RALEIGH, N.C. -- Triple murderer James W. Hutchins -- already dressed in his death gown -- won a dramatic reprieve 40 minutes before his death warrant expired Friday when the state Supreme Court ruled a new date must be set for his execution.
Hutchins, 54, was to have received a lethal injection of barbituates at 6 a.m. EST Friday, but at midnight he was granted a stay by 4th District Court of Appeals Judge J. Dickson Phillips.
The state immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court -- which had rejected Hutchins' appeal on grounds of insanity Wednesday -- and prison officials indicated they needed only about half an hour's notice to execute Hutchins, whose death warrant ran out at 6 p.m.
Defense Attorney Roger Smith said he, Hutchins and a minister knelt in prayer during a meeting after the ruling came down.
'We knelt and had a brief prayer and gave thanks that James was still among the living,' said Smith.
He said Hutchins, who two years ago asked that he be executed, was 'pleased, humble and exhausted.'
'He was drawn. His facial expression was drawn,' said Smith. 'We talked to him about the effort that had been made and all the people who had been involved in (it). He seems humbled by that. He expressed his gratitude to us for that.'
The Supreme Court waited until 5:15 p.m. to issue a harshly divided 5-4 opinion vacating the stay, which dissenting Justice William Brennan called 'ghoulish.'
But Hutchins' attorneys were already before the state Supreme Court, arguing that under state law the stay issued by Phillips in Richmond, Va., automatically entitled Hutchins to a new execution date.
At 5:20 p.m., the state Supreme Court issued a brief order that 'this case be remanded to the Superior Court, McDowell County, to fix a new date for the execution.'
The Rev. Joe Ingle, who spent most of the day with the condemned man, said when word came of the reprieve Hutchins was already dressed 'in a green gown, almost like a hospital gown, and a pair of slippers they had made him change into in preparation for the execution.'
Attorneys said the ruling meant the day of nail-biting suspense which Hutchins' wife called 'torture for me and torture for him' was for nothing -- the state court would have given Hutchins the reprieve if the Supreme Court's ruling had come hours earlier.
'Mr. Hutchins seems to be relieved, pleased, humble and exhausted,' said attorney Roger Smith Friday night. 'His facial expression was drawn. We talked to him about the effort that had been made and all the people who had been involved. He seems humbled by that. He expressed his gratitude to us for that.'
'We knelt and had a brief prayer and gave thanks that James was still among th living,' Smith said.
'In a way we're relieved for the time being,' said Hutchins' son, James Vance, 20. 'I just can't tell you how I feel right now.'
The McDowell County court, where Hutchins was convicted of slaying two deputy sheriffs and a highway patrolman in a drunken rage in 1979 must set a hearing on the matter, and the execution date must be set for at least 60 days after that hearing.
Both sides in the Supreme Court ruling issued sharply-worded opinions.
The majority opinion, signed by Justice Lewis Powell,, said 'federal courts should not continue to tolerate -- even in capital cases - this type of abuse of the writ of habeus corpus.
'A pattern seems to be developing in capital cases of multiple review, in which claims that could have been presented years ago, are brought forward -- often in a piecemeal fashion -- only after the execution date is set or becomes imminent,' Powell said.
Joining in the decision to allow the execution to proceed were Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor.
Four justices angrily dissented from the court's action, with Justice William Brennan, a longtime foe of capital punishment, calling the court's action 'simply incomprehensible.'
'The most disturbing aspect of the court's decion is its indefensible -- and unexplained -- rush to judgment. When a life is at stake, the process that produces this result is surely insensitive, if not ghoulish,' he said.
Justice Thurgood Marshall said he found the 'court's haste outrageous.'
'What is incredible about this court's decision is that five members of the court have voted to vacate Judge Phillips' stay without even reading his opinion or fully considering respondent's defense of the stay.'
'In all candor, if there is an abuse of federal power in this matter, it is to be found in our own chambers,' he said.
Phillips granted the stay of execution based on a ruling by a federal judge in an unrelated case that prospective jurors could not be excluded from a trial because they oppose capital punishment. Hutchins' attorneys maintained his trial was prejudiced because jurors opposed to the death penalty were systemically excluded, and Phillips said the fact that the jury-selection issue had not been reviewed required him to grant the stay.
Prison officials said Hutchins passed his time Friday passed his time eating a grilled cheese sandwich, reading and listening to the radio.
His wife Geneva told the Raleigh Times that 'If he's going to be executed, I would rather it happen today. There's no way mentally or physically that I can go through another two weeks like these past two weeks. They can't tease me like this. it's torture for me and it's torture for him.'
Hutchins would have been the first person executed in North Carolina since 1961 and the 12th in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted its execution ban.
Central Prison Warden Nathan Rice informed Hutchins of the stay at 3 a.m., and officials said he 'smiled, pulled the covers over his head and went back to sleep.'
Hutchins was convicted of killing Rutherfordton County sheriff's deputies Roy Huskey, 48, and Owen Messersmith, 58, and Highway Patrolman Robert L. Peterson, 37, after flying into arage over the amount of vodka his daughter put in the punch for a high school graduation party.
Gov. James B. Hunt, a death penalty supporter, heard appeals for mercy from defense lawyers, Hutchins' wife, and death penalty opponents but took no action. He said he feels the court action leaves the average citizen 'bewildered and confused.'
'That's not to say defense lawyers should not do everything possible on behalf of their client,' said Hunt, adding he feels the appeals process should be modified.
The U.S. Supreme Court -- which rejected Hutchins' appeal Wednesday - had the case all day Friday before issuing, at 5:15 p.m., an order vacating the stay issued early Friday morning by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Dickson Phillips in Richmond, Va.
The Supreme Court vote was 5-4 and both sides had sharply-worded opinions. The majority opinion, signed by Justice Lewis Powell,, said 'federal courts should not continue to tolerate -- even in capital cases - this type of abuse of the writ of habeus corpus.
'A pattern seems to be developing in capital cases of multiple review, in which claims that could have been presented years ago, are brought forward -- often in a piecemeal fashion -- only after the execution date is set or becomes imminent,' Powell said.
Joining in the decision to allow the execution to proceed were Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor.
Four justices angrily dissented from the court's action, with Justice William Brennan, a longtime foe of capital punishment, calling the court's action 'ghoulish,' and 'simply incomprehensible.'
'The most disturbing aspect of the court's decion is its ... rush to judgment. When a life is at stake, the process that produces this result is surely insensitive, if not ghoulish,' he said.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, said he found the 'court's haste outrageous.'
'What is incredible about this court's decision is that five members of the court have voted to vacate Judge Phillips' stay without even reading his opinion or fully considering respondent's defense of the stay.'
'In all candor, if there is an abuse of federal power in this matter, it is to be found in our own chambers,' he said.
There was no immediate word on Hutchins' reaction to a day of what turned out to be useless waiting, since the state Supreme Court evidently would not have allowed his execution after Phillips granted the stay, irregardless of the outcome of the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prison officials said the condemned man passed his time eating a grilled cheese sandwich, reading and listening to the radio.
His wife called the minute-to-minute uncertainty 'torture for me and torture for him.'
Hutchins, 54, won a stay six hours before he was to have been executed Friday morning by lethal injection for killing two sheriff's deputies and a highway patrolman during a drunken rage May, 31, 1979.
Hutchins' death warrant expired at 6 p.m. EST, and prison officials were prepared to go through with his execution by lethal injection apparently as late as 5:30 p.m.
Hutchins would have been the first person executed in North Carolina since 1961 and the 12th in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted its execution ban.
Central Prison Warden Nathan Rice informed Hutchins of the stay at 3 a.m., and officials said he 'smiled, pulled the covers over his head and went back to sleep.'
A prison spokesman said the condemned man spent the afternoon reading the Bible, a newspaper and People magazine and listening to a radio.
His wife Geneva told the Raleigh Times that 'If he's going to be executed, I would rather it happen today. There's no way mentally or physically that I can go through another two weeks like these past two weeks. They can't tease me like this. it's torture for me and it's torture for him.'
The Rev. Joe Ingle of the Southern Coalition of Jails and Prisons visited Hutchins at 6 a.m. -- the time he had been scheduled to die -- and described him as 'calm' and 'hopeful the Holy Spirit would keep this stay intact and we could get out of the woods here.'
But Phylis Peterson Ward and Inez Peterson Barlett, sisters of one of Hutchins' vistims, did not take the stay calmly.
'I wish I could go in there and kill him myself,' Ms. Barlett said. 'What can we do. Have we got to sit back and wait on the son of a bitch to drop dead,' Mrs. Ward said.
Judge Phillips said he granted the stay of execution based on a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge James McMillan in an unrelated case in Charlotte, N.C. Judge McMillan ruled that prospective jurors could not be excluded from a trial because they oppose capital punishment.
Hutchins' attorneys have maintained his trial was prejudiced because jurors opposed to the death penalty were systemically excluded. Judge Phillips said the fact that the jury-selection issue had not been reviewed required him to grant the stay.
Gov. James B. Hunt, who supports the death penalty, has been asked to grant Hutchins a reprieve. Aides say Hunt will not make an announcement until the case has run its full course in the courts.
Hutchins, a junior high school dropout who took odd jobs as a tree trimmer, was described by those who knew him as a loving family man who became violent during frequent drinking binges.
Hutchins had been drinking the night he was convicted of killing Rutherfordton County sheriff's deputies Roy Huskey, 48, and Owen Messersmith, 58, and Highway Patrolman Robert L. Peterson, 37.
The officers had been called to Hutchins' when he began arguing with his daughter about the amount of vodka she put in a punch she was making for a high school graduation party.
