The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 6

6r11PJ THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Thursday March 15 1984 9A 1 rCt I James Hutchins 'Wants To Die In Peace In Dignity' ency" Cheshire said Hunt told reporters he will decide on the clemency petition sometime today Hutchins was convicted in 1979 friends and relatives of the condemned man but not signed by Hutchins "Mr Hutchins had asked me not to beg the governor for clem of murdering three law enforce: ment officers in Rutherford County Staff writer Ken Allen contributed to this article 1 if 411 F111r1 R7qhus By MARILYN MATHER Staff Writer RALEIGH James Hutchins told his attorneys Wednesday to seek no more appeals to save him from his scheduled execution Friday Attorney Joseph Cheshire said he will honor Hutchins's request though he will send the necessary legal papers to the US Supreme Court in case Hutchins changes his mind But any appeal to the high court will likely be futile anyway defense lawyers concede "Mr Hutchins wants to die in peace and he wants to die in dig nity" Cheshire said "I think he wants to be in control of his des tiny and he doesn't want them (US Supreme Court Justices) to have the opportunity to say no to him again' Hutchins is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 2 am Friday He would be the first person executed in the state since 1961 Defense attorneys met with Hutchins at midday Wednesday "He has made a rational choice" Cheshire said Among the considerations he said was the apparent futility of appealing to the high court which two months ago revoked a stay of execution granted by an appeals court judge shortly before Hutchins was to be executed at 6 am Jan 13 Hutchins's last chance to be spared lies with Gov Jim Hunt who has the power to grant clemency Hunt supports the death penalty At a news conference Wednesday morning Hunt said he did not see the governor's role as that of another appeals court He said it is the governor's role to commute death sentences only for exceptional cases such as when there is a new development in a case but it Is too late to be raised in court Cheshire said he met with Hunt Wednesday afternoon at the governor's request He gave Hunt a petition for clemency on behalf of Hutchins from about a dozen Hutchins Wants No More Appeals Slip into our new spring trend setting styles for women IQ la Sheertothevaist pantyhose 3 pairs for $2 DI Matching Slip into our new A 0 a spring trend 4 3 setting styles for women tA 1 1' N''''' it 'c-- -4g N4 1 V-' '''''4! s714 Slota Ilk i friiidtr04 4100 Iry Atli p-v 00 ow doom 4 fr )1 44ip VP At w- 1111111 4 4 1111 11111114H -4 6 A 1' 11 It -lril'illitoit' 4 1 4P111 71iell 4: Irillib 4141tt 4446 I 1 -71111i -4'' 71t 0'44 4'44161014 wL i '''''-A 11111- 'NA la Sheer-tothewaist 1riuttA ---e--4c ''1''' 04SA zoo aeoil pantyhose 3 pairs for $2 4-oimi MI Matching Johnson was leading and had come forward to declare he had accepted God "But he didn't live up to It" Johnson said Concerned about Hutchins's state of mind Johnson asked to visit him in prison shortly before the January execution date Hutchins agreed "Before I left him that day thinking it was the last time I would see him" recalled Johnson "I said 'James is there anything you want to say to the "And he said 'I have done wrong and a lot of Innocent people have been hurt and suffered and God has forgiven me I'd like to know the public forgives me' "His chin quivered His voice broke And I thought he was going to cry but he didn't" They met again several times on a Jan 31 visit Hutchins told Johnson he had known all along he wouldn't be executed Jan 13 Johnson said "He said the Holy Spirit had told him his time had not been fulfilled and he wouldn't die 'If God doesn't want me to die' he said 'then they can't kill me' On Feb 17 Johnson said Hut chins's "eyes tightened his face tightened and he said 'If I had it to do over again I'd let them (his victims) shoot me' On a March 2 visit he talked in detail about his crimes "He knew what he was doing" said Johnson "He is paranoid He thought they were out to get him He regrets what he did and he regrets what the families of the officers went through and what his own family had to go through" In his conversations with Johnson Hutchins spoke often of Geneva his wife of 25 years and of his family But he never mentioned Charlotte Johnson said Little information is available about Charlotte's present life Johnson said she lives at Myrtle Beach and refuses to discuss her father He said she chastises her Mother for visiting her father on death row But another Rutherford County girl unrelated to Hutchins and unidentified by Johnson has taken an interest in the condemned man's last days She sent him her Bible and sent messages that she Is praying for him Shop these Charlotte area stores 12048 Graham St (Hutchinson Plaza) 2 1324 Central Ave (Central Square) 3 6345 AlbemaHe Rd (Loehmann's Plaza) 4 3121 Freedom Drive 5 5933 South Blvd (KMart Plaza) 6 Belmont Abbey Plaza (Hwy 273) Belmont 7 Matthews Plaza (Hwy 74 51) Matthews and Plo'n Pay stores everywhere i I Sale prices good thru Sun MasterCard or Visa Open evenings and open Sun 16pm WD) ii 'JD) et ro I 1 1 1 Continued From Page IA I can't help it" said Johnson "If a man can face death like that who can help but have respect?" Patty McQuillan a spokes woman with the NC Department of Correction said Hutchins has been occupying himself the past several weeks with simple pastimes He likes to read Western novels she said He enjoys such card games as spades and crazy eights but considers himself a "great" dominoes player When the 33 male death row inmates file outside for recreation Hutchins chooses basketball over shuffleboard or handball He gets along well with the other prisoners In Hutchins Johnson sees a man most concerned with spiritual matters The minister is aware skeptics may scoff that a convenient conversion is to be expected in a man about to be executed But Johnson believes Hutchins is sincere "He said that at the end of No vember last year he had a wonderful experience with the Lord alone in his cell" Johnson said recalling a conversation they had Jan 12 "He said he felt so cleansed so forgiven I probed him I wanted to be sure that he was ready to meet God and he said 'Guy if you're as ready to meet God as I am then I'll meet you in heaven' If so that James Hutchins is a far cry from the James Hutchins described by his trial judge as "the most dangerous man I've ever seen" From the start Hutchins had the makings for a mean life He was born in Rutherford County his father a hard-drinking sharecropper Always a loner be had a hair-trigger temper and a natural skill with guns He quit school in the sixth grade Later state psychiatric officials would measure Hutchins's IQ at 88 (100 is average) and his reading skills at third-grade level conclusions somewhat belied by his letters to Johnson He married twice and fathered five children He held many jobs from tree trimmer to textile worker to mechanic to machine fixer in a factory Almost exactly 20 years ago he killed for the first time In early April 1954 Hutchins then a military police officer at a Las Vegas Air Force base went AWOL because of family troubles in North Carolina and began hitchiking home He got a ride in New Mexico with a Texas man Hutchins later said the man threatened to rob and kill him so Hutchins pulled out his 22-caliber pistol shot the stranger to death wrapped the body in a blanket and stuffed it under a bridge Three days later he was stopped for speeding in the man's car Police noticed the bloodstains inside Convicted of voluntary manslaughter be was sentenced to five to 10 years Hutchins back home in Rutherford County had several scrapes with the law in ensuing years In 1966 he was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill arising from a Christmas Day argument with a man who had married Hutchins's first wife In September 1969 after someone ran over his small brown dog Hutchins stationed himself In the road with a shotgun and promised to shoot whoever drove by next More arrests and short-term prison sentences came for driving under the influence and driving while his license was revoked Then came May 31 1979 what should have been a happy day for the Hutchins family Charlotte Hutchins's 17-year-old daughter was to become the first member of the family to graduate from high school in ceremonies that evening James Hutchins had a day off from work and agreed to buy liquor for a punch Charlotte wanted for a graduation party He got drunk and flew into a violent rage at his family Charlotte Ing he would kill them all ran to a neighbor's house and called the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department Hutchins shot and killed Deputies Roy Huskey and Owen Messersmith when they drove into his yard He fled and later that day while on the run he shot and killed State Trooper RL "Pete" Peterson Hutchins surrendered at dawn after an all-night manhunt The Rev Guy Johnson remembers a sleepless night spent listening to reports of the manhunt on his police scanner He didn't realize it then but their paths had crossed some 30 years before Hutchins had attended a revival MUkUUs44 11t towiv FOR QIL0 Ute' 118 1 ipniteecren as eft ona! 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