted to drugs as a child as a way to cope with the horrific sexual and physical abuse he suffered for years at the hands of his family members, according to the video. In addition, he was high on PCP and other drugs at the time of his crimes with Ray Dandridge. Dandridge was convicted in the Tucker-Baskerville murders and is serving a life-prison sentence.

The video was provided to Governor Terry McAuliffe by Gray’s lawyers, along with other materials, in support of a petition for executive clemency.

Gray’s lawyers requested that Governor McAuliffe commute Gray’s sentence to life in prison without parole — the same sentence the Commonwealth agreed to for Dandridge.

The ACLU also asked the governor for clemency.

In a letter to the governor, ACLU-VA Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga referred to the civil rights organization's blanket opposition to the death penalty, calling it "demonstrably ineffective and cruel and unusual punishment that should not be imposed in a just society, particularly where the penalty is applied arbitrarily and the procedure itself is inhumane." She suggested Gray's sentence be commuted to life in prison.

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