The death penalty trial of Ricky Dubose is now in its second phase as jurors returned with their verdict around 7 p.m. tonight (Monday, June 13). The sentencing phase begins tomorrow.
The panel of jurors from Glynn County left the Putnam County Superior Courtroom around 5:15 p.m. with boxes and boxes of evidence to begin their deliberations concerning whether Dubose was guilty of murder or guilty but mentally and intellectually disabled.
An hour and 45 minutes later, they returned, and Putnam County Clerk of Court Trevor Addison read their verdict of guilty on two counts of malice murder, two counts felony murder, one count escape and one count hijacking a motor vehicle.
Dubose is one of two inmates accused of shooting to death Georgia Department of Corrections officers Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue on a GDOC transport bus that was traveling through Putnam County on June 13, 2017. Billue was driving the bus, and Monica was guarding. They were transferring approximately 30 prisoners from Baldwin and Hancock State prisons to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson.
The slayings happened while the bus was traveling on the roadway of Georgia State Route 16. After killing the two officers on the bus, Dubose and Rowe escaped the bus and subsequently led authorities on a three-day manhunt across state lines before being captured in Tennessee.
A few days after the murders, the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office announced the death penalty would be sought on both Dubose and his co-defendant, Donnie Rowe. Rowe’s trial was held in September 2021 in Putnam County. The jury, made up of Grady County jurors, returned with a guilty verdict on all counts including the malice and felony murder charges. However, the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty, so Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell sentenced Rowe to two consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the time of the murders, Rowe was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a prior armed robbery conviction.
Dubose's trial began Wednesday, June 1, with Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Alison T. Burleson presiding. Judge Burleson recessed the trial June 3-8. The sentencing phase will begin tomorrow, and jurors will decide if Dubose gets the death penalty or life in prison.
See this week's issue of The Eatonton Messenger for more on the trial.