Two inmates who allegedly killed two correctional officers as they escaped a prison bus in June were indicted on murder and other felony charges Tuesday.
The district attorney for Putnam County, where Sgts. Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica were killed while transporting a busload of inmates, also laid out the aggravating circumstances that justified seeking the death penalty against Ricky Dubose and Donnie Russell Rowe. Both inmates were serving lengthy prison sentences at the time of their escapes.
Dubose was already serving life without parole for a Bibb County armed robbery, and Lowe was serving 20 years without parole for an Elbert County armed robbery.
Both were indicted on two counts each of malice murder and felony murder and one count each of escape and carjacking.
According to authorities, Dubose and Lowe were among 33 inmates being transported to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison near Jackson when the two allegedly freed themselves of their handcuffs and broke through a metal door that separated the two officers from the prisoners. Dubose and Lowe allegedly used the officers' unsecured guns to shoot them and then they took the car of a motorist who pulled up behind the bus stopped on Georgia 16 in Putnam County.
The two were captured in Tennessee after three days on the run.
District Attorney Stephen Bradley, who prosecutes in the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, said at the time that he planned to ask for the death penalty if the two are ultimately convicted of murdering the officers.
On Tuesday, he filed formal notice of the aggravating circumstances that justified seeking the death penalty.
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