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Thursday, March 24, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

1946: Born in Leadville, Colo., raised in Nevada.

1960: Sentenced to the state's juvenile facility in Elko for stabbing a man.

1964: Rapes a woman near Sunrise Mountain after beating her with a stick that had a protruding nail. Receives a 20-year sentence.

1976: Paroled. Fails in an attempt to kill a man and sexually assaults the man's girlfriend. Parole is revoked.

1978: Serves out his sentence for the Sunrise Mountain rape and is released. On May 14, shoots Harry "Jimmy" Heverly in the back of the head while robbing him, but fails to kill him. Sexually assaults Heverly's girlfriend. On July 9, meets two women in a Las Vegas motel and rapes them. Is later arrested.

1979: Convicted in January of the double rape. A short time later, kills cellmate Jack Nobles following a dispute. Sentenced to three life terms plus 75 years for the rapes. On Aug. 25, obtains a gun and takes hostages in a jail takeover that lasts two days, ending in a shootout that leaves two prisoners dead.

1980: Pleads guilty to charges in the jail shootout and is sentenced in February to 92 more years in prison. In March, sentenced to death for killing Nobles.

1982: Murder conviction and death penalty overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court in January because testimony from McKenna's psychiatrist was improperly permitted as evidence. In August is again convicted of murdering Nobles and sentenced to death.

1996: The U.S. Supreme Court on April 15 grants a new death penalty hearing. Amid tight security in the Clark County Courthouse, a 10-woman, two-man jury on Sept. 19 sentences McKenna to death.

1998: The Nevada Supreme Court in late November upholds death penalty. The state's high court rules unanimously that the presence of heavy security did not influence jurors into imposing the death penalty, as McKenna contends.

1999: The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 12 dismisses without comment an appeal to overturn death penalty.

2004: One of McKenna's 1979 rape victims, Gina Johnson, releases a self-published book,"Is Heaven Big Enough for Both of Us?" She chronicles her fears, both during the rape and in the years after.

2005: March marks the 25th anniversary of McKenna's initial death sentence.