Last execution of McDowell convict: 1984
When a jury sentenced Stephen Monroe Buckner to death Monday, he became one of only a handful in McDowell who has faced the ultimate punishment.
Buckner was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, for killing 42-year-old Vicky Lynn Lowery, 25-year-old Rebecca Rose Buckner and 14-year-old Chelsea Nicole Gregory. He was given two death sentences and one life in prison without parole.
A check of prison records and McDowell News archives shows that three people convicted in McDowell have been put to death since 1910, when local government officials passed the power to execute to the state. The last of those was in 1984.
Since that time, only three others have been tried capitally in McDowell. One was sentenced to die but was later granted a new trial and received life, another was sentenced to life after the jury failed to make a decision and the other is Buckner.
James W. Hutchins
Even though he lived in Rutherford County and committed his crimes in Rutherford County, James W. Hutchins was tried in McDowell after the judge granted a change of venue in the case.
On May 31, 1979, Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies Owen Messersmith, 58, and Roy Huskey, 42, responded to Hutchins’ residence in reference to a domestic dispute between him and his daughter.
Hutchins shot Huskey in the head as he exited his patrol car and opened fire into Messersmith’s cruiser, killing him.
A neighbor alerted authorities to the incident, which put 37-year-old State Trooper Robert “Pete” Peterson on the lookout for the suspect and his vehicle. As Peterson drove the roads of Rutherford County, Hutchins’ car sped past him. He attempted to stop Hutchins but was gunned down. Peterson was found with a gunshot wound to the head.
Hutchins was convicted on Sept. 24, 1979 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder and was sentenced to die.
He was put to death by lethal injection on March 16, 1984, the first person to be executed in North Carolina since 1977 when the death penalty was reinstated.
Records from the N.C. Department of Corrections show that only two other men have been put to death in McDowell County – Lee Flynn on June 28, 1940 for murder and Bill Bryant on June 4, 1943 for murder. In those days, people were executed for murder, rape, burglary and arson.
No inmates were put to death in North Carolina from 1962 to 1983.
James Keith Ross
One of McDowell’s most well known murder cases is that of James Keith Ross, a Boy Scout camp caretaker who murdered two teenage boys in 1985.
The youngsters, 14 and 15, were found shot to death on Jan. 26, 1985, their bodies buried beside a grease pit at Camp Grimes.
Ross was convicted of murder that same year and received the death penalty.
In 1988, the state Supreme Court granted the defendant a new trial, ruling that the case was “severely prejudiced” when the trial judge neglected to instruct the jury on Ross’ decision not to testify.
He was again convicted in 1989 of murder but received a sentence of life in prison without parole.
He is the only person from McDowell to be removed from death row.
Larry Eugene Bowman Jr.
Larry Eugene Bowman Jr. was tried for his life in February 2004 for raping and killing 13-year-old Tiffany Lynn Freeman in her Virginia Road home on Nov. 1, 2002.
A jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of death, forcing the judge to sentence him to life in prison without parole.
Bowman, 30, remains incarcerated.
http://www2.mcdowellnews.com/news/20...984-ar-527413/
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