Jury decides in favor of death penalty for Robert Langley
A 12-person jury unanimously ruled in favor of the death penalty Wednesday in the case of a man originally convicted of murder in 1989.
Robert Langley, 54, listened as Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James read the jury's response to whether he deserved the death penalty for the torture-murder of Anne Gray.
In December 1987, Langley bound and strangled Gray. He buried her body in a muddy hole behind a North Salem house where his aunt once lived. Four months later, Langley used a baseball bat to bludgeon to death Larry Rockenbrant in a garage on state hospital grounds. A prosecutor later told a jury that Langley and Rockenbrant knew each other and that Langley had told him about Gray's murder. Langley then killed Rockenbrant to keep him silent.
On April 13, 1988, Langley buried Rockenbrant's body in a cactus garden.
The murder cases against Langley have appeared and reappeared in Marion County Circuit Court since the late 1980s, and Wednesday's ruling was at least the fourth time he has been sentenced to death. Official sentencing for Langley is set for June.
Langley was convicted of aggravated murder in separate trials in 1989 and sentenced to death in each case. The Oregon Supreme Court overturned both sentences because of problems with evidence.
In retrials, Langley was sentenced to life in prison with a 30-year minimum in the Rockenbrant case. He was sentenced to death for the second time in the Gray case in 1992. The Oregon Supreme Court overturned that death sentence in December 2000, sending it back to the trial court.
Deputy District Attorney Matt Kemmy and Gray's family members said Wednesday that they are hopeful that the jury's verdict will hold up.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Christopher Clayhold said that he and his colleague Christopher Larsen were asking the jury whether it was necessary to put Langley to death.
"They want to paint the picture to you that he is still a threat," Clayhold said.
"He's been a very quiet inmate and done nothing wrong. For 13 years. Eight years before that in a restrictive housing system. For that entire time he's pretending?"
In the prosecution's closing statements, Kemmy characterized Langley as a violent sociopath who can control his actions.
"It's not that he can't control it. He can. That's what makes him so scary. He can control it for long periods of time," Kemmy said of Langley.
"He relishes the idea of hurting people."
The jury answered yes to four questions during their deliberations, which lasted about an hour and a half: whether Langley's conduct was deliberate; whether there was a probability of continued threat; whether his conduct was unreasonable to provocation, if there was any; and whether he should receive the death penalty.
Gray's sister Judith Powell said her response to the verdict was relief, though she was not surprised. Her hope is not that Langley is put to death, but that he spend the rest of his life in a prison cell where he is no threat to anyone.
"I'm relieved and thankful," Powell said. "It's been a very long 26 years."
Powell's aunt Jewel Cooke said that while it was difficult to be in court with Gray's convicted murderer, she was pleased that it's now over.
"We can go home and sleep in our beds. She would be here for us, so we have to be here for her," Cooke said. "I just hope that it's the last time."
No person on Oregon's death row has been put to death in more than 16 years, and despite Wednesday's ruling, that will not change anytime soon.
On Nov. 22, 2011, Gov. John Kitzhaber halted the scheduled Dec. 6 execution of Gary Haugen and vowed that no execution would occur in Oregon while he was governor.
Kitzhaber's move came the day after the Oregon Supreme Court said that it would allow the lethal injection execution of Haugen to go forward.
"It is time for this state to consider a different approach," Kitzhaber said at the time. "I refuse to be a part of a compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions to take place while I am governor."
In taking that stand, Kitzhaber said the state's death penalty system was broken and he vowed to push for reforms in the 2013 Legislature. Those reforms have not materialized.
jdewitt@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6714 or follow on Twitter.com @Joce_DeWitt
What's next
Robert Langley is scheduled to undergo official sentencing on June 6 at 10 a.m.