Speaker 1: This episode MA contained content of a graphic nature, including
Speaker 1: descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: Hi, this is Tanya. Hi this is Shannon, and we
Speaker 2: are Crimes.
Speaker 1: And Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 2: Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya, how you doing?
Speaker 1: I am doing pretty good.
Speaker 3: It's Saturday. I can't complain.
Speaker 2: And it's so sunny out. Did you check out how
Speaker 2: it's coming off the snow. I love it? Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: so bright, I do, and it gives me hope.
Speaker 1: You know, the gray summer days are the worst, but
Speaker 1: my goodness, it just feels like angels are singing when
Speaker 1: the sun is out right.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's that chorus hell.
Speaker 2: And I'm waiting again for my Amazon package today.
Speaker 4: I I've decided I'm going to do my nails.
Speaker 2: And you know, I am a cosmetologist, so I don't
Speaker 2: get all of the nail supplies. How I would do
Speaker 2: Like if I go get them done, I get just
Speaker 2: what I need to make them look nice should they
Speaker 2: ever be seen. And so I'm excited.
Speaker 4: So this girl's getting her nails did today. I'm at home. Ye,
Speaker 4: little self care, Little self care.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: So I have a really horrendous story for us today.
Speaker 1: But before I started, I just would like to remind
Speaker 1: everyone to hit the subscriber follow button on whatever app
Speaker 1: you're listening to. And today's story takes place in Richmond, Virginia,
Speaker 1: And our story takes place on January first, two thousand
Speaker 1: and six.
Speaker 3: That's where we're going to start. Okay.
Speaker 1: On that day, Ricky Gray, his nephew, Ray Dandridge, and
Speaker 1: Ashley Baskerville, who was Ricky's girlfriend. They were cruising the
Speaker 1: streets of Richmond in Ricky's van during the mid morning
Speaker 1: of New Year's Day two thousand and six, looking for
Speaker 1: a house to rob. When they ended up in the
Speaker 1: middle class neighborhood of Woodland Heights, Ricky and Ray came
Speaker 1: upon the house of the Harvey family. The Harvey family
Speaker 1: consisted of forty nine year old Brian, who was the
Speaker 1: former frontman and guitarist of the eighties indie band House
Speaker 1: of Freaks. Brian had settled down in the Richmond area
Speaker 1: after growing disillusioned with the music industry and just a
Speaker 1: little bit about Brian, his voice was compared to a
Speaker 1: southern John Lennon. The House of Freaks was actually like
Speaker 1: said to be inspiration for later bands such as The White.
Speaker 3: Stripes or the Black Keys.
Speaker 4: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: Notice.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The House of Freaks released five albums and in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety two they had a radio hit named a Rocking
Speaker 1: Chair and they ended up disbanding that same year. Also
Speaker 1: part of the Harvey family was thirty nine year old Catherine.
Speaker 1: She was the co owner of a local toy store.
Speaker 1: It was called World of Mirth and it was located
Speaker 1: in Richmond. It was quite successful, and she was also
Speaker 1: the half sister of actor Stephen Coult And if you
Speaker 1: google Stephen callp and you see his face, you're gonna
Speaker 1: recognize him. He's one of those guys that's in a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff.
Speaker 3: You just don't know his name, right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They had two daughters, Stella, who was nine, and Ruby,
Speaker 1: who was four. Ricky and Ray discovered that the door
Speaker 1: to the Harvey's home was ajar, so they entered the home.
Speaker 1: Once inside, they forced Catherine, Brian and Ruby into the basement.
Speaker 1: Stella wasn't home at the time when Ricky and Ray
Speaker 1: entered the house, so in the basement, Ricky assured the
Speaker 1: three family members that he and Ray were just gonna
Speaker 1: leave after they took what they wanted from the home.
Speaker 1: Ricky then used electrical cords to tie Bryan's wrists behind
Speaker 1: his back and bind his ankles together. So Ricky and Ray,
Speaker 1: they were both twenty nine at the time, they were dropouts,
Speaker 1: drug addicts, X cons and small time thebes, as well
Speaker 1: as childhood victims of unimaginable sexual abuse. Okay, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna end up telling you a little bit more about that.
Speaker 1: But before Ricky and Ray could plunder the house, they
Speaker 1: heard a noise upstairs on the home's main level. Kirsten Perkinson,
Speaker 1: who was a family friend, had arrived at the Harvey's
Speaker 1: home to deliver the Harvey's daughter Stella, along with her
Speaker 1: own daughter Grace Lynn, from a slumber party the previous evening.
Speaker 3: So hearing the.
Speaker 1: Commotion, Catherine explained to Ricky that her daughter had returned
Speaker 1: from a slumber party, so he permitted Catherine to go
Speaker 1: upstairs to bring her daughter downstairs to the basement. Kirsten
Speaker 1: heard Katherine running up the stairs from the basement, and
Speaker 1: upon reaching the top of the stairs, she appeared to
Speaker 1: what Kirsten said, she looked pale and ashen. Stella ran
Speaker 1: past her mom and down the stairs into the basement,
Speaker 1: but Catherine blocked Graceland's path so he wouldn't follow Stella
Speaker 1: down the stairs. Catherine told Kirsten that she didn't feel well,
Speaker 1: so Kirsten and grace Lynn left the house.
Speaker 3: Close call.
Speaker 2: Let me just tell you totally if she's a hero,
Speaker 2: I don't even know how. It sounds like it's going
Speaker 2: to end horribly.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, as our stories always do. Right, Yes, I
Speaker 1: mean that was really I know. I feel like if
Speaker 1: only they had like a signal worked out between them,
Speaker 1: some winks and some blinks or something, right, Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: weren't of danger or something. So downstairs, Ricky bound the
Speaker 1: hands and feet of all the Harvey's and placed clear
Speaker 1: packing tape over their mouths, but again he assured them
Speaker 1: that everything was going to be okay. Ricky and Ray
Speaker 1: then began collecting the items from the home that they
Speaker 1: intended to Stealine attempted to comfort her distraught daughters, and
Speaker 1: she told Ricky that he should take whatever he wants
Speaker 1: and just leave. But suddenly, when they're downstairs in the basement,
Speaker 1: Ricky took out a razor knife and cut Catherine's throat
Speaker 1: and then cut the throat of the young girls and
Speaker 1: Brian when I know it was like completely unnecessary. When
Speaker 1: Ricky saw that his victims were still moving, he saw
Speaker 1: a nearby claw hammer and began repeatedly beating each of
Speaker 1: the Harvey's in the head. When they stopped moving, Ricky
Speaker 1: poured two bottles of wine on an easel in the
Speaker 1: basement and lit a match, starting the fire. Ricky and
Speaker 1: Ray then left the burning home with the items they
Speaker 1: had stolen so they get away. A man named John HoTT,
Speaker 1: who was a family friend of the Harvey's and former
Speaker 1: drummer for the House of Freaks, arrived at the Harvey's
Speaker 1: home for a New Year's Day party about one forty.
Speaker 1: He noticed smoke coming from the house and he immediately
Speaker 1: ran to a neighbor's home and called nine one one.
Speaker 1: Firefighters responding to a call that the Harvey's home was burning,
Speaker 1: discovered the bodies of Catherine and Ruby in the basement
Speaker 1: as they attempted to fight the fire. The house was
Speaker 1: filled with black smoke and the basement was burning and
Speaker 1: had zero visibility and a lot of heat. Soon after,
Speaker 1: the firefighters removed the bodies of Catherine and Ruby from
Speaker 1: the basement, they determined that the body showed evidence of
Speaker 1: quote unquote battle signs and the victim's legs had been found.
Speaker 1: At that point, the firefighters stopped their rescue efforts and
Speaker 1: summoned the police. Detective Dwyer of the Richmond Police Department
Speaker 1: then discovered Stella in the basement under a futon, with
Speaker 1: her hands behind her back and tape around her mouth.
Speaker 1: Brian was discovered on the floor of the basement with
Speaker 1: orange electrical cord wrapped around his wrists and feet, with
Speaker 1: melted tape around his face and a large wound to
Speaker 1: his neck area. Detective Dyer also found two claw hammers,
Speaker 1: two broken wine bottles, a knife handle, and a separate
Speaker 1: knife blade in the basement, and autopsy revealed that Brian
Speaker 1: had been cut eight times in his neck and underneath
Speaker 1: his chin. In those wounds, although they were quote unquote
Speaker 1: very painful, were not immediately fatal. His mouth had been
Speaker 1: gagged and taped. Six lacerations were made to the left
Speaker 1: side and back of Brian's skull, each caused by blows
Speaker 1: from a hammer. He experienced severe third degree burns to
Speaker 1: his skin, and Brian died from the wounds to a
Speaker 1: skull through that blunt force trauma. Catherine had been cut
Speaker 1: three times in her neck and chest, once in her back,
Speaker 1: and those wounds caused bleeding and pain but were not fatal.
Speaker 1: Multiple lacerations were made to her skull as a result
Speaker 1: of blows from a hammer, and the hammer blows caused
Speaker 1: a fracture to the slate above Catherine's eyes, resulting and
Speaker 1: bleeding behind her eyes, and Catherine died from the blunt
Speaker 1: force injuries to her head. Ruby's throat had been sliced
Speaker 1: through to her trachea and Ruby's four mind you Wow,
Speaker 1: a wound that was not fatal but obstructed her breathing.
Speaker 1: Her head was also fractured and cut, causing brain tissue
Speaker 1: to exude from her skull. She had also been stabbed
Speaker 1: in the back with enough force that the knife had
Speaker 1: passed through her ribs and into her lungs. Ruby died
Speaker 1: from the blunt force injuries to her head and the
Speaker 1: stab injury to her lungs. Stella's neck had been cut
Speaker 1: six times, with the stab wounds having penetrated her trachea
Speaker 1: and esophagus, and she's nine. Stella's head was also bludgeoned
Speaker 1: by a hammer, causing brain tissue to exude from her skull.
Speaker 1: She died from a combination of smoke inhalation, carbon monoxide poisoning,
Speaker 1: and blunt force injury to her head. Forensic evidence showed
Speaker 1: that the knife blade recovered from the Harvey's home he
Speaker 1: had traces of blood from Catherine Stella, Ruby and Brian.
Speaker 1: Brian and Stella's DNA was discovered on the shaft of
Speaker 1: one of the recovered hammers, and Catherine's DNA was identified
Speaker 1: on the handle of the other hammer. Less than a
Speaker 1: week later, Richmond police received a tip that Ricky was
Speaker 1: a suspect in the murders.
Speaker 3: A member of the.
Speaker 1: Richmond Police Department contacted the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Police Department, requesting
Speaker 1: they investigate a location where Ricky may be staying and
Speaker 1: to be on the lookout for a particular vehicle believed
Speaker 1: to be related to.
Speaker 3: The Harvey murders.
Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of January seventh, two thousand
Speaker 1: and six, Philadelphia Police obtained a search warrant and a
Speaker 1: SWAT team entered the location where Ricky was suspected to
Speaker 1: be staying and found him in the basement. He was
Speaker 1: arrested and he was advised of his Miranda Rights. After
Speaker 1: learning that Ray was also being questioned, he asked the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Police quote, can I tell you my side of
Speaker 1: the story?
Speaker 3: End quote. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: As part of a signed confession, Ricky described in detail
Speaker 1: how he and Ray entered the Harvey's home and attacked them,
Speaker 1: in which he stated, quote, it was a real nasty scene.
Speaker 1: How am I supposed to explain something like what happened?
Speaker 1: I started cutting their throats and they kept getting up
Speaker 1: and they were scaring me. I remember seeing the hammer
Speaker 1: and picking it up, and then I was just hitting
Speaker 1: them all with the hammer.
Speaker 3: All I know is nobody.
Speaker 1: Was moving when I left out of there end quote.
Speaker 1: He admitted that Ray spent most of his time searching
Speaker 1: the home for items to steal, and that only he
Speaker 1: used the hammers to attack the Harvey's. So he pleads
Speaker 1: not guilty.
Speaker 2: That he pleads not guilty.
Speaker 3: Okay, so there's a trial.
Speaker 1: He stipulated at trial that Brian's wedding ring, as well
Speaker 1: as a cookie plate and a basket from the Harvey's
Speaker 1: home were discovered in a location that he provided to police,
Speaker 1: and police also recovered from him a computer stone from
Speaker 1: the Harvey's home. He also stipulated that the boots found
Speaker 1: at the residence in Philadelphia belonged to him, and that's
Speaker 1: important because Brian and Stell's bloodstains were discovered on the boots. Okay,
Speaker 1: the Commonwealth, because this takes place in Virginia, also introduced
Speaker 1: photographs of the dead bodies as exhibits during the trial,
Speaker 1: and the jury was permitted.
Speaker 3: To view them.
Speaker 1: So, after four days of trial, the jury returned a
Speaker 1: verdict of guilty as to all five capital murder counts,
Speaker 1: and the jury deliberated for thirty minutes, and then.
Speaker 3: He was sentenced to death.
Speaker 2: Good good, And in case.
Speaker 1: You're wondering what happened to Ray, he initially pleaded not
Speaker 1: guilty to four counts capital murder, but he eventually changed
Speaker 1: his plea to guilty on three of the four counts
Speaker 1: as part of an agreement to receive a life sentence
Speaker 1: without the possibility of parole. So this episode's going to
Speaker 1: be a little heavy about the trial and then the
Speaker 1: penalty phase, because I'm going to tell you some more
Speaker 1: about what happened before he was finally sentenced. But in
Speaker 1: the sentencing phase of Ricky's trial, the Commonwealth introduced evidence
Speaker 1: of Ricky's criminal record, including convictions for robbery in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six, distribution of cocaine in two thousand, and possession
Speaker 1: of cocaine in two thousand and two. Extensive evidence was
Speaker 1: also presented to show that Ricky had a history of
Speaker 1: violent crimes in the past. Lieutenant Daniel Stanek of the
Speaker 1: City of Washington, Pennsylvania Police Department, he testified about the
Speaker 1: discovery of Ricky's wife's body. Her name was Triva on
Speaker 1: November fifth, two thousand and five. Ricky was questioned at
Speaker 1: the time, but was not arrested for her murder. After
Speaker 1: his arrest for the murder of the Harveys in January
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, he also confessed to killing his wife,
Speaker 1: Treva Gray. She was thirty five years old, and Ray
Speaker 1: helped him murder Triva. Ray held her down.
Speaker 3: While Ricky beat her to death with a lead pipe.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 1: Her body was found in a shallow grave on Brookside
Speaker 1: Avenue in a suburb of Pittsburgh. I mentioned Washington, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: She and twenty eight year old Ricky had been married
Speaker 1: for six months before he killed her. Treva fought hard
Speaker 1: for her life, leaving deep clawing marks on Rickey's forearms,
Speaker 1: but the police initially didn't investigate her death like I
Speaker 1: told you, They assumed it was a drug overdose. After
Speaker 1: her body was found, her stepfather, John Squire's was convinced
Speaker 1: that Ricky and Ray had something to do with her death.
Speaker 1: Before they were arrested, John he had taken a month
Speaker 1: off of work because he felt like he needed to
Speaker 1: protect his family, so he barricaded his house at night
Speaker 1: and would lay awake believing that Ricky and Ray would
Speaker 1: be coming for him, his wife, and their three grandsons.
Speaker 1: Detective William Bretton of the Richmond Police Department described how
Speaker 1: also on January first, two thousand and six, this is
Speaker 1: the day that they killed the Harveys, detective learned of
Speaker 1: another set of murders committed in Richmond. Executing a search warrant,
Speaker 1: police discovered the dead bodies of fifty five year old
Speaker 1: percl Tucker, his forty six year old wife Mary, and
Speaker 1: Mary's twenty one year old daughter, Ashley Baskerville. They were
Speaker 1: all in their home and if you remember, Ashley had
Speaker 1: been in the car when Ricky and Ray were driving
Speaker 1: around looking for a house to rob.
Speaker 3: Earlier.
Speaker 1: The police identified Ashley as an accomplice in the Harvey
Speaker 1: murders because she was the lookout while the robbery murders occurred,
Speaker 1: and then she was actually a participant in the robbery
Speaker 1: of her own mother and stepfather.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 1: During that crime, Ashley posed as a victim alongside her
Speaker 1: mom and stepdad, but at some point Ricky said he
Speaker 1: grew tired of her and just decided to kill her too.
Speaker 1: Doctor Darrenchrelka, a medical examiner, testified that the autopsy revealed
Speaker 1: Perciel's head had been covered with saran wrap, with a
Speaker 1: sock stuffed into his mouth and duct tape shut. Perciell
Speaker 1: probably struggled for several minutes before he died from suffocation.
Speaker 1: Mary's mouth had been gagged with duct tape over her eyes,
Speaker 1: her neck and chest had been cut four times. Mary
Speaker 1: struggled several minutes before she.
Speaker 3: Died from suffocation.
Speaker 1: Ashley was found with a plastic shopping bag over her
Speaker 1: head and taped to her neck with duct tape. Her
Speaker 1: face was wrapped in duct tape and a sock with
Speaker 1: stuffed into her mouth, and she also struggled for several
Speaker 1: minutes before she died.
Speaker 3: From suffocation. What a fucking way to go.
Speaker 2: These assholes are monsters right to go out on a
Speaker 2: spree in anything. I mean, it doesn't even matter. Fucking
Speaker 2: beat someone with a pipe and I know it as
Speaker 2: a point honestly time, I don't give a fuck about
Speaker 2: what your childhood was about. I do not fucking care.
Speaker 2: It does not excuse this. I know you're gonna want
Speaker 2: well I was hurt, yeah, I know we all are,
Speaker 2: so don't.
Speaker 3: Right and wrong?
Speaker 2: Thank you?
Speaker 3: I mean yeah.
Speaker 1: Ricky's vehicle was discovered three blocks from the Tucker's home,
Speaker 1: and the Tucker's stolen vehicle was located in Philadelphia, where
Speaker 1: he was arrested. So he eventually, like I told you,
Speaker 1: confessed to murdering the Tucker family, and Brian Harvey's wedding
Speaker 1: band was found with Ashley's body. She was actually wearing it,
Speaker 1: that's where it was. Police also learned that Ricky assaulted
Speaker 1: a man in Arlington, Virginia on New Year's Eve two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, So the day before these murders happened,
Speaker 1: he assaulted this man and it was twenty six year
Speaker 1: old Ryan Carrey. At the sentencing phase of Ricky's trial,
Speaker 1: mister Carey testified that he arrived at his parents' home
Speaker 1: after work on December thirty first.
Speaker 3: And he was attacked by two men.
Speaker 1: He was forced to the ground and stabbed multiple times.
Speaker 1: Ryan escaped the assault and rushed to his father's home
Speaker 1: covered in blood. Ryan's father contacted emergency personnel who took
Speaker 1: Ryan to the hospital where his condition was stabilized. He
Speaker 1: ended up staying two months in the High Hospital, and
Speaker 1: he survived. He was able to return home, although he
Speaker 1: did lose the use of his.
Speaker 3: Right arm permanently.
Speaker 1: Wow Ricky confessed to assaulting Ryan with ray and stipulated
Speaker 1: that Ryan's blood.
Speaker 3: Was found on his boots.
Speaker 1: Also testifying at the penalley phase of the trial were
Speaker 1: Mark Harvey, who was Brian Harvey's older brother, and Stephen Coult,
Speaker 1: the man that I mentioned that was the actor Catherine's
Speaker 1: older brother. Each described a loving relationship with their sibling
Speaker 1: and devastating grief and the emotional impact of the murders
Speaker 1: that they had on them upon them and they extended families.
Speaker 1: So Ricky offers evidence into mitigation, including his mother's testimony
Speaker 1: describing his childhood and home life. His mother was named
Speaker 1: Barbara Mowten, and she discovered how she established a connection
Speaker 1: between Ricky and his natural father, Ellsworth, when Ricky was
Speaker 1: a baby. She later married Ellsworth and moved with him
Speaker 1: to Maryland along with their two children and two of
Speaker 1: Ellsworth's children from another relationship. In school, Ricky struggled to
Speaker 1: learn to read. He was hyper and disruptive in the classroom,
Speaker 1: and he received spankings with a horse strap from Ellsworth
Speaker 1: yeah when the school reported Ricky was disruptive in class.
Speaker 1: She Assel told of how Ricky wet himself most nights
Speaker 1: until he was about thirteen, and that resulted in beatings
Speaker 1: from Ellsworth. She described instances of sexual abuse of two
Speaker 1: of the children, and it was Ricky and his sister
Speaker 1: by a friend of Ellsworth. Ricky's mom said the Army
Speaker 1: transferred her for a year to the state of Washington,
Speaker 1: but Ricky remained in Maryland with his father and stepbrother
Speaker 1: and his sister. During that time, Ellsworth became a cocaine addict.
Speaker 1: Upon Mary's return from Washington, she also learned that Ellsworth's son, Fitzgerald,
Speaker 1: had been sexually abusing Ricky, although he refused to talk
Speaker 1: about the abuse with his mom. Later, Ellsworth was arrested
Speaker 1: and jailed and drug charges. She then moved the family
Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania for a new start, and Ricky left home
Speaker 1: when he was seventeen. Ricky's sister Ava also testified about
Speaker 1: repeated instances of sexual abuse upon her and Ricky by Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1: She also described him being victimized by Fitzgerald when he
Speaker 1: was only four and that such experiences were a regular
Speaker 1: thing over the course of seven years. She also testified
Speaker 1: that Ricky started to use drugs when he was thirteen
Speaker 1: and was a user of marijuana, cocaine, and PCP.
Speaker 2: PCP, PCP, Where do you get your hair out of
Speaker 2: fucking choices? Oh my gosh, PCP. We've heard the stories
Speaker 2: sexual abuse. Yeah, definitely can lead to crime and a
Speaker 2: plethora of other things. But here's something that I have
Speaker 2: never you had a fucking seek out PCP. Are you
Speaker 2: been kidding me? That's not on your menu. I can
Speaker 2: see your crack, your coke, your whatever, your basic street drugs.
Speaker 2: But PCP, Mmm, you wanted to destruct and you wanted
Speaker 2: to destroy because no one, that's not a fun drug
Speaker 2: to be on. The one story I heard the one
Speaker 2: woman she I think they killed someone and then ate
Speaker 2: some of their flesh, and they would say, I would
Speaker 2: never have done that, And I smoke a little weed
Speaker 2: now and again, never on.
Speaker 4: Any kind of the PCP. You don't fuck with you kidding.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, right, Oh my gosh, Yeah, Oh he did
Speaker 2: PC yeah, PCP. Then he was looking for it. He
Speaker 2: was looking for trouble. You're looking for trouble when you
Speaker 2: do drugs, and you'll find it to me as a
Speaker 2: whole other level, like no weaving way I know.
Speaker 1: Also presented as mitigating evidence was the videotaped deposition of
Speaker 1: doctor David Lysik, a psychologist and expert on the impact
Speaker 1: of child abuse and the relationship between earlier trauma and
Speaker 1: the perpetration of violence. Doctor Lysik offered his opinion on
Speaker 1: the general effect of early childhood abuse. He also presented
Speaker 1: the opinion of doctor Mark Cunningham, who was a clinical
Speaker 1: and forensic psychologist, who opined that Ricky was quote likely
Speaker 1: to make a positive adjustment to prison or an adjustment
Speaker 1: that is free of serious violence. Doctor Cunningham's conclusions were
Speaker 1: based in part on the fact that Ricky was nearly
Speaker 1: thirty years old and that his quote likelihood of getting
Speaker 1: into trouble in prison is only about half as much
Speaker 1: as when he was eighteen or twenty years old, and
Speaker 1: continues to fall steadily across the lifespan end quote. Doctor
Speaker 1: Cunningham noted Ricky's history of incarceration and how he had
Speaker 1: avoided violent encounters in prison, how he had used his
Speaker 1: prison time to earn a ged, and how he had
Speaker 1: earned additional education, including courses on sheet metal business and
Speaker 1: electrical work. In response to Ricky's mitigating evidence, the Commonwealth
Speaker 1: produced the testimony of Officer James Jonas of the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Police Department, who tested about the search and Ricky's arrest
Speaker 1: on January seventh, two thousand and six. Officer Jonas explained
Speaker 1: that during the execution of the warrant to arrest him,
Speaker 1: he discovered Ricky hiding in an unlit basement, crouched behind
Speaker 1: a water heater. Officer Jonas described how Ricky had smirked
Speaker 1: at him when he asked to show his hands, and
Speaker 1: that Ricky had refused to show one of his hands,
Speaker 1: which Officer Jonas identified as a potentially threatening gesture. Officer
Speaker 1: Jonas explained how in the attempt to secure Ricky, Ricky punched.
Speaker 3: Him and resisted arrest.
Speaker 1: Ricky also assaulted Officer Jonas's partner and attempted to grab
Speaker 1: the officer's gun. After multiple punches were exchanged, the officers
Speaker 1: were eventually able to secure and handcuff Ricky. Ricky was
Speaker 1: eventually also indicted in December of two thousand and six
Speaker 1: for the murder of Sheryl Warner, who was found shot
Speaker 1: and hanged with an electrical cord in her basement. The
Speaker 1: mother of three's body was found after firefighters arrived to
Speaker 1: her home that had been set on fire.
Speaker 2: Like yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Ricky pleaded not guilty, and the charges were eventually suspended
Speaker 1: in June two thousand and eight due to contradictory evidence.
Speaker 3: So I'm believing that the.
Speaker 1: Prosecutor didn't feel like they had enough evidence to continue. So,
Speaker 1: as I told you, Ricky gets convicted, he gets sentenced
Speaker 1: to death, and he tried several times to appeal his case,
Speaker 1: and in twenty sixteen at the Supreme Court, he did
Speaker 1: appeal to the Supreme Court and they declined to hear
Speaker 1: his case. After his execution was stayed in March twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen to allow for that appeal.
Speaker 3: His lawyers tried to argue that the.
Speaker 1: Lethal injection, which was the execution means in Virginia, amounted
Speaker 1: to cruel and unusual punishment, violating Ricky's constitutional rights. One
Speaker 1: of the biggest points of their argument was that one
Speaker 1: of the drugs that was being used, called mita zolam,
Speaker 1: equated to chemical torture and that a firing squad would
Speaker 1: have been more humane. Prior to his execution day, Virginian's
Speaker 1: Alternatives to the Death Penalty released an eighteen minute video
Speaker 1: which was created by Ricky's legal team, where Ricky expressed
Speaker 1: apologies for the deaths of the Harvey family. In the
Speaker 1: beginning of the video, Ricky states, quote, I've stolen something
Speaker 1: from the world. It's never left my mind because I
Speaker 1: understand exactly what I took from the world by looking
Speaker 1: at my two sisters. I reminded each time I talk
Speaker 1: and I see them that this is what I took
Speaker 1: from the world. You know, the potential for greatness in
Speaker 1: those kids.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 1: Eventually, he was executed on January eighteenth, twenty seventeen. His
Speaker 1: final word was nope when asked if he had any
Speaker 1: final words, and he declined a final meal. An independent expert,
Speaker 1: doctor Mark Edgar, analyzed Ricky's autopsy after his death. Doctor Edgar,
Speaker 1: who was the Associate director of Bone and Soft Tissue
Speaker 1: Pathology at the emer University School of Medicine, stated Ricky
Speaker 1: had an acute pulmonary edema during his execution, with liquid
Speaker 1: in his upper airways and blood entered his lungs before death.
Speaker 1: He said, quote. The anatomic changes described in Ricky Gray's
Speaker 1: lungs are more often seen in the aftermath of a
Speaker 1: sarin gas attack than in a routine hospital autopsy. The
Speaker 1: way of dying is intolerable. You can't control your breathing,
Speaker 1: and when this is severe, you can experience panic and terror.
Speaker 1: And if the individual was in any way aware of
Speaker 1: what was happening to them, it would be unbearable.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 1: He pointed to that drug mida lozam, which is a sedative.
Speaker 1: It's meant to cause unconsciousness during the execution, but it's
Speaker 1: actually used in medical procedures as a low level sedation
Speaker 1: because it doesn't cause full unconsciousness. Okay, Ray Dandridge is
Speaker 1: still serving his sentence at the Sussex to State Prison
Speaker 1: in Virginia. He's currently forty eight. I'm going to end
Speaker 1: this on a more positive note though, and say that
Speaker 1: there have been many philanthropic causes that came out.
Speaker 3: Of the Harvey's deaths.
Speaker 1: The Brian and Catherine Harvey Family Memorial Endowment it provides music,
Speaker 1: visual art, and performing arts and Richmond in the Richmond area,
Speaker 1: which may include, but is not limited to, educational scholarships.
Speaker 1: Ruby's Preschool, the second Presbyterian Childcare Center in Richmond, had
Speaker 1: an annual run in which donations were used to sponsor
Speaker 1: other children at the school, like pay their costs.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it's still going on, but it
Speaker 1: happened at least four years. Stella's Elementary School, the William
Speaker 1: Fox Elementary School in Richmond, dedicated its new children's garden
Speaker 1: in her memory. The city of Richmond dedicated the Harvey
Speaker 1: Family Memorial Bridge on September nineteenth, twenty ten, in the
Speaker 1: Forest Hill Park.
Speaker 4: Wow, that isn't story.
Speaker 1: I always find like these death punty cases fascinating, and
Speaker 1: it's because, like you said earlier, I don't give a
Speaker 1: fuck how much the person suffers in their execution. I
Speaker 1: really don't, because I think back like, I hope he
Speaker 1: was terrified. I'm saying this like and I know it's
Speaker 1: probably some people are appalled, but I can only imagine
Speaker 1: the terror that any member of the Harvey family experienced,
Speaker 1: especially those children. And I don't know who was killed first.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was Brian or Catherine or
Speaker 1: the children. To me, it sounded like the parents were
Speaker 1: murdered first. Can you imagine sitting there, tied up with
Speaker 1: mouth on your face, and you're four years old and
Speaker 1: you're watching somebody beat your parents and your sister to death.
Speaker 1: I don't know who, I don't know the order, but
Speaker 1: those family members watched each other die a violent and
Speaker 1: brutal death, and I'm sure.
Speaker 3: They were terrified.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I really don't have any sympathy for.
Speaker 2: When you said that, Oh, they said that a firing
Speaker 2: squad would be more whatever it fucking about, some electrical wire,
Speaker 2: some dull knives and a claw hammer in twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: that'll be more humane. If you want to talk about humanity,
Speaker 2: you get humanity when you give humanity.
Speaker 1: Or let's yeah, I have you do that, and then
Speaker 1: you're not quite dead because one of the children died
Speaker 1: from smoke in elation.
Speaker 2: Yes that I Oh, we'll.
Speaker 1: Just set something on fire next to your dying body. Also,
Speaker 1: and let you experience.
Speaker 2: That, so every second of your passing you are in
Speaker 2: a terrified state of mind. As a child, I don't
Speaker 2: give a fuck about your injection. Whoever your name is.
Speaker 2: It's like, he's so disgusting, ricky whatever, I don't even
Speaker 2: fucking care. I know stories like this.
Speaker 1: You know, it's easy to say how sorry you are afterward.
Speaker 1: He was twenty eight. Okay, he's not a kid, and
Speaker 1: not that it would make any difference if he was,
Speaker 1: you know, eighteen as opposed to twenty eight, but you've
Speaker 1: lived a little bit when you're twenty eight, you know,
Speaker 1: And yeah, his childhood was extremely fucked up, whether he
Speaker 1: was you know, being abused physically, sexually, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: and then spent life spiraling because he was taking drugs
Speaker 1: to probably dull the pain in whatever choice.
Speaker 4: Choice, choice choice.
Speaker 2: That's what you're responsible for. Your choice here.
Speaker 1: There's plenty of people in this world that, you know,
Speaker 1: start off with horrible, horrendous childhoods, you know, physically, sexual
Speaker 1: abuse everything, and become drug addicts, and they managed to
Speaker 1: turn their lives around. You know, maybe not everyone, but.
Speaker 2: There's a way out there, there's a way, the path
Speaker 2: that you've chosen there's always going to be a way
Speaker 2: to get off that path you chose to rock steady
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so aria there.
Speaker 2: And burn in hell. If you believe in hell, you're there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just And it's not only the Harvey family,
Speaker 1: and I know that was a big focus on my story,
Speaker 1: but it's also his wife. It's also Ashley and her
Speaker 1: mom and her stepdad and then so that's eight people
Speaker 1: right there, and then Ryan carry who got attacked. That's
Speaker 1: nine people's lives. And thankfully Ryan made it out of live.
Speaker 1: But eight people lost their lives for what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, goal for a computer, for a laptop, for a ring?
Speaker 2: What the fuck? Who you? I have just zero sympathy.
Speaker 1: For any Yeah, and why couldn't you crying to me.
Speaker 2: About how this about your childhood? I don't want to
Speaker 2: hear it. We all come out with a cross to carry.
Speaker 3: So figure it out one way or another.
Speaker 1: Exactly right, And you know, you could have just robbed
Speaker 1: the house and thank you, exactly left and he went
Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania. It's not like he stuck around. They stuck
Speaker 1: around in Virginia. So it's like you could have you
Speaker 1: could have left and probably gotten away with it.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know. It was two thousand
Speaker 3: and six.
Speaker 1: I don't know how sophisticated they really and put out
Speaker 1: an APB for somebody robbing a house and make it
Speaker 1: and it makes its way to fucking Philadelphia or wherever.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It just it really, it's stupid. It's a stupid crime.
Speaker 1: It's it's unnecessary. The level of violence that this family
Speaker 1: and these other people all experienced, suffocating to death with
Speaker 1: the fucking tape wrapped around your face and surandom and
Speaker 1: then here's.
Speaker 4: The attorney for him.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a little bit much.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this injection, that's a little much.
Speaker 2: Is it a little much?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh no, yeah, Oh it's cruel and unusual.
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, boy, cruel and unusual.
Speaker 2: Well, that sounding to me like iye for an eye
Speaker 2: kind of punishment, And if I can make it worse,
Speaker 2: I would, right, Yeah, What could I do to you
Speaker 2: that would fulfill any kind of satisfaction of what you took?
Speaker 4: That will never come back?
Speaker 2: But you're here, get the fuck out of my sight, exactly.
Speaker 1: I just for as liberal as I am, I don't
Speaker 1: have any problem with the death penalty. The only I
Speaker 1: have with the death penalty is that sometimes innocent people
Speaker 1: really are convicted and then absolutely death And yeah, that's
Speaker 1: when the death penalty is a bad thing and it's happened,
Speaker 1: and we've done stories about it, and it's it's really
Speaker 1: really tragic when that happens.
Speaker 3: But like Ricky, he fucking confessed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like when then we were saying about his
Speaker 2: when he was like, I don't know the next thing.
Speaker 2: I know, I'm not stopping right, I don't like that.
Speaker 2: This crazy the devil, the devil man, I don't know.
Speaker 2: The devils just overtook me. Oh you mean yourself. You're
Speaker 2: both sides of the same coin, fucking idiot.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: So I have not heard and actually I haven't even
Speaker 2: heard of anybody being in a death penalty, Like you
Speaker 2: know how they usually give an announcement like someone's about
Speaker 2: to be this evening or but a lot has happened
Speaker 2: since two thousand and six, so I can I'm gonna
Speaker 2: forgive myself for not being able to pull it from my.
Speaker 1: Memory, right right, Yeah, I know. Plus I don't really
Speaker 1: watch the news, so I'm sure I was in law
Speaker 1: school in two thousand and six, so I'm my whole
Speaker 1: life is a blur from back then.
Speaker 3: But it was just one big, long, horrible day.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but that was a really good story, tie,
Speaker 2: and I appreciate. I do like to know about them
Speaker 2: and then like, lets me know, I when I listen
Speaker 2: to like our stories, I'm always surprised about what I
Speaker 2: find about myself, you know, like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 2: am so enraged on my own personal Like there's the
Speaker 2: physical walk and then your spiritual walk, and sometimes those
Speaker 2: two are hard to reconcile together.
Speaker 3: Yes, you don't understand.
Speaker 2: So that's a lot of growth, and that's you know, I.
Speaker 1: Do want to become that person that is like forgiving,
Speaker 1: you know, because a lot of these stories that we've done,
Speaker 1: like family members who have who have had someone in
Speaker 1: their family like murdered, and they'll they'll forgive the murderer.
Speaker 3: I'm not there. I could not.
Speaker 1: I'm a person. I'm not that spiritual of a person.
Speaker 1: I guess where I can find it in my heart.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of times people forgive because
Speaker 1: they don't want that hate in their heart, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's a heavy burden to live with too.
Speaker 2: It's insatiable. Hate is insatiable.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I could make it there. I
Speaker 1: think the hate would probably consume me and probably destroy.
Speaker 4: How it easily.
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh it's ferocious, that hate appetite.
Speaker 1: Maybe one day I'll become you know, I'll be on
Speaker 1: that spiritual plane where I'll be like, you know, oh,
Speaker 1: they deserve forgiveness. But right now I'm like, no, he
Speaker 1: deserved to suffer whatever he suffered in the probably three
Speaker 1: minutes it took for him to die. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know for sure how long it took because I
Speaker 1: didn't read that part. But whatever, if it took ten minutes,
Speaker 1: I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 4: You know, I do not hear it.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's irrelevant his Yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it sure took a lot longer than ten minutes.
Speaker 1: I'm sure to kill that whole family, right and.
Speaker 2: For Ruby or Stella, which of the two had to
Speaker 2: suffer her wounds until she was succumbed to the smoke
Speaker 2: that it shouldn't even know that? And to hear his
Speaker 2: attorneys talk about cruel and unusual, I just want to
Speaker 2: go after his attorney now too. Oh dare you hear you?
Speaker 4: Pristella Arubi? You fucking twat all?
Speaker 2: Right? You spoke upon this.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, ah, yeah, those are cases I could
Speaker 1: never never do. Oh speaking of lawyers, did you happen
Speaker 1: to hear that Sean Comb's Diddy his lawyer quit. No, Yeah,
Speaker 1: He's like yeah, I forget the quote, but it was
Speaker 1: basically like, I can't be any part of this any longer.
Speaker 1: And I was talking about it with my daughter and
Speaker 1: I'm like, and you know, Diddy is so rich that
Speaker 1: his lawyer could make an ass ton of money and
Speaker 1: for his lawyer quit, you know there's some shit going down.
Speaker 2: Oh he's the pig. I mean, his downfall has been
Speaker 2: a long time coming.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm just like, ooh, some lawyers, you know, can
Speaker 1: put it aside and be like, Okay, I'm making money,
Speaker 1: I'm doing my job. I'm defending someone. You know, everybody
Speaker 1: deserves a defense, blah blah blah, and you know, but
Speaker 1: this lawyer was like, I can't do it. I can't
Speaker 1: take any more. So I could never become like a
Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney. I just couldn't like even like small crimes, fine,
Speaker 1: drunk driving whatever, whatever. Yeah, when you get to like
Speaker 1: Diddy's level, I.
Speaker 4: Could not, Oh my gosh, no, he needs and everybody.
Speaker 1: I'll preface that is saying everybody is in a sentence
Speaker 1: of proven guilty. He's not been convicted yet, so anyway, but.
Speaker 2: Right here he's convicted.
Speaker 4: Breens convicted him, locked him up.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Well, thank you Shannon for listening. Thank you everyone
Speaker 1: for listening to our latest episode. Before you turn off
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Speaker 3: It's really it.
Speaker 2: It's like.
Speaker 4: You're done, love squeezy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So anyway, well, thank you again, and I will see
Speaker 1: you later. Shannon, so I
Speaker 2: Will see you, love you, love you Bye.