Ronald Wolfe (rapist)
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Ronald Lee Wolfe (September 3, 1930 – May 8, 1964) was the last person executed in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
for non-
homicidal ''Homicidal'' is a 1961 American horror film, horror-thriller film produced and directed by William Castle, and starring Glenn Corbett, Patricia Breslin, Eugenie Leontovich, Alan Bunce and Joan Marshall, Jean Arless. The film follows a murderou ...
rape, and the last person to be executed for a crime where nobody died.
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was
electrocuted Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...
in
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the same year for robbery, albeit he had still killed his victim and was simply never tried for the actual murder. Wolfe was also second-to-last person executed in
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
before the U.S. moratorium on capital punishment.


Early life

Wolfe was born in
Clarendon, New York Clarendon is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 3,648 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from Clarendon, Vermont. The Town of Clarendon is in the southeast part of the county. New York State Route 31A a ...
. His mother disappeared when he was two weeks old and his father disappeared when he was 6 years old. He lived with his grandparents in his earlier years.


Crime, trial, and execution

Wolfe, a 33-year-old man, was put to death in
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
's
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
on May 8, 1964. He was convicted of brutal attack of an 8-year-old girl on October 18, 1959, near Troy, Missouri, just three days after his release from the federal penitentiary in Georgia for a car theft charge. Wolfe lured the girl away from a carnival with a candy bar.
"The evidence was such as to have warranted the jury in finding the salient facts to be that about 7:30 p. m., on the evening in question, defendant, by using a candy bar, lured the child into the car he was driving, and away from the Sacred Heart Church's Fall Festival in Troy which she was attending with her parents and three sisters and a brother; he drove her some three miles into the country where he parked the car, and admittedly made repeated *12 unsuccessful attempts to ravish the child, and otherwise had shocking relations (short of penetration) with her; the car was thereafter parked within about a hundred feet of a farm house, one of the occupants of which, at about 8:30 p. m., heard the car's motor idling, and looked out the window where in the darkness she discerned an object moving away from the automobile and toward the house; upon investigation this was found to be the prosecutrix, who was taken into the home, and forthwith returned to her family at the church picnic in Troy. She was taken to a hospital at once and examined, and her condition as described by the examining physician was such as to dispel any doubt of the fact that there had been penetration and extensive damage to the affected part by tearing."
Wolfe's case drew nationwide attention once again in 2008 when the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
ruled in Kennedy v. Louisiana to ban capital punishment for child rape. The court directly cited Wolfe in court opinions.


See also

*
Capital punishment in Missouri Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri. On a per capita basis, it ranks third in executions, behind Oklahoma and Texas. History Capital punishment in Missouri was first used in 1810 in the form of hanging. From 1810 ...
*
List of people executed in Missouri This is a list of people executed in Missouri following the 1976 Supreme Court decision in ''Gregg v. Georgia'' that allowed for the reinstitution of the death penalty in the United States. List of people executed in Missouri since 1976 Since 1 ...
*
List of people executed in the United States in 1964 Fifteen people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1964, eleven by Electric chair, electrocution, and four by gas chamber. The last executions for the crimes of rape and robbery occurred this year, with the executions of Ronald Wolf ...
* List of last executions in the United States by crime


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Ronald 1930 births 1964 deaths 20th-century executions by Missouri 20th-century executions of American people American people convicted of child sexual abuse American people executed for rape Executed people from New York (state) People from Clarendon, New York People executed by Missouri by gas chamber