saying he killed him in self-defense. Hutchins was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison and paroled in 1959. While in prison, an official wrote "prognosis for future behavior is poor has a very poor attitude." Hutchins returned to North Carolina after his release. In December 1966, Hutchins was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after attacking the husband of his ex-wife. He was given a suspended 8-month sentence and fined $200. Hutchins received two more convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and driving under the influence in 1969. He received a 6-month sentence. Afterwards, he served another four months in jail for driving with a revoked license. The murders on May 31, 1979 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 attacked his daughter, reportedly for using vodka, and he then attacked other family members who tried to intervene to protect her. His daughter fled to a neighbor's house where the sheriff's office was called. Rutherford County deputy sheriff's Captain Roy Huskey, 42, and Deputy Owen Messersmith, 58, arrived separately at the Hutchins residence. Hutchins shot Captain Huskey in the head with a high-powered rifle from within his home as the officer exited his patrol car. Deputy Messersmith was dispatched several minutes later to check on the captain, who had not radioed or called in. 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 patrol car drifted across the road, coming to rest in a ditch. The fallen officer's body was slumped across the steering wheel, causing the horn to blow continuously. Immediately after the shootings, Hutchins fled the scene in his car, still armed with his high-powered rifle. A frantic neighbor called the sheriff's office to report that two deputies had been shot in the Hutchins driveway. The radio dispatcher on duty fainted at the news. A jailer in the jail office across the hall heard the unattended radio and went to see why no one was responding