An Arapahoe County jury, facing the grim task of meting out the ultimate punishment, reached the understandable decision Monday to sentence Robert Keith Ray to death.
The 23-year-old had ordered the murder of a witness to another killing.
Because Ray, a gangster and cocaine dealer, believed he was above the law, Javad Marshall-Fields, the witness, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were gunned down and two promising young lives were extinguished.
The Post doesn’t support the death penalty. We have argued against it and will continue to do so.
However, as we said of Ray’s accomplice, Sir Mario Owens, who received a death sentence last year for carrying out the murders: “(T)here could hardly be a more clear-cut death penalty case.”
This is also true with Ray.
Ray helped Owens get away after Owens shot down Gregory Vann, a friend of Marshall-Fields, and wounded Marshall-Fields.
Then a teenager with a light criminal record, it is conceivable that Ray could have pleaded to a lesser crime and served a limited stay in prison.
Instead he sent Owens on his mission to kill the witness.
Death penalty cases are rare in Colorado because of tough requirements prosecutors must meet.
The “aggravating factor” that prosecutors had to prove with Ray was that a witness to a criminal offense was intentionally killed.
Marshall-Fields wanted to do the right thing and help prosecutors deliver justice in the death of his friend. Even after Owens, at Ray’s bidding, threatened Marshall-Fields and tried to pay him for his silence, Marshall-Fields remained committed to testifying.
“Killing a witness undermines the very foundation of the criminal justice system,” Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers told reporters.
We agree with Chambers that strong punishments must be meted out for violating the integrity of the judicial system through witness intimidation and the killing of witnesses. Otherwise the courts won’t function.
There are also the families and friends of Ray’s victims to consider, and they will remain in our thoughts.
When a reporter asked about Ray’s “Crime Pays” tattoo, Rhonda Fields, Javad’s mother, said, “He’s going to pay with his life. … . You can’t solve crimes without witnesses.”
The jury foreman, who asked not to be identified, told reporters the verdict was unanimous.
“This sentence was very difficult because we weighed the destruction and pain that was put on the victim’s families against the act of taking another man’s life for causing these murders,” he said.
We respect the jury’s decision, which was based in reason.
