A Georgia inmate was found guilty of murder Thursday in the slayings of two prison guards shot during a bloody escape in 2017, leaving the jury to decide next whether the crime warrants a death sentence.
The Putnam County jury took just a few hours to convict Donnie Rowe of malice murder and other crimes in the killings of Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue, news outlets reported. The two Baldwin State Prison officers were shot with one of their own guns on a prison transport bus.
One of Rowe’s defense attorneys told jurors there was no question he had committed serious crimes. Still, lawyer Adam Levin said during closing arguments Thursday that prosecutors had failed to prove that Rowe intended for either of the guards to die.
Monica and Billue were transporting prisoners by bus in June 2017 when Rowe opened an unlocked security gate separating the guards from the inmates. Fellow inmate Ricky Dubose followed Rowe through the gate. Rowe used chains from his shackles to strike Monica, who had fallen asleep, while Dubose grabbed a gun from a weapons box and fired seven shots that killed the officers.
The fugitive inmates were arrested in Tennessee days later.
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