CENTENNIAL — An Arapahoe County judge today denied a request for a new trial for Robert Ray, who was sentenced to death in June for masterminding the murder of a witness who was to testify against him in another case.
Ray, 24, was convicted in May of ordering a hit on Javad Marshall-Fields. Marshall-Fields was gunned down in June 2005 on the eve of Ray’s trial for the death of Gregory Vann a year earlier.
Also killed in the 2005 shooting was Marshall-Fields’ fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. The 22-year-olds were shot and killed after they left an Aurora apartment.
A jury sentenced Ray to death for Marshall-Fields’ murder and life without parole for Wolfe.
Ray will be formally sentenced by District Court Judge Gerald Rafferty on May 5.
Rafferty today rebuffed claims by Ray’s defense team that the prosecution’s failures to provide some minor evidence to the defense warranted a new trial or resentencing.
The defense also had issues with the behavior of two jurors, both of whom took the stand on Tuesday.
One juror, only known as Juror 3744, apparently spoke to his pastor about the case. The juror was allowed today to testify about what he discussed with his pastor, but he refused, as was his was right because of clergy-client privilege laws.
Rafferty did not rule on that point, but will do so later this month.
Ray will join his partner in crime, Sir Mario Owens, on death row. Owens pulled the trigger in the killing of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe.
A third man, Parish Carter, who drove the getaway car, is in prison for other crimes and has not yet been tried for the double murder. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Carter.
Family members of both victims have been frustrated by the slow sentencing process, with Ray’s defense team trying to find any loophole or technicality to get their client off.
“It shouldn’t take 10 months to get to a point to where we can get a formal sentence,” said Marshall-Fields’ mother, Rhonda Fields. “Having the process take that long is outrageous and heartbreaking.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
