The judge overseeing the trial of the man charged with killing a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy has laid out a schedule for how the trial will proceed.
Jury selection will begin Oct. 5 – a date Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers repeated multiple times at a Sept. 2 pretrial hearing for Rodney Hinton Jr.
Hinton’s attorneys said they are ready to proceed to trial.
Luebbers said jury selection would take no longer than three days. Prospective jurors will be given a questionnaire to fill out the previous week, on Oct. 1. Luebbers instructed Hinton’s attorneys and prosecutors not to repeat any of those questions during jury selection.
Once a jury is selected, but before opening statements, the jury will be taken to the scene where prosecutors
say Hintonintentionally drove a car into Deputy Larry Henderson on May 2, 2025.
It happened on Martin Luther King Drive near the entrance to Burnet Woods, as Henderson was handling traffic control for a graduation ceremony at the University of Cincinnati.
Testimony along with opening statements and closing arguments are expected to take two weeks.
Hinton, who turned 40 in August, is charged with aggravated murder and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A central issue in the case is Hinton’s mental state at the time. His attorneys are pursuing a not guilty by reason of insanity defense.
Prosecutors say he deliberately killed Henderson. Hours before, Hinton and other family members had been shown police bodycam video of his son being fatally shot by a Cincinnati police officer – a shooting that was deemed to be justified.
Hinton has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and two years before the killing, he was hospitalized because of his mental health and treated with antipsychotic medication. His mental condition made him ineligible under state law for the death penalty.
A final pretrial hearing is set for Sept. 28.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How trial of man charged with killing sheriff's deputy will unfold
