CINCINNATI — Closing arguments in the trial of Rodney Hinton Jr., accused of killing a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy, will not happen until Tuesday, Oct. 20, after the judge pushed the schedule back on Friday, Oct. 16.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers announced the new date in court. One of Hinton’s attorneys, Clyde Bennett II, is unavailable on Monday, Oct. 19 because of a personal matter, and attorneys had previously been told to be ready to close on Oct. 16.
Most of Friday was instead taken up by the prosecution’s final rebuttal witness, forensic psychologist Jennifer O’Donnell, who examined Hinton. She was the second psychologist to testify that Hinton understood the wrongfulness of his actions when he drove into Deputy Larry Henderson last year.
Hinton has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. For that defense to succeed, his attorneys must show he did not know right from wrong at the time of the May 2, 2025 crash that killed Henderson.
Earlier that same day, Hinton had been shown police body camera video of his 18-year-old son, Ryan, being fatally shot by a Cincinnati police officer. O’Donnell testified that Hinton described driving around listening to music to try to calm himself, spoke about his anger and grief over losing his first son, and acknowledged pressing the gas before the collision. A crash reconstructionist put the car’s maximum speed at about 45 mph.
Bennett, questioning that account, focused on Hinton’s statement that he heard a voice before the crash that made him look out his window. The defense suggested that could point to a hallucination and a brief psychotic episode.
The delay also stretches a case that has drawn close attention in Hamilton County since last spring, because it joins two deaths in a single day: a son killed in a police shooting in the morning, and a deputy killed hours later. Prosecutors and the defense have spent the past two weeks presenting competing accounts of Hinton’s state of mind in between those events, and Friday’s testimony went to the heart of that dispute.
Hinton faces charges including aggravated murder. Luebbers has already granted a defense request to let the jury also consider reckless homicide, a lesser charge carrying up to three years in prison. The trial began Oct. 5 with jury selection, and jurors will now hear the final arguments on Tuesday before deciding the case.
