Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990                   TAG: 9004120775
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WRONGLY CONVICTED MAN PARDONED AFTER 3 YEARS

Wilder granted the pardon to Russell L. Gray shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday after spending much of the day reviewing the case and consulting with legal aides.

Laura Dillard, the governor's press secretary, said Wilder acted as quickly as possible after another man, Michael S. Harvey, was convicted of the slaying Tuesday.

Gray, 24, was charged with fatally shooting Carl William Martindale, 33, outside an apartment building in June 1986. A jury convicted Gray of first-degree murder in January 1987 and he was sentenced to 52 years in prison.

But Harvey, 27, confessed to the shooting nearly three years later, and a police investigation corroborated his story. Under a plea agreement, Harvey was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and will be sentenced next month.

Learned Barry, the deputy commonwealth's attorney who prosecuted Gray, and Carey Bowen, Gray's attorney, sought the pardon after Harvey's confession.

The slaying occurred on June 30, 1986, when Robert Wilkes, Martindale's friend, got into an argument on a playground basketball court. Hard feelings led to a confrontation about 9:40 p.m. outside the apartment building.

When a scuffle broke out, Martindale fired a pistol in the air to break it up. Harvey, thinking Martindale was firing at his friends, drew his pistol and shot him twice in the neck; Martindale died eight days later.

Afterward, Wilkes viewed police photos and twice mistakenly identified Gray as the gunman, and was the prosecution's key witness.

Bowen, unconvinced, talked again with witnesses, who identified Harvey as the assailant. Confronted, Harvey confessed, despite earlier giving a sworn statement and testifying that he wasn't involved.