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| Robert Ray |
AURORA | The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last week that prosecutors could continue to withhold from Robert Ray’s defense team the addresses of witnesses who testified against the reputed drug dealer who now sits on Death Row.
In an opinion handed down April 25, the high court ruled that Ray still posed a threat to the witnesses and that details about the witnesses should be protected during the appeals phase of his case.
Arapahoe County prosecutors announced the ruling Wednesday morning.
With the ruling, the high court overruled a decision by a district court judge that said the information should be shared with Ray’s defense team.
Ray was convicted in 2009 of ordering the killing of Javad Marshall-Fields in June 2005 to stop Marshall-Fields from testifying against Ray in a 2004 murder case. Marshall-Fields’ fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, was also killed when Ray’s friend, Sir Mario Owens, fired several rounds into Marshall-Fields’ car.
Like Ray, Owens was also sentenced to death.
Both men are appealing their sentences.
Perish Carter, the man police say drove Owens the night of the slayings, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder last year and sentenced to 70 years in prison.
Click below for a timeline of events in the case.
Timeline of tragedy
The cases against Robert Ray, Sir Mario Owens and Perish Carter span almost seven years and three murders, including the ambush killing of a murder witness and his fiancée.
July 2004
• Gregory Vann is shot to death following a Fourth of July barbecue at Lowry Park. Javad Marshall-Fields and Vann’s brother, Elvin Bell are also shot, but survive their injuries. Police say Sir Mario Owens, then 20, was Vann’s killer and Robert Keith Ray, then 19, also fired a gun that night and drove the getaway car. Both Ray and Owens have lengthy criminal records and reportedly are tied to the Gangster Disciples street gang.
• Police arrest Ray on murder charges nine days after the killing. Marshall-Fields had picked Ray out of a lineup as the man who drove the getaway car after the Lowry Park killing.
September 2004
• Ray posts bail and is released from jail.
June 2005
• Days before he is set to testify against Ray in the Lowry Park killing, Marshall-Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, are gunned down on an Aurora street. Hours before the shooting, Marshall-Fields reportedly told his sister that he had been threatened by Ray’s friends and was told not to testify against Ray.
• Ray’s trial in the Lowry Park shooting is put on hold after the murder of Marshall-Fields, who was a key witness for the prosecution. Ray is not named a suspect in the witness killing, but police said they expected evidence to tie him to it.
September 2005
• Perish Ramone Carter is arrested on charges he threatened Marshall-Fields the day before Marshall-Fields was murdered. The arresting officer claimed Carter offered him $200,000 to let him escape.
August 2005
• Ray’s wife, LaToya Sailor-Ray, is arrested on accessory to murder charges related to the Lowry Park killing. Sailor-Ray is also charged with drugs and weapons violations. Prosecutors say she helped Ray and Owens destroy evidence the night of the killing.
October 2005
• Ray’s sister-in-law, Divinia Ilene Ray is arrested and charged with accessory to murder charges related to the Lowry Park killing. Prosecutors said she allowed Ray to hide the getaway car at her house.
• Police name Owens a suspect in the Lowry Park killing and issue a warrant for his arrest. Officers begin hunting for Owens and said he may have fled the state.
November 2005
• Intimidation charges against Carter are initially dropped. Prosecutors said they would continue to investigate.
• Police in Shreveport, La. arrest Owens after he runs from police trying to stop him for driving with loud music. Owens has a handgun when he is arrested. After fighting extradition, Owens is brought back to Colorado to stand trial for Vann’s murder.
December 2005
• Ray’s wife and sister-in-law agree to testify against Ray’s in his murder trial. In exchange for their testimony, charges against Sailor-Ray and Divinia Ilene Ray are dropped and they are placed in witness protection.
• Percy Alvin Carter Sr., 45, is arrested on accessory to murder charges related to the Lowry Park killing. Carter Sr. is Ray’s stepfather and Carter’s father. Prosecutors say he helped Owens and Ray get rid of the guns used in the Lowry Park shootings. He also faces drug charges.
March 2006
• A grand jury hands down a 23-count indictment against Ray, Owens and Carter that alleges the three men killed Marshall-Fields and Wolfe. The first-degree murder charges are handed down nine months after the gruesome killings.
October 2006
• Ray goes on trial for murder in the Lowry Park shooting. During the three-week trial, Ray’s sister-in-law, wife and brother take the stand for the prosecution. The only witness Ray’s defense team calls is Ray himself. He testifies that he drove the getaway car and that if he is guilty of anything, it is accessory to murder.
November 2006
• A jury convicts Ray of five counts, including attempted murder, but acquits him of Vann’s murder.
• Percy Carter is sentenced to 30 years in prison on drug charges and four years in prison for accessory to a crime.
• Ray and Owens plead not guilty to killing Marshall-Fields and Wolfe. Carter does not enter a plea after his lawyer reveals he has only a third-grade education and may be mentally retarded. A judge orders a competency exam for Carter.
January 2007
• Owens goes on trial for murder in the Lowry Park shooting and a jury convicts him of first-degree murder. The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
February 2007
• A judge sentences Ray to 108 years in prison for his role in the Lowry Park shootings. The maximum sentence virtually guarantees Ray will spend the rest of his life in prison.
• District Attorney Carol Chambers announces she plans to seek the death penalty against Ray and Owens in the Marshall-Fields and Wolfe killings.
March 2007
• Following a competency exam at the state mental hospital, doctors rule that Carter is fit to stand trial.
• Nicole Sue Beal, 23, a civilian employee at the Arapahoe County Jail, is fired after investigators say she had inappropriate contact with Ray while he was an inmate. Beal had a knife on her when investigators contacted her at the jail, but it wasn’t clear if there was a connection between Ray and the knife.
May 2007
• Prosecutors announce they will not seek the death penalty against Carter. Citing the gag order in the case, prosecutors say they can’t elaborate on why they came to their decision.
June 2007
• Aurora police Detective Gretchen Fronapfel, the lead investigator in the Marshall-Fields and Wolfe killings, is named Colorado’s officer of the year by the Colorado Chiefs of Police Association.
March 2008
• Jury selection begins in Owens’ trial. Owens’ lawyers argue throughout the trial that Owens wasn’t the gunman and it was in fact a hired gun from Ray’s hometown of Chicago who killed Marshall-Fields and Wolfe. Prosecutors however present a mountain of evidence, including Owens’ DNA on a hat left at the scene and comments he made after the killings.
May 2008
• Owens is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder after a trial that lasts more than a month. The verdict comes down on May 14, the three year anniversary of Marshall-Fields’ graduation from college.
June 2008
• After a sentencing phase that lasts about a month and includes testimony from Owens’ mother as well as friends and family from his hometown of Shreveport, jurors recommend death for Owens. Jurors deliberated for less than a day before reaching the verdict.
December 2008
• At a formal sentencing hearing, Judge Gerald Rafferty sentences Owens to death. His initial death date is scheduled for March 2009, though that date passes quietly as Owens’ appeals work their way through the courts. The other person on Colorado’s Death Row has been there for more than 15 years.
April 2009
• After numerous delays, Ray’s trial begins. During the trial, Ray’s defense team argues that Owens killed Marshall-Fields and Wolfe on his own, not at the direction of Ray. But prosecutors say Ray ordered the slayings because he didn’t want to risk going to prison and losing his $40,000-per-month cocaine business.
May 2009
• A jury convicts Ray of two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say in their closing arguments that Owens was “essentially a loaded gun in Robert Ray’s hands.”
June 2009
• The same jury that convicted Ray says he deserves the Death Penalty for his crimes. During Ray’s sentencing hearing, his family and friends from Chicago testify about his rough childhood in a violent neighborhood in the city’s South Side. Ray takes the stand at the end of the hearing and asks the jury for mercy.
July 2009
• The first of Ray’s formal sentencing hearings is delayed amid motions from his defense team for a new trial. The hearing will be delayed multiple times after that as Ray’s defense team accuses police of withholding evidence and jurors of misconduct.
May 2010
• After numerous motions hearings and delays, Ray is formally sentenced to death. Like Owens, he currently resides on Colorado’s Death Row.
June 2010
• A jury acquits Carter of the most-serious charges against him but convicts him of conspiracy to commit murder. Much of Carter’s trial hinges on questions about his competency and whether Ray and Owens would have trusted a man who such a low IQ to participate in a complex criminal conspiracy.
August 2010
• A judge sentences Carter to 70 years in prison. Despite being acquitted on the first-degree murder charge, Carter will likely spend the rest of his behind bars.
November 2010
• Rhonda Fields, Javad’s mother, is elected to the Colorado House of representatives, representing a district that includes much of Aurora.
Very interesting and informative article. Thank you for documenting. I remember the day of the Fourth of July celebration at Lowry and the tragic deaths of Fields and Wolfe afterwards. This is a good timeline and documentation of the events that unfolded of which I had a difficult time finding all in one solid article.
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