July 28, 1955 - Robert Rozier
Rozier's trajectory — from professional athlete to convicted killer — unfolded within the context of the Nation of Yahweh, a religious organization whose leadership directed members to commit murders as a form of initiation. The killings attributed to him were not crimes of passion or personal grievance but acts carried out in service of an institution, which is what gives his case its particular historical weight. His cooperation with prosecutors helped expose the group's inner workings, though the arc of his subsequent legal troubles complicated any simple narrative of rehabilitation.
From Wikipedia
Robert Earnest Rozier Jr. (born July 28, 1955) is an American murderer and former professional defensive end in gridiron football.
Born in Alaska and raised in California, Rozier was a high-school and collegiate athlete before briefly playing professional gridiron football. In the 1980s, he joined the Nation of Yahweh, and by Halloween 1986 had killed at least four people on behalf of the religious group. Charged therefor, Rozier turned state's evidence against the group and its leader, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison; he was paroled after ten and put into witness protection. After Rozier was caught bouncing checks in 1999, he was sentenced to 25 years-to-life under California's three-strikes law in 2001.
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