Military death row: More than 50 years and no executions

Ronald Gray raped and battered at least seven women. He killed four, and left the others for dead -- the bodies dumped around Fort Bragg and the neighboring city of Fayetteville, North Carolina, between 1986 and 1987.

He was caught and, just as in the civilian system, he was tried.

He was found guilty by a jury of his peers, just as in the civilian system.

And a death sentence was passed, just as would have been possible in a civilian court for such a heinous crime.

But when it comes to staying alive, history is on Gray's side. The U.S. military has not executed one of its own since 1961.

The former soldier came close to being put to death in 2008, when then President George W. Bush signed a warrant authorizing Gray's execution -- a requirement for capital punishment in the military.

A federal court gave Gray a last-minute temporary stay, and today he -- along with four other former servicemen -- remains on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Read more here.