I have never been, nor will I ever be in favor of the death penalty no matter what the case. What is rather disturbing about this case is that there is further litigation pending which will take years to resolve. It's been over 50 years since a member of the military has been executed. The last president to sign an order of execution was Dwight D. Eisenhower (R). President John F. Kennedy (D) commuted the death sentence of Navy seaman Jimmie Henderson to life in prison.

Pvt. Ronald A. Gray has been incarcerated since April of 1988 for a 4 murder/8 rape spree that took place over 8 months in April 1986 through January 1987. Gray was tried in both courts. The civilian court in North Carolina sentenced him to three consecutive and five concurrent life sentences for pleading guilty to two murders and five rapes. The general court martial unanimously sentenced Pvt. Gray to death for two murders, one attempted murder and three rapes.

No matter what the charges and the decisions were, I believe the civilian ruling should prevail. I cannot fathom President Bush signing the order of execution before all the litigation and appeals are exhausted. Can he possibly see this as his last great accomplishment of a seriously botched presidency? I already know what kind of president he is but what kind of man is this that just must hurry to dot the last "i" and cross the last "t" before he empties the shredder in the oval office and disappears behind the door of Marine 1?

According to the justice system, both rulings should prevail. Any military or civilian punishment judged necessary should be upheld, just as people are tried in both Criminal Trials and Civil trials, and damages can be awarded for both. The OJ case was an example of different damages in different courts. Since the execution is obviously the most severe, it takes precedent.

Bush didn't really make any decision, it was probably just one of a hundred papers put on his desk to sign that day.

Even though the prisoner was tried in both courts perhaps the military should have its ruling upheld by the president signing off on the request to execute. After all, President Bush will be leaving the White House this coming January and why hand a cluttered desk of papers awaiting signatures over to the next person in office? President Bush probably thinks that if Barack Obama is elected, he'll commute the sentence and this is something I'm certain the president doesn't want to have happen. Maybe he's simply exercising whatever powers he has left to clean house.

Pvt. Gray has been in prison at Leavenworth since 1988 and the crimes he committed were heinous, without a doubt. Death by lethal injection is humane and it's time we stopped wasting money on keeping prisoners on death row for decades. The Military ruling is many years old and President Bush has a duty to perform in this instance.