John R. Hicks was born on July 31, 1956, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Details about his early life are sparse, but by the mid-1980s, Hicks was struggling with severe cocaine addiction and alcoholism. His substance abuse issues led to financial instability and strained relationships within his family. Hicks was married to Ghitana Hicks and was the stepfather to her 5-year-old daughter, Brandy Green. 

On August 2, 1985, driven by a craving for cocaine, Hicks took the family's VCR to use as collateral for a $50 drug purchase. Anticipating his wife's anger over the missing appliance, he decided to rob his mother-in-law, Maxine Armstrong, for money to retrieve it. That evening, Hicks went to Armstrong's apartment, where he strangled her with his hands and a clothesline, stealing approximately $300 and some credit cards. After purchasing more cocaine, Hicks realized that his stepdaughter, Brandy, could identify him as having been at Armstrong's apartment. In the early hours of August 3, he returned and attempted to smother Brandy with a pillow. When that failed, he strangled her with his hands and ultimately used duct tape to suffocate her. Hicks then attempted to dismember Armstrong's body but abandoned the effort. He also sexually assaulted Brandy post-mortem. Hicks fled Cincinnati and surrendered to police in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 4, 1985, confessing to both murders.

Hicks was convicted of the aggravated murder of Maxine Armstrong and received a life sentence. For the murder of Brandy Green, he was convicted of aggravated murder with the specification of escaping detection and the purposeful killing of more than one person, resulting in a death sentence. His appeals highlighted his cocaine-induced psychosis and argued that the jury was not properly instructed on considering voluntary intoxication as a mitigating factor. However, the courts upheld his convictions and sentences. On November 15, 2005, the Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended against clemency, and Governor Bob Taft denied the request. Hicks was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, on November 29, 2005.