Jimmy Lee Gray: A Tale of Evil, Crime and the End of the Gas Chamber
- dthholland
- May 2
- 6 min read
In the early hours of 2 September 1983, a man named Jimmy Lee Gray sat strapped to a metal chair in Mississippi’s gas chamber. Within minutes, he would become the first person executed in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. What happened in that chamber would shock witnesses, provoke national outrage, and ultimately lead to a historic change in how Mississippi carried out executions. But to understand how Gray arrived at that moment, we need to go back to the horrific crimes that marked his life.
Early Life and Education
Jimmy Lee Gray was born on 25 September 1948 in Whittier, California, to Lee R. Gray and Verna D. Gray (née Hamilton). He grew up alongside an older brother, Richard, who was two years his senior. Gray attended Sierra High School in Whittier and graduated in 1966. Nothing in his early life seemed to suggest he would later become one of the most notorious figures in American criminal justice history.
The Murder of Elda Louise Prince
Gray’s descent into violent crime began just two years after finishing school. In 1968, while living in Parker, Arizona, 19-year-old Gray murdered his 16-year-old girlfriend, Elda Louise Prince. The brutality of the killing was horrifying: he strangled her, cut her throat, and left her body in a culvert near a railway. Gray even joined the search party once Elda was reported missing, a gesture that quickly raised suspicions among police. When investigators noticed that the pattern on his shoes matched footprints at the scene, Gray eventually led deputies to her body, buried near the Colorado River.
He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life. However, after serving only seven years, Gray was released on parole in 1975. He soon relocated to Mississippi. Within a year, he would kill again, this time a child.
The Killing of Deressa Jean Scales
On 25 June 1976, three-year-old Deressa Jean Scales was sent out to play near her family home in Mississippi. Her neighbour, Jimmy Lee Gray, had cats that she often visited. That day, Gray lured the child into his car under the pretence of letting her play with them. Gray stated that he initially had innocent intentions, but realised he would get in trouble for taking her away in his car. Following this, he took her to a wooded area near her house decided to murder Deressa by pushing her face in mud, but not before sexually assaulting her by anal penetration. He then threw her body off a bridge. Internal examination later revealed mud in the Deressa's mouth, windpipe, and air sacs in the lungs. The lungs themselves contained air, which indicated that the child had not drowned.
When Deressa failed to return, Mrs. Scales went out looking for her; however, Deressa could not be found and Mrs. Scales called the police. Due to Deressa being known to frequently visit Gray's apartment to play with his cats, he was seen as a high priority suspect. The police found him at the Colonel Dixie Hamburger restaurant on Highway 90, where his "live-in" girlfriend worked. He was asked to accompany the officers to the apartment complex where he and the Scales lived for the purpose of pointing out to them where he had last seen Deressa. En route, it was decided that a statement should be taken from Gray and, after giving him the Miranda warnings, he was taken to the police station. While driving to the station, or when they arrived at the station, the exact moment being unclear, the police submitted information on Gray through the National Crime Information Center computer system and received a reply reflecting a "hit", indicating that Gray was wanted for some criminal offense. This information (which later turned out to be incorrect) was received at approximately 1:00 a.m. on the morning of June 26. A further statement of the Miranda warnings was given to Gray, but a brief preliminary interrogation provided to be unfruitful. However, as the officers and Gray were ascending in the lift, Gray spontaneously said,
"If I take you to her will you help me?"
No offer of help was made to Gray but he offered to take the officers to where he had left Deressa. Needless to say, this offer was accepted and Gray and the officers were directed by Gray to the place where he had left the child.
Trial and Sentencing
Gray was tried and convicted in December 1976. Though his conviction was briefly overturned on procedural grounds, the Mississippi Supreme Court later reaffirmed the sentence in 1978. He was sentenced to death.
Perhaps most unusually, his own mother supported the decision. In a public plea, she urged the state not to show her son any mercy. Letters were sent to the court and Governor Cliff Finch, asking for his execution to proceed. Her distress reflected the sheer gravity of his crimes.
Execution and the End of the Gas Chamber
Gray’s final meal was substantial: burritos, enchiladas, refried beans, rice, strawberries, salad, milk—and pizza brought in by visiting ministers. He reportedly ate “heartily” and participated in a final communion before the execution.
On 2 September 1983, Gray was led into Mississippi’s gas chamber—the first person to be executed by the state in nearly two decades. It was also the first time the gas chamber had been used since 1964. The chamber itself was primitive: a steel pole ran vertically behind the chair, with no restraint for the inmate’s head.
Given the opportunity to make a final statement, he declined. At 12:10am, the lever was pulled dropping cyanide pellets into sulfuric acid beneath his chair. The following reaction produced a plume of hydrogen cyanide gas that rose upwards around Gray. As Gray began breathing in the toxic gas, he began making faces of discomfort, eventually turning to grotesque contortions of distress. By the 1 minute mark, his head slumped forward. Shortly after this, he suddenly threw his head back, bashing it into the metal bar behind the chair. He then began thrashing his head around, striking the iron bar repeatedly. Each time he did this, an audible clang would be heard in the witness room. He gasped, and convulsed strenuously. He stiffened. His head lurched back. His eyes widened, and he strained as much as the straps that held him to the chair would allow. He unquestionably appeared to be in pain. As the execution approached the 8-minute mark, Gray's eyes were rolled in the back of his head and his mouth was foaming. Officials decided to clear the observation room at 12:18 am after the gas had been released, because of Gray's injuries. Gray was pronounced dead a few minutes later.
According to a witness testimony by Dr. Traystman
"Within 30 seconds he lifted his head upwards again. He raised his entire body, arching, tugging at his straps. Saliva was oozing from his mouth. His eyes open, he turned his head to the right. He gazed through my window. His fingers were tightly gripping his thumbs. His chest was visibly heaving in sickening agony. Then he tilted his head higher, and rolled his eyes upward. Then he slumped forward. Still his heart was beating. It continued for another several minutes. He was pronounced dead, twelve minutes after the pellets were released, by the doctor who could hear his heart through the stethoscope, die"
The decision to clear the room was sharply criticised by Dennis Balske, Gray's lawyer
"Jimmy Lee Gray died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas chamber while reporters counted his moans (eleven, not nearly enough according to the Associated Press)".
Traystman further testified that the lethal-gas method is sufficiently painful that it is disfavoured in the scientific community as a way of putting animals to sleep. "We would not use asphyxiation, by cyanide gas or by any other substance, in our laboratory to kill animals that have been used in experiments—nor would most medical research laboratories in this country use it"
The botched execution sparked outrage and prompted legislative change. In 1984, Mississippi passed a law making lethal injection the default method of execution for all cases after 1 July that year. Although three more inmates were still executed using gas in subsequent years, the state’s gas chamber was officially decommissioned in 1998.
