On a Sunday in December of 2017, a young man's life was cut short following a dispute at his place of work in Baldwin Borough, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The victim was 21-year-old James Hines, a male employee at a Community Options Inc. group home. The incident that led to his death began as a verbal argument between his coworker, 33-year-old James D. King, and another employee, who was also Hines's girlfriend.
When Hines intervened, telling King to leave as his shift was over, the conflict escalated and moved outside.
A witness reported seeing King go to his car, put on blue latex gloves, and retrieve a handgun. He then fired several shots at Hines. Despite being mortally wounded, Hines was able to identify his killer to the first responding police officer before being transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The cause of his death was multiple gunshot wounds.
Immediately following the shooting, James D. King fled the scene in a tan Hyundai sedan. An arrest warrant was quickly issued, charging him with homicide, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with evidence, and weapons violations. Police located his vehicle the following day, but King remained at large. For several weeks, law enforcement searched for him, and his family pleaded with him to surrender. In early January 2018, acting on a tip, sheriff's deputies found and arrested King in a vacant house on the North Side.
James D. King was held for court on all charges following a preliminary hearing in March 2018. During the hearing, a witness testified about the argument that preceded the fatal shooting. The defense attorney for King suggested that his client acted in self-defense, a claim that was refuted by the victim's family. Ultimately, King was convicted of the murder of James Hines. A subsequent appeal of the judgment of sentence, which was entered in March 2019, was unsuccessful, with the court upholding the trial's outcome based on evidence that included eyewitness testimony identifying King as the shooter.
