John Billington (ca. 1580-1630) was the first Englishman to be convicted of murder in what would become the United States and the first to be hanged for any crime in New England.
He came to the Plymouth Colony on the famous voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 with his wife and two sons. He soon made enemies with many aboard the ship. He was known as a "foul mouthed miscreant" and "knave." He was not a member of the separatist Brownist congregation that dominated the colony's life, but rather, he fled England to escape creditors.
In September of 1630, after a heated argument, Billington fatally shot fellow colonist John Newcomen in the back with a blunderbuss. After counciling with fellow governors, Governor William Bradford concluded that capitol punishment was the necessary penalty. Billington was convicted of murder and hanged at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
