[2] Hutchins was widely feared, known in Rutherford County as a violent and dangerous man with a short fuse, who would attack others for a minor or no reason.

[2] In December 1966, Hutchins was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after attacking the husband of his ex-wife.

[2] On the night of May 31, 1979, Rutherford County deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call involving Hutchins and his teenage daughter, who was preparing for her high school graduation that evening and making an alcoholic drink for a party afterward.

Hutchins shot Captain Huskey in the head with a high-powered rifle from within his home as the officer exited his patrol car.

Upon arriving at the Hutchins's home, Messersmith saw the captain lying beside his vehicle and realized that Huskey had been fatally shot.

As he shifted into reverse and started to back away to cover, Hutchins shot Messersmith in the head through the windshield of his patrol car.

The jailer did not know to notify state highway patrol regional headquarters in Asheville, of the situation, delaying the description of the shooter and his vehicle getting to troopers.

The jailer attending the phones also did not know how to use the new North Carolina Statewide Police Information Network computer system, the NC link to the FBI's nationwide National Crime Information Center, which could have enabled fast communications between the agencies in lieu of the overloaded phone lines.

North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Robert L. "Pete" Peterson, 37, a US Army veteran, who had served in combat in the Vietnam War.

He was deeply well-liked and respected as a poster trooper among fellow law enforcement officers and the local citizens.

Peterson radioed state highway patrol dispatchers in Asheville and asked them to call the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and find out what was happening.

Peterson turned and pursued, apparently thinking he was simply a speeder, unaware that the suspect had just murdered two sheriff's deputies.

Peterson's last radio transmission to Highway Patrol Headquarters was to give his location just north of Rutherfordton and to say the suspect had fled on foot.

Responding troopers found Peterson slumped by the driver's side of his patrol car suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

Hutchins was granted a stay of execution based on claims that his trial was prejudiced because jurors opposed to the death penalty were systemically excluded.

Hutchins, a poor white male, was noted by politicians to be a "perfect poster boy" to execute prior to the fall election, in order to project Hunt as a tough on crime conservative democrat.

[14] Hunt lost the Senate race to Jesse Helms by a substantial margin, but was re-elected as governor in 1992 and again in 1996 for two more terms.

[21] A previous incident similar to the Rutherford County murders occurred in 1975 when North Carolina Highway Patrolman G.T.

After these incidents, the State Highway Patrol made a concerted effort to have better and timelier communications with local law enforcement agencies.

[15] Trooper Robert L. "Pete" Peterson was a former US Army and Vietnam veteran who had joined the State Highway Patrol in 1969.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation also dedicated a portion of U.S. 221 in Rutherford County in honor of Trooper Peterson.