John Joe Gray
{{Short description|Texan fugitive from the law}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
John Joe Gray (born {{circa|1950}}){{cite news |last1=Lohr |first1=David |title=The Longest Armed Standoff In America May Finally Be Over |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/armed-standoff-john-joe-gray_n_5693f1fde4b0c8beacf7d631 |access-date=7 March 2024 |work=Huffington Post |date=13 January 2016}} is an American who identified as a sovereign citizen and was a fugitive from the law. He lived on his 50-acre, wooded ranch in Trinidad, Texas. He was involved in the longest-running law enforcement standoff in American history, lasting a few days short of 15 years, before the district attorney dropped the charges.{{cite news |last1=Fernandez|first1=Manny |title=Lesson for Stalemated Sides in Oregon: A Texas Standoff Without End |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/us/lesson-for-stalemated-sides-in-oregon-a-texas-standoff-without-end.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=January 7, 2016 }}
Standoff
The standoff began in 2000 when Gray jumped bail after indictment on two counts of felony assault.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/john-joe-grays-militant-group-texas-compound/story?id=9819578 |title=John Joe Gray's Militant Group in Texas Compound |author=Terry Moran |publisher=ABC News |date=February 12, 2010 |access-date=July 19, 2016}} During a 1999 traffic stop in Anderson County, he allegedly attacked Texas Trooper Jim Cleland. A struggle ensued after Cleland reached for a .357 caliber handgun in the car that Gray was driving. Anti-government pamphlets and references to setting off a bomb on a highway overpass near Dallas were found in the vehicle. Gray was charged with two felonies: assault of a public servant and taking a police officer's weapon.{{cite news|author=Steve Campbell |url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Authorities-ignore-fugitive-holed-up-on-Texas-1693380.php#photo-1217777 |title=Authorities ignore fugitive holed up on Texas land for 11 years - Houston Chronicle |publisher=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=May 22, 2011 |access-date=July 19, 2016}} After promising to have no access to weapons while awaiting hearing, he was out on bail before the judge held his bond insufficient, and ordered his re-arrest.{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Kevin|title=Anti-government 'sovereign movement' on the rise in U.S.|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-30/anti-government-militia-groups-freeman/53873496/1|access-date=August 16, 2016|publisher=USA Today|date=March 30, 2012}}
Local Henderson County Sheriff Ray Nutt stated in 2011, "This kook is not worth it. Ten of him is not worth going up there and getting one of my young deputies killed." In December 2014, the standoff officially ended when District Attorney Douglas E. Lowe dismissed the charge.
"NYT"/>
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, John Joe}}
Category:Armed standoffs in the United States
Category:Fugitives wanted by the United States
Category:Sovereign citizen movement individuals
Category:People charged with assault
Category:People from Henderson County, Texas
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
{{US-crime-bio-stub}}