Alleged murderer could get death

From a Saskatchewan correctional facility to -- potentially -- death row in Ohio, it's been an eventful few months for accused killer and rapist Thomas James McCray.

Earlier this month, Canadian authorities put McCray on a plane back to the United States where, if convicted, he's facing the death penalty.

McCray is the 21-year-old Ohio man who had been in custody at Saskatoon's Regional Psychiatric Centre last fall when the TV show America's Most Wanted did a segment on him.

Viewers heard that McCray was wanted for the murder of Stephanie Evans, 21, whose body was found along the banks of an Ohio river in April 2001.

Her two-year-old son was found nearby unharmed.

At the time of the Nov. 4, 2002 broadcast, McCray had been using the name Jason Lee Williams.

As Williams, he was convicted of robbery in December 2001 in Calgary and sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary.

Originally at Drumheller Institution, he was later transferred to the RPC in Saskatoon

Following the broadcast, several people who knew McCray, including his Saskatoon girlfriend, blew the whistle on him.

The manhunt was over, but a debate over sending McCray to face a possible death penalty was just beginning.

Justice Department spokesman Patrick Charette said that if the U.S. government had attempted to have McCray extradited, Canada would have sought assurances he would not be executed.

However, Charette said Thursday, it turned out there was no extradition request and the death penalty issue never came up.

Once the Immigration Department moved to deport McCray, it was out of Justice's hands, he said.

"It's totally an immigration case," Charette said.

Randy Gurlock, the director of Citizen and Immigration Canada in Edmonton, said a deportation order was issued on Nov. 27, 2002.

The rules allowing Canada to send McCray back were clear, Gurlock said.

"He was a foreign national who had committed criminal offences in Canada," he said.

McCray had the right to challenge the deportation order to the Federal Court of Appeal, but he didn't avail himself of that opportunity, Gurlock said.

As well, if McCray had wanted to raise the issue of the death penalty, there was a second procedure he was eligible for called a pre-removal risk assessment.

A deportation can be cancelled if the risk assessment determines the subject is at risk of losing his life or at risk of "cruel or unusual punishment."

Did McCray ask for a risk assessment -- likely his last chance to stay out of the hands of U.S. authorities?

Gurlock said that for privacy reasons, he couldn't confirm or deny if he did.

However, Immigration would certainly have informed McCray that he had the right to apply, he said.

McCray completed two-thirds of his sentence and on April 11 received statutory release.

By then, he had been moved back to a maximum-security facility in Alberta.

According to a National Parole Board decision sheet obtained by the Leader-Post, McCray (still known as Williams to the NPB) was released with a single condition: sobriety.

"Substance abuse is a major factor in your criminal behaviour and any use of intoxicants would increase your risk to reoffend," the April 1 decision said.

According to Gurlock, after being released, McCray was immediately handed over to Canadian Immigration officials.

Shortly after, an RCMP officer and an Immigration officer were escorting him on a plane back to Ohio.

According to the April 16, Chillocothe (Ohio) Gazette, after McCray's Air Canada flight touched down at Port Columbus Airport, he was arrested and handed a six-count indictment charging him with aggravated murder, aggravated murder with special circumstances, kidnapping, child endangerment and gross abuse of a corpse.

If convicted, the Ross County Sheriff's Department said, McCray faces the death penalty.

McCray is now in jail in Ohio awaiting trial.

© Copyright 2003 The Leader-Post (Regina)