R.I.P. Rodney Gray

Roman Colosseum lit to protest an execution

Mississippi executed Rodney Gray on May 17, 2011, for the 1994 killing of 79-year-old Grace Blackwell, when Gray was 22 years old.  Gray maintained he was not guilty of any of the crimes for which he received the death sentence. 

This is the 17th execution in the United States in 2011, the second in Mississippi.  Gray is the ninth African American to be executed this year.