Judge tells attacker, 59, ‘You’re probably gonna die in the penitentiary’

A Middle Georgia man who has been in and out of prison five times since the late 1970s was sent back to prison again on Wednesday.

Roland L. Ray, convicted earlier this month of attacking a man while armed with a handgun and then shooting at him and missing during an argument over a woman here in April 2016, was sentenced to 35 years behind bars.

Ray, 59, found guilty of aggravated assault and also of influencing witnesses after his arrest by urging them not to testify against him, will be in his mid-90s before he is eligible for parole.

His case was featured in a Telegraph article in mid-June about repeat offenders and the revolving door into prison, out of prison and back.

His past prison stints came after convictions for theft, armed robbery selling drugs and assault.

At Ray’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday in Bibb County Superior Court, Judge Howard Z. Simms told him, “You’re probably gonna die in the penitentiary. … There ain’t a whole lot I can do for you.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 5:07 PM.