Ronald Wolfe (rapist)

Ronald Wolfe was the last person executed in the United States for non-homicidal rape,[1][2] and second-to-last put to death for crime other than murder (the last was James Coburn, electrocuted in Alabama the same year for robbery).[3] He was also second-to-last person executed in Missouri before the U.S. moratorium on capital punishment.[4]

Wolfe, a 34-year-old man, was put to death in Missouri's gas chamber on May 8, 1964.[4] He was convicted of brutal attack of an 8-year-old girl on October 18, 1959 near Troy, Missouri, just 3 days after his release from the federal penitentiary in Georgia.[5]

Wolfe's case drew nationwide attention due to United States Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which banned death penalty for child rape, and was directly cited in court opinions.[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/RAPE.htm
  2. ↑ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_child_rape
  3. ↑ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/NOT%20RAPE%20OR%20MURDER.htm
  4. 1 2 http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/MISSOURI.htm
  5. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=19610216&id=OBMpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=729,3361384
  6. ↑ Kennedy VS Louisiana Supreme Court Opinion and Dissent
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