GRAY, MARLIN - Executed October 26, 2005.
GENERAL INFORMATION
DOB: September 19, 1967
Race: African-American
Gender: Male
CRIME AND TRIAL
County of conviction: St. Louis City
Number of counts: 2 (including 1 victim injured but not killed during same incident)
Race of victim: White/white
Gender of victim: Female/female
Date of crime: April 4, 1991
Date of sentencing: December 9, 1992
TRIAL COUNSEL:
Dorothy Hirzy
LEGAL STATUS:
Current proceedings:
--Executive Clemency.
Last judicial decision:
--Petition for state habeas corpus denied by Missouri Supreme Court in unpublished order dated October 28, 2003 (Case No. SC85602).
CURRENT COUNSEL:
Joanne Martin Descher
Descher & Sushelsky
231 S. Bemiston Ave., Suite 1111
St. Louis, MO 63105-1914
(314) 862-7200
Kent E. Gipson
Public Interest Litigation Clinic
305 E. 63rd Street
Kansas City, MO 64113
816-363-2795
REPORTED OPINIONS:
-- Denial of habeas affirmed by Gray v. Luebbers, 281 F.3d 749 (8th Cir. 2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1115 (2003),.
--Conviction, sentence and denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by State v. Gray, 887 S.W.2d 369 (Mo. banc 1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1042 (1995)
SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES:
--Prosecutor's closing-argument comparison of Gray to Charles Manson and his "family," comments about Gray's relationships with white women, and remarks on Gray's political views.
--Trial counsel's failure to object to prosecutor's arguments described above.
--Trial counsel's failure to object to trial court's comments to the jury during voir dire misdefining the legal concepts of accomplice liability and reasonable doubt