Ronald Wolfe (rapist)
Ronald Lee Wolfe | |
|---|---|
Wolfe on March 2, 1960 | |
| Born | September 3, 1930 Clarendon, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 8, 1964 (aged 33) Missouri State Penitentiary, Missouri, U.S. |
| Other names | Ward Jewel Hopkins Albert John Strouse Jewel Karvey Hopkins |
| Criminal status | Executed by gas chamber |
| Convictions | Rape Breaking and entering Interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle Auto theft |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Ronald Lee Wolfe (September 3, 1930 – May 8, 1964) was an American habitual criminal and sex offender who became the last person executed in the United States for non-homicidal rape, and the last person to be executed for a crime where nobody died. James Cobern, who was electrocuted in Alabama the same year for robbery, had sexually mutilated and murdered his ex-girlfriend whom he robbed, but was only tried for robbery. Wolfe was also the second-to-last person executed in Missouri before the U.S. moratorium on capital punishment.