Inmate sentenced to death for 2017 murders of 2 Georgia prison guards

WSB Cox articles
·2 min read
21

A Georgia prisoner found guilty for the murder of two prison guards during an escape will be on death row.

A jury sentenced Ricky Dubose to the death penalty on all four counts Thursday afternoon.

In June 2017, Dubose and fellow inmate Donnie Rowe escaped from a prisoner transport bus in Putnam County. Officals said the two planned their escape and shot and killed Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue.

Dubose, 29, was serving a 20-year sentence for a 2015 armed robbery and assault in Elbert County when he escaped. He had been in prison earlier, as well.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Dubose was accused of firing the gun that killed the officers after he and Rowe slipped out of handcuffs and burst through an unlocked gate at the front of the bus.

Prosecutors say Dubose grabbed one of the officers’ weapons and shot Monica, the guard, and then Billue, the driver, both in the head. Security cameras on the bus recorded the violent escape and roughly 30 other prisoners witnessed the killings.

The defense argued that the jury should find Dubose guilty — not just because of the crime, but because Dubose is intellectually disabled and could not fully process what he was doing that day.

RELATED STORIES:

For days, deputies in both Georgia and Tennessee searched for the two inmates.

While on the run, officials said both Dubose and Rowe stole at least three different cars, broke into a home, tied up the couple inside of that home and hid out from the authorities.

Dubose and Rowe were eventually captured in Tennessee.

Rowe was convicted last year of murder in the guards’ death. A judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole after jurors could not agree on whether he should be sentenced to death.

Georgia law requires a judge to set the date for a death penalty verdict to be carried out between 20 and 60 days from sentencing. Dubose’s sentence is to be carried out no sooner than July 18 and no later than July 25, 2022.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]