Alleged corrections officers killer to get change of venue
A judge on Wednesday ordered the prosecution and attorneys for Ricky Dubose, who confessed to killing two corrections officers last year in Putnam County, to come up with alternative sites for the defendant’s murder trial.
The state agreed to the change of venue out of “an abundance of caution.” The new venue must be outside of the Atlanta and Macon media markets and feature similar demographics to Putnam County. Suggestions for the alternate trial site must be submitted to the judge by August 13.
Ricky Dubose said he and fellow inmate Donnie Rowe, who are both facing the death penalty if convicted, shooting Sgts. Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue with their own guns in order to escape from a prison transport bus.
They led authorities on a three-day manhunt that ended in a rural residential neighborhood off Interstate 24.
Dubose and Rowe pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, each.