GREENSVILLE COUNTY, Va. -- Ricky Javon Gray was put to death by lethal injection at 9.42 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Greensville County.
Gray’s last appeal was denied hours before his execution when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Gray's request for a stay of execution.
When officials asked Gray if he had any final words, he replied “nope,” according to CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett, who observed the execution in the death chamber.
Burkett reports Gray declined his final meal before the execution.
Gray and his nephew Ray Dandridge shocked the Richmond community in January 2006 -- when they killed seven people in six days.
The 39-year-old was convicted of murdering parents Kathryn and Bryan Harvey, and their two young daughters, Ruby and Stella, on New Year's Day 2006.
The Harvey Family
The Harvey’s were found bound, beaten, and stabbed inside the basement of their Woodland Heights home. The home was also set on fire.
Gray received the death penalty for murdering the children.
Gray was also involved, though not convicted, in the murders of Ashley Baskerville, 21; her mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepdad, Percyell Tucker, 55.
Dandridge was given a life prison sentence after he was convicted for the killings of the Baskerville-Tucker family, five days after the Harvey murders.
Ashley Baskerville was with Gray and Dandridge during the Harvey family murder.
Mary Tucker and Percyell Tucker
As Gray’s execution approached, his lawyers argued that the lethal injection that would be used to kill Gray amounts to "cruel punishment."
They pointed to one of the drugs that would be used, called Midazolam, which they say would result in "chemical torture" and that administering the drug would violate Ricky Gray's constitutional rights or cruel and unusual punishment.
Gray's attorneys said a firing squad would be a more viable option because it is quick and more effective.
Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency appeal for a stay of execution for Gray. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe also declined to intervene on Tuesday, January 17.
Ricky Gray
"Mr. Gray was convicted in a fair and impartial trial, and a jury sentenced him to death in accordance with Virginia law. Federal and state appellate courts have extensively reviewed his case and denied his requested relief,” McAuliffe said in a statement.
A video released recently by Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty showed Gray apologizing for the deaths of the Harvey family.
“I’ve stolen something from the world,” Gray said at the start of a video created by attorneys seeking his clemency.
“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 video also examines the impact of the severe childhood sexual abuse Gray suffered, and the group argued that the jury never heard testimony detailing the abuse, nor did they hear about the drug use that ensued from said abuse.
In the video, Gray’s family members and the experts who have met with him since his trial described how 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. In addition, they said he was high on PCP and other drugs at the time of his crimes.
The video was provided to Governor McAuliffe by Gray’s lawyers, along with other materials, in support of a petition for executive clemency.
