3,576 articles
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (1965–2012), Sacramento-born Altadena laborer, whose 1991 videotaped LAPD beating, Simi Valley acquittals, 1992 LA riots, federal civil rights convictions, and $3.8 million civil award reshaped US police accountability.
Rodney Reed
Rodney Reed is a Texas death row inmate convicted in 1998 of the 1996 capital murder of Stacey Stites, maintaining his innocence while seeking DNA testing of the murder weapon.
Rodolfo Cadena
Rodolfo "Cheyenne" Cadena, a leader of the Mexican Mafia (La Eme) prison gang in California, helped formalize its blood oath and outside-street strategy; he was killed by rival Nuestra Familia members, triggering retaliatory killings.
Rodrick Cardale Reed
Rodrick Cardale Reed, aka Boulevard or Li'l Rod, is a Compton Fruit Town Piru figure who led a Southern California PCP ring, was convicted in 2005, and is the younger brother of Texas death-row inmate Rodney Reed.
Roger Kibbe
Roger Reece Kibbe, the "I-5 Strangler," was an American serial killer who murdered at least seven women in Northern California, 1977–1987. Convicted 1991 of Darcie Frackenpohl's murder, he pleaded guilty to six more killings in 2009 and was strangled by cellmate Jason Budrow at Mule Creek State Prison in 2021.
Rohingya genocide
Rohingya genocide: alleged genocide against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority, chiefly the 2017 Rakhine clearance operations. Parallel proceedings at the ICJ (The Gambia v. Myanmar), the ICC, and Argentine universal jurisdiction courts.
Roman Inquisition
Roman Inquisition (Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition), papal tribunal founded by Paul III in 1542 to prosecute heresy and censor books; became the Holy Office, now the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Roman Polanski sexual abuse case
The Roman Polanski sexual abuse case is a 1977 California prosecution in which director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful intercourse with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, then fled the United States in 1978.
Romell Broom
Romell Broom, Ohio death row inmate convicted of the 1984 rape-murder of Tryna Middleton, survived a botched 2009 lethal injection after 18 failed needle sticks; courts allowed a second attempt, but he died of COVID-19 in 2020.
Ron Goldman
Ron Goldman (Ronald Lyle Goldman, 1968-1994) was a Chicago-born waiter at Brentwood's Mezzaluna restaurant, stabbed to death with Nicole Brown Simpson on June 12, 1994; O.J. Simpson was acquitted criminally in 1995 but found liable in the 1997 civil trial.
Ron Williamson
Ron Williamson (1953–2004), Ada, Oklahoma baseball draftee wrongfully convicted of the 1982 rape-murder of Debra Sue Carter, sentenced to death, exonerated by DNA in 1999 after 11 years; subject of Grisham's The Innocent Man.
Ronald Clark O'Bryan
Ronald Clark O'Bryan, known as the "Candy Man," was a Texas optician executed in 1984 for fatally poisoning his eight-year-old son with cyanide-laced Halloween candy in 1974.
Ronald DeFeo Jr.
Ronald DeFeo Jr. (1951-2021), American mass murderer who killed six family members at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York, on November 13, 1974; convicted 1975; his crime launched the disputed Amityville Horror haunting story he called a hoax.
Ronald Dominique
Ronald Joseph Dominique, the Bayou Strangler, an American serial killer active in southeastern Louisiana 1997 to 2006, confessed to raping and strangling at least 23 men; arrested 2006, pleaded guilty to murder in 2008.
Ronald Gene Simmons
Ronald Gene Simmons, also known as R. Gene Simmons, was an American retired Air Force master sergeant who killed 16 people, 14 of them family, near Dover and Russellville, Arkansas, December 22–28, 1987, the worst single-family mass murder in U.S. history; executed June 25, 1990.
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr.
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. is an American lawyer and Harvard Law School professor known for conviction-integrity reform and for acquitting Aaron Hernandez in a double murder case.
Ronnie Biggs
Ronnie Biggs (Ronald Arthur Biggs), English Great Train Robber of August 1963; jailed 30 years, escaped Wandsworth 1965, lived in Rio de Janeiro 35 years, returned to UK 2001, freed 2009, died 2013.
Ronnie Knight
Ronnie Knight (1934–2023), London club owner of the A&R and Tin Pan Alley, ex-husband of Barbara Windsor, Costa del Crime fugitive, jailed seven years in 1995 for handling Security Express robbery proceeds.
Ronnie Lee Gardner
Ronnie Lee Gardner, Utah death row inmate convicted of the 1985 murder of attorney Michael Burdell during a courthouse escape attempt; chose death by firing squad and was the last US prisoner executed that way, June 18, 2010, until South Carolina resumed the method in 2025.
Rose West
Rose West (Rosemary Letts, born 1953) is a British serial killer convicted in 1995 of ten murders committed with her husband Fred at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester; she is serving a whole life tariff.
Ross Ulbricht
Ross Ulbricht (born 1984), creator of the Silk Road darknet market as "Dread Pirate Roberts"; convicted 2015 on seven counts, sentenced to life, appeals failed, pardoned by Trump January 21, 2025.
Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal: abuse of at least 1,400 children in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, 1997–2013, exposed by the 2014 Jay report, followed by the Casey inspection, government intervention, and IOPC Operation Linden.
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act, formally the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919 (Black Act), was a British Indian law passed 18 March 1919 allowing detention without trial, prompting Gandhi's first all-India satyagraha and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Roy DeMeo
Roy Albert DeMeo, Gambino crime family soldier and leader of the DeMeo crew, ran the Gemini Lounge murder operation and New York's largest car theft ring; killed by his own crew January 10, 1983.
Roy Shaw
Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw (1936-2012), East London armed robber and unlicensed bare-knuckle boxer, jailed 18 years for a 1963 security van robbery, who fought Lenny McLean three times.
Ruby McCollum
Ruby McCollum, also known as Ruby Jackson, was a wealthy Black Florida woman who shot white state senator-elect Dr. C. LeRoy Adams in Live Oak in 1952.
Rudy Kurniawan
Rudy Kurniawan (Zhen Wang Huang), Indonesian-born wine counterfeiter of the 2000s, blended cheap wines into fake rare vintages in Arcadia, California; convicted of mail and wire fraud in 2013, sentenced to ten years, deported to Indonesia in 2020.
Rufus Buck Gang
Rufus Buck Gang, a five-member Creek Nation outlaw band of 1895 led by 18-year-old Rufus Buck; killed Deputy Marshal John Garrett and others, then all five were hanged July 1, 1896 at Fort Smith under Judge Parker.
Ruja Ignatova
Ruja Ignatova, the "Cryptoqueen," co-founded the OneCoin fake-cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, which took over $4 billion from millions of investors before she vanished in October 2017. She remains on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
Run Chhoun
Run Peter Chhoun (ឈួន រ៉ន, born 1972) is a Cambodian-born Tiny Rascals Gang leader on California death row for 1995 home-invasion murders in San Bernardino, Sacramento, and Pomona; distinct from politician Rong Chhun.