Bio

John Rooney was born in 1880 in the United States. He grew up during a time when the United States was changing rapidly. This period saw many people moving westward in search of better opportunities. His early years would have been influenced by these social and economic changes.

Rooney lived in North Dakota, a place that was still developing at the time. The area was primarily rural, with agriculture being the main source of livelihood for most families. 

Rooney's life would take a significant turn in the year 1902 when he committed a robbery that resulted in the death of a farm worker named Harold Sweet. This event marked a departure from his early life and led him down a path that would define his legacy in North Dakota's history.

Murder Story

On August 26, 1902, John Rooney shot and killed Harold Sweet, a farm worker, during a robbery near the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks in Cass County, North Dakota. Following the incident, Rooney was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In January 1903, a jury found him guilty, and on March 31, 1903, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

Rooney's case eventually made its way to the United States Supreme Court. He appealed on the grounds that a law passed by the North Dakota Legislature on March 9, 1903, which stated that all executions should take place in a prison, applied to him unfairly. He argued that this law changed the rules after he had committed the crime, which he believed was unconstitutional, known as an ex post facto law. The Supreme Court disagreed with Rooney's argument and stated that the location of execution did not matter for the application of his sentence.

John Rooney was executed by hanging on October 17, 1905, at the State Penitentiary in Bismarck, North Dakota. This marked the first execution in North Dakota to be conducted inside a prison rather than in public. Rooney remains the last person to be executed by the state of North Dakota, as the state abolished the death penalty in 1915.