The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied an appeal by death row inmate Olen Eddie Hutchison, convicted of conspiring to murder his victim to collect $800,000 in life insurance and other benefits.
A Campbell County jury convicted Hutchison in 1991 of first degree murder, conspiracy to take a life and solicitation to commit first degree murder for the 1984 drowning death of Hugh Huddleston. Hutchison, along with six co-conspirators, arranged to have the 45- year-old victim, who could not swim, pushed from a fishing boat in Norris Lake. Witnesses said Huddleston had a “father-son relationship” with a 19-year-old co-defendant and had made him beneficiary of his will.
Hutchison’s conviction and sentence of death were affirmed by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1995. The court also rejected an earlier post-conviction petition to appeal. Hutchison has federal appeals remaining in his case.