Murderer released from prison early

Melanie Gray perhaps holds the dubious record of having the most infractions while in the North Carolina Prison system. Gray's 247 page list of the 182 infractions, convicted of 116, have identified Gray as a thief, a violent offender and she has committed various sex acts while in prison for the past 8 years. At 14 she handed her boyfriend a plank of wood to kill All-American teenager Danny Pence because she wanted the Mustang Danny was selling. Because of her age she was allowed a plea bargin that permitted her to plea guilty to Second Degree Murder.

Killer convicted as teen to go free

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Oct 16, 2005 : 9:56 pm ET
DURHAM -- Described by some as the teenage instigator of a 1995 beating that took the life of Wilmington honor student Danny Pence in the woods of northern Durham County, Melanie E. Gray is about to be released from prison.
The N.C. Department of Correction says Gray, only 14 when Pence died, will be freed Nov. 4.
She acquired the dubious distinction of being one of Durham's youngest convicted killers. During eight years of imprisonment, she also racked up a potentially record-setting 116 infractions for everything from fighting to gambling, according to the DOC Web site.
That compares to only 12 infractions as of last week for convicted rapist John Phillips, who has been locked up longer than any prison inmate in North Carolina, since July 1952.
Gray's last offense was in June. Phillips' most recent was in May 1990.
Although prison computers aren't programmed to confirm it, officials said Gray's accumulation of infractions might well be the greatest of any inmate's.
She received a sentence of nine to nearly 12 years after pleading guilty in 1997 to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and to felony charges of kidnapping Pence and stealing his car.
And because she is entitled to credit for about two years in local custody before the plea bargain, Gray has served a sufficient portion of her sentence and is ready for a return to society, prison officials say.
But spokesman Keith Acree told The Herald-Sun that Gray wouldn't be entirely on the loose after gaining her freedom. He said she would be kept under tight post-release supervision for a while.
Gray's accomplice in Pence's slaying, Todd Charles Boggess, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury and was sent to death row. However, his conviction subsequently was overturned by the state Supreme Court on a legal technicality, and he is now in the county jail awaiting a new trial.
The next trial is tentatively set for April 24.
One of Boggess' former attorneys, Brian Aus of Durham, said last week he was shocked that Gray was being released before serving her maximum possible sentence of 11 years and seven months.
"It boggles my mind," he said in an interview. "It worries me. It's just amazing. It doesn't make sense.
"Under my understanding of the law and the rules, she should do the maximum," Aus added. "Her infractions don't show much rehabilitation in my mind. Obviously, she has not been rehabilitated. If you don't follow the rules in prison, you don't belong back out on the streets."
In addition, Aus contended that Pence might still be alive had it not been for Gray. He said, for example, that Gray chose the remote spot where Pence died, while Boggess knew nothing about Durham. Beyond that, Gray instigated the fatal sequence of events because she wanted Pence's Mustang, according to Aus.
"She was the one who knew where to go," he said. "Melanie wanted the car. Melanie was doing the sweet talking."
Boggess said essentially the same thing in an exclusive 1997 death row interview with The Herald-Sun.
"Melanie told me what to do. I did it," he said.
Like Aus, Boggess was under the impression that Gray "had a thing" for Mustangs and was motivated by a desire to get Pence's car, he said.
"I didn't care about myself or anyone else," Boggess conceded. "It didn't matter if I stole a car or the Empire State Building. I was bent on self-destruction."
In a 1997 court hearing for Gray, then-District Attorney Jim Hardin Jr. said the teen helped to gag and blindfold Pence. Then she handed Boggess a large board that was used to fatally beat the victim, according to Hardin.
But defense lawyer Joe Cheshire said Gray had little chance in life after being born to parents who were chronic substance abusers.
He said the girl was shunted among so many foster homes in her first 13 months that "she was never able to reach the emotional attachment that all of us were able to do with our mothers. ... She was so unable to understand love that she continually tried to run away."
Even though a "magnificent" Durham family eventually adopted her, Gray remained incapable of accepting the family's love, Cheshire added. And while she was "trying to find love and acceptance," Gray wound up in the "psychological clutches" of Boggess, the defense attorney said.
"Inside Melanie Gray ... is a decent person," he insisted. "If she could turn the clock back, she would give her life to save [Pence's] life."
Sharlene Pence, the murder victim's mother, could not be reached for comment about Gray's imminent release from prison.
However, she made her feelings clear in a 2002 interview.
Pence said then that she hoped Gray's high number of infractions would keep her behind bars for the longest term possible.
"I feel very strongly that they need to keep her in prison," she told The Herald-Sun. "I feel like she would try to kill someone again. If she's doing all these things in prison, what would she do on the street? It's a scary thought."
Pence said she was disappointed in 1997 when Gray got a light prison sentence, compared to that of Boggess.
"She got a great plea bargain," Pence said. "I had thought she was going to get at least 18 years. The judge was very lenient with her. My son would have been starting college, but he didn't because she killed him. She didn't give him a chance. I think she was very directional in this crime. Why did they even wind up in Durham? Todd Boggess wasn't from Durham. She was."

MELANIE GRAY AND TODD BOGGESS