In the spring of 1991, a string of burglaries in the Phoenix area took a tragic and violent turn, culminating in the death of 65-year-old James McClain. Approximately two weeks after the murder of another resident, Christine Mertens, two half-brothers, James McKinney and Charles Hedlund, broke into McClain's home. They found him asleep in his bed and shot him in the back of the head at close range with a sawed-off rifle.
After ending McClain's life, McKinney and Hedlund proceeded to
burglarize his home, stealing his watch, three handguns, and his car. Their crime spree, however, did not go unsolved. Both men were eventually apprehended and faced justice for their brutal actions.
In 1992, separate juries convicted both McKinney and Hedlund. McKinney was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of both McClain and Mertens, in addition to burglary and theft charges. Hedlund was convicted of first-degree murder for McClain's death and second-degree murder for the death of Mertens, along with the same theft and burglary charges. The following year, both men were sentenced to death for their roles in these heinous crimes and have been on Arizona's death row since.
