Rutherfordton and to say the suspect had fled on foot. At the time Peterson stopped Hutchins, communication between the highway patrol HQ and the sheriff's office was restored, and troopers realized that Peterson may have unknowingly encountered the killer of the deputies. Both on and off-duty troopers began to speed to his location when he did not check in again. Responding troopers found Peterson slumped by the driver's side of his patrol car suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. His patrol car was stopped on the northbound shoulder of a sharp curve on US 221, a distance behind Hutchins' car which was stopped near the tree line. Peterson's revolver was drawn and had been fired one time. His body position was consistent with using his vehicle's engine block for cover, a standard tactic for troopers. Manhunt and arrest James Hutchins was captured in a dense thicket in Rutherford County on June 1, 1979, after a 12-hour search conducted by over 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officers from across western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. The manhunt was depicted in a 1987 feature film, Damon's Law, also known as "The Rutherford County Line." The film, shot on location by North Carolina producer Earl Owensby, portrays Rutherford County Sheriff Damon Huskey hunting for the man who killed his brother, Sheriff's Deputy Roy Huskey. Due to the widespread anger of residents in Rutherford County, Hutchins was jailed the next day in Shelby Cleveland County, North Carolina for his own safety. He was later transferred to the more-secure Buncombe County Jail in Asheville, North Carolina. Hutchin's triple murder trial As the trial opened on September 17, 1979, Hutchins pleaded not guilty following the prosecutor's demand that he should be executed. Days later, the jury found Hutchins guilty of two counts of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder. The same jury ruled that Hutchins should die in the state's gas chamber. Presiding Judge Donald Smith referred to Hutchins as "the most dangerous man I've ever seen." Appeals and execution Superior Court Judge Lacy Thornburg, who would later serve as State Attorney General and as a federal judge, set Hutchins's execution date for October 15, 1981, though further appeals pushed that date back. On September 8, 1983, a new execution date was set for January 13, 1984. On January 6, leading up to his execution, James Hutchins