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. "Rape Where Victim Lived". Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  2. Sherman, Mark (June 25, 2008). "Court bans death penalty for child rape". Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  3. "Executions Other Than Murder or Rape Related". Archived from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  4. "Missouri Executions". Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  5. "High Court Delays Execution of Ronald Wolfe". The Southeast Missourian. Associated Press. February 16, 1961. Retrieved December 6, 2021 – via news.google.com.
  6. "Joint Appendix, Kennedy v. Louisiana (Case 07-343)" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
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