HUTTONSVILLE, W.Va. — A Putnam County native has once again kept a promise she made to her grandmother and her uncle after the man who murdered her uncle 25 years ago was denied parole by the West Virginia Parole Board Monday.
Sara Janey-Bragg takes her case every three years to the board against Robert Gray when he comes up for parole. Gray killed Janey-Bragg’s uncle Putnam County Sheriff’s Department Deputy John Janey in 1989 when Janey was trying to arrest him in an arson case. Gray was convicted in 1990. The parole board heard from the families of both men Monday at Huttonsville State Prison.
Janey-Bragg was relieved when she spoke with MetroNews Tuesday.
“I was confident but you always that fear in the back of your mind–he’s been in there for 25 years and maybe they will think at one point in time that he’s served his time but I know that in my community’s heart and my families’ heart that he has not paid for what he’s done,” Janey-Bragg said.
Deputy Janey was off-duty and working for an insurance company on a arson fraud case the night he ran into Gray at property on Cow Creek near Hurricane. Gray was suspected of committing the arson. Gray has maintained he acted in self-defense.
Janey-Bragg said she’s never felt there’s been a lack of support. She said it grows for her uncle every three years. This year’s online petition had 1,200 signatures
Janey-Bragg was just six when he uncle was killed but promised her grandmother before her 2007 death she would continue to fight against Gray’s release.
“Every three years until he takes his last breath or something happens to me. I will be there and I be fighting. I owe it to my grandmother and I owe it to my uncle,” she said.
The next parole hearing is scheduled for 2017.