News Staff Report
Domineque Ray, sentenced in 1999 to die for the 1995 rape and murder of a Selma teen and also convicted of shooting two other Selma teens to death, paid the ultimate price for his crimes when he was executed by lethal injection last Thursday, February 7, at Holman Correctional Facility.
Ray had gained a temporary stay of execution from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after complaining that his rights were violated by the refusal of Alabama Department of Corrections officials to allow his Muslim imam to be present in the death chamber with him.
But the U.S. Supreme Court found by a 5-4 margin that Ray’s appeal on religious grounds had come too late, and the execution, originally set for 6 p.m., was delayed only about four hours. Ray was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m.
His final words were reportedly, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the prophet.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall issued a brief statement that indicated he was glad to see justice finally served.
“For 20 years, Domineque Ray has successfully eluded execution for the barbaric murder of a 15-year-old Selma girl,” Marshall said. “In 1995, Ray brutally deprived young Tiffany Harville of her life, repeatedly stabbing and raping her before leaving her body in a cotton field. A jury gave him a death sentence for this heinous crime. A year before, Ray had also taken the lives of two teenage brothers, Reinhard and Earnest Mabins. Tonight, Ray’s long-delayed appointment with justice is finally met.”
Ray was reportedly buried in an Islamic ceremony in Mobile.