U.S. soldier's execution stayed

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A federal judge has delayed indefinitely the planned execution in Indiana of a U.S. Army soldier convicted of multiple murders and rapes.

U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers issued the order Nov. 26 to allow attorneys for Pvt. Ronald A. Gray time to file a habeas corpus petition for constitutional review, Army Times reported Wednesday. Gray, who had been scheduled to be put to death Dec. 10 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., is on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The judge's stay of execution will remain in effect until further order by the court.

Gray, who had been a specialist with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1988. He is the longest-serving inmate on the military's death row at the Leavenworth facility and would be the first member of the U.S. military to be executed since 1961.