Ohio father who drove into a deputy a day after police killed his son is found guilty of murder

A jury in Ohio has found Rodney Hinton Jr. guilty of murder more than a year after he drove into a Hamilton County deputy the day after Cincinnati police shot and killed his 18-year-old son.

The verdict came Friday on the third day of deliberations. Jurors convicted Hinton of murder, two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of felonious assault in the death of Deputy Larry Ray Henderson Jr. They did not convict him of the more serious aggravated murder charges.

Henderson had stepped away from the Sheriff's Office a few months earlier after 33 years of service. On the day he was killed in May 2025 he was back on the job for an off-duty traffic detail.

Insanity defense fell short

Hinton had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Psychologists on both sides agreed during the 10-day trial that he has a serious mental illness. They split on whether it kept him from knowing that what he did was wrong.

Henderson was directing graduation traffic for the University of Cincinnati near Burnet Woods when he was hit. Defense attorney Clyde Bennett II argued that Hinton was aiming for a utility pole in a possible suicide attempt and that no witness saw him drive at the deputy on purpose. Prosecutors told jurors that Hinton waited for traffic to clear and cut across several lanes to run Henderson down. "Make no mistake, this was murder," Assistant Prosecutor Kate Burroughs said in her closing.

The shooting of Ryan Hinton

Only hours before the crash Hinton had sat with family members in a meeting with police to watch body camera video of the shooting that killed his son Ryan the day before. Officers had been looking into a stolen car when they encountered the teen.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said Ryan ran from officers with a semi-automatic gun fitted with an extended magazine. She said he dropped it and picked it back up before an officer opened fire. Pillich ruled the shooting justified and the officer was not charged.

What comes next

Bennett says he will appeal. "The fight is not over," he said after the verdict.

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson welcomed the outcome. He said Henderson's "senseless murder" tore a family apart and left a community grieving a devoted public servant. He thanked the jurors for a decision he said fit the evidence.

Judge Jody Luebbers has set sentencing for Nov. 16. Under Ohio law the murder conviction carries a term of 15 years to life, which means Hinton could one day be released but not before he has served 15 years.