James William Hutchins was born on March 26, 1929, in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Family members described a turbulent upbringing: his father was an alcoholic who threatened his mother with a gun, and his brother Billy recalled that Hutchins had a "high-temper" and violent nature. Hutchins joined the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, trained as a rifleman, and later held jobs such as textile worker and carpenter. By the time of his arrest in 1979, he was married with three children and was unemployed.

On the evening of May 31, 1979, a domestic disturbance erupted between Hutchins and his teenage daughter over her drinking. Deputies Captain Roy Huskey and Owen Messersmith responded separately to the scene. As Huskey exited his patrol car, Hutchins shot him in the head with a high-powered rifle. Minutes later, as Messersmith arrived and backed away, Hutchins shot him through the windshield. A neighbor called for help, and confusion ensued as dispatch personnel fainted or were overwhelmed while responding. 

Unaware of the double shooting, Trooper Robert L. “Pete” Peterson pulled Hutchins over near the county line but was shot in the head during the stop. The chaotic scene of three law enforcement officers killed stunned the state. Hutchins fled but was captured the next day, June 1, 1979, hiding after a 12-hour, multi-agency manhunt. 

At his September 1979 trial, Hutchins pleaded not guilty but was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. The jury sentenced him to death by gas chamber, with the presiding judge calling him “the most dangerous man I’ve ever seen” . His execution date was set, delayed due to legal appeals, and ultimately carried out on March 16, 1984, by lethal injection — the first execution in North Carolina since 1977. Hutchins declined to make any final statement and requested a steak sandwich and soft drink as his last meal.