The wife of an Ohio sheriff’s deputy who was killed while directing traffic at a college graduation ceremony is suing the family of the suspect over their fundraising campaigns.
Rodney Hinton Jr. allegedly struck Deputy Larry Henderson with his car at the University of Cincinnati’s commencement exercises on May 2, a day after Hinton’s son was shot and killed by a different Cincinnati cop.
After Hinton was jailed on murder charges, his family began a fundraising campaign that has raised thousands of dollars, according to news reports.
Now, Lorna Henderson has filed a lawsuit contending that the Hinton family has “campaigned for and collected over $100,000.00 using Rodney Hinton’s public status and notoriety,” Law & Crime reported.
Under Ohio law, criminals are not allowed to profit from their crimes by selling their story rights for books, movies or TV shows, but the law says nothing about crowdfunding.
Henderson’s lawsuit acknowledges that but contends Hinton’s family is raising money based on his “public status and notoriety gained solely through his criminal act of killing Deputy Henderson.”
Hinton has not yet been convicted.
The suit called the fundraising “a malicious civil conspiracy,” and on those grounds, the family should not be allowed to collect their “ill-gotten gains,” according to Law & Crime.
The lawsuit further accuses Hinton of killing Henderson by “deliberate, intentional, and malicious acts” and is seeking damages.
Henderson’s widow wants all the funds raised so far and is also asking for other damages.
“This was not just a tragic accident,” Henderson’s attorney Jonathan Keane told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“This was an intentional act of violence. The fact that money is being raised and potentially funneled to the family of the man charged in Deputy Henderson’s murder is not only hurtful, it’s against public policy,” Keane said.
Meanwhile, both GoFundMe and GiveSendGo have taken down the Hinton family’s fundraising pages. The fundraising was apparently to raise money for Hinton’s defense.
Legal experts say the case could test the limits of Ohio’s civil liability laws in the digital fundraising era as more lawsuits come before courts asked to rule on these kinds of disputes. The key issue is expected to hinge on whether there’s a direct connection between the fundraising and the alleged wrongful act.
But First Amendment and media law attorney Jack Greiner told WLWT-TV that the case violates Hinton’s First Amendment rights as a defendant.
The day before Henderson was killed, Hinton’s 17-year-old son, Ryan Hinton, was shot and killed by a different Cincinnati officer. Police say the teen was armed and running from the scene of a stolen car and that his killing was “legally justified.”
Hinton’s attorney said the grieving father had a psychotic break after police showed him footage of his son being killed by officers.
“His altered mental state was what led to the alleged attack on Henderson,” his lawyer said, according to Law & Crime.
Passions are inflamed and tensions are rising around the case.
Many people drew comparisons to Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse is known for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, an act he claimed was in self-defense and for which he was later acquitted of all charges.
“Y’all ain’t say that for Kyle “rottenhouse”….” one Instagram user wrote. “Bet she wasn’t complaining about ‘ill gotten funds’ when Kyle ROTTENhouse was given all that money after the BS he did,” another user wrote.
Hinton, who is jailed without bond, is charged with aggravated murder in Henderson’s death, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Hinton’s trial date has been scheduled for January 2026.
