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Thread: Donnie Russell Rowe Sentenced to LWOP in 2017 GA Murders of Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica

  1. #41
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Qualifying of prospective jurors nearly complete in death penalty case

    Testimony in the death penalty murder trial of Donnie Russell Rowe Jr. could begin next week in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

    Qualifying prospective jurors continued Wednesday morning in Grady County Superior Court where members of the prosecution team, along with defense attorneys questioned prospective jurors.

    As of Wednesday morning, 47 prospective jurors had been qualified, according to Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale Jr.

    The district attorney said 57 prospective jurors had to be qualified before attorneys can begin the process of striking jurors. A 12-person jury and five alternates will be selected from the qualified group of prospective jurors.

    Jury selection is now in its 3rd week there in Grady County.

    Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell, who will preside over the jury trial once it begins, is also overseeing jury selection in Grady County. Once a 12-person jury and five alternates are selected, they will then pack up and board a rented bus that will take them from Grady County to Putnam County where they will be sequestered for the duration of the trial.

    Once a jury is selected to hear the testimony and facts of the case, it would then become the responsibility of jurors to decide the innocence or guilt of the defendant. If found guilty those same jurors will decide whether he should be a given a life sentence in prison or be executed by the state.

    Rowe and co-defendant, Ricky Dubose, are each accused of shooting to death Georgia Department of Corrections Sgt. Curtis Billue and Sgt. Christopher Monica aboard a state prison transfer bus on June 13, 2017.

    Authorities said the corrections officers were shot with their own state-issued 9mm handguns.

    The double-murder case of the veteran corrections officers, both of whom worked out of Baldwin State Prison and lived in Baldwin County, happened on Ga. Route 16, between Long Shoals Road and Eatonon.

    After the fatal shootings of Billue and Monica, Rowe and Dubose escaped from the bus. A nationwide manhunt was launched by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities, which was led by Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills. The two escapees are accused of stealing a pickup truck in Morgan County and then driving to Tennessee where they continued a crime spree, including reportedly having committed a home invasion where they threatened the lives of an elderly couple.

    Rowe and Dubose reportedly stole the couple’s SUV and later became involved in shooting at deputy sheriff’s in Rutherford County before they subsequently surrendered to authorities at a nearby residence.

    Trial testimony in the Rowe case could last up to three weeks, Barksdale said.

    Dubose, meanwhile, will not stand trial for the murders of the state corrections officers until sometime next year. Jurors in that case will be selected from Glynn County in Brunswick and be sequestered like jurors in the Rowe trial. That trial will also be held in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

    (source: The Union-Recorder)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #42
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jury impaneled in Donnie Rowe trial

    Attorneys finished qualifying the final pool of 57 jurors on Thursday, and then whittled it down to the final 12 (plus alternates) on Friday morning.

    Defense lawyers and prosecutors have agreed on a jury for double-murder suspect Donnie Rowe.

    He's 1 of 2 men accused of killing two corrections officers aboard a prison bus in Putnam County in 2017.

    Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says lawyers picked 12 jurors and 5 alternates on Friday morning. It breaks down to 9 women and 8 men.

    The court will transport the jurors from Grady County up to Eatonton for the trial, which could start on Monday.

    Rowe previously pleaded not guilty to 2 counts of murder, 1 count of hijacking a motor vehicle and 1 count of escape in April 2018.

    He could face the death penalty, if convicted.

    On Thursday, attorneys finished qualifying the final pool of 57 jurors and planned to strike them Friday.

    (source: WMAZ news)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #43
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    Juror in death penalty case tests positive for COVID-19

    Billy Hobbs

    EATONTON, Ga. — Before testimony began in the death penalty murder trial of Donnie Russell Rowe Jr. on Monday, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell announced that one of the jurors has tested positive for COVID-19.

    The discussion concerning the new development was conducted without jurors present in the Putnam County Courtroom.

    The juror had already informed court officials during jury questioning in Grady County Superior Court in Cairo several days ago that he had been exposed to someone with the disease.

    The juror’s positive test result means that the juror will need to quarantine for 10 days, Trammell told prosecution and defense attorneys.

    “So, the court is going to excuse him,” Trammell said, noting that the juror would be replaced by an alternate.

    Adam S. Levin, one of three defense attorneys representing Rowe, objected to the juror’s dismissal and sought a delay in the start of the trial.

    “I can tell you that I’ve seen the test results, and he is positive, and the (Georgia) Department of Public Health has indicated that he must quarantine for at least 10 days,” Trammell said. “I don’t know if he will develop symptoms. He was asymptomatic at the time we heard.”

    The judge said she would not postpone the start of the trial.

    “I am not going to delay the trial,” Trammell said. “I am going to replace him with an alternate juror.”

    Trammell said she would replace the ill juror with the first alternate.

    “My order is subject to my reconsideration once I have time to review the motion that has been filed by the defense,” Trammell said.

    She informed Rowe’s lead defense attorney, Franklin J. Hogue, of Hogue & Hogue, LLP, of Macon, that he could go ahead and argue her decision.

    “You can go ahead and argue if you’d like,” the judge told the defense attorney.

    Hogue replied that if Trammell was going to wait to make her decision after she had a chance to read the motion that he could argue it afterward.

    “So, what I’m telling you right now is that alternate No. 1 would move into that spot,” Trammell said. “That alternate is not going to know the difference one way or the other.”

    The judge said none of the 16 jurors know which jurors will decide the case.

    “We have not told them anything,” Trammell said. “We’ve not said to whomever. Now look, we all know that jurors may be smart, they may know where they’re going to be, but it’s not because we’ve told them that, all right.”

    The judge reiterated that she was moving alternate No. 1.

    She said the matter would be addressed with attorneys on both sides before deliberations began in the case.

    https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/j...5d0fb7568.html
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  4. #44
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutor describes inmates' plan to kill officers

    By Billy Hobbs
    Union-Recorder

    EATONTON, Ga. — Prosecutors in the death penalty murder trial of Donnie Russell “Whiskey” Rowe Jr. believe he and co-defendant Ricky Dubose premeditated the murder of two state corrections officers aboard a prison transport bus so they could both escape.

    But that’s not what defense attorneys contend. They believe the events of Tuesday, June 13, 2017, were more spur of the moment rather than planned.

    For a little less than an hour after the trial began Monday morning, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Senior Assistant District Attorney Dawn Baskin laid out to jurors what she and other members of the prosecution team believe happened that led to the murders of Sgt. Curtis Billue and Sgt. Christopher Monica on that Tuesday four years ago.

    Rowe is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, escape and hijacking a motor vehicle.

    “In this case, the state alleges and will prove that Donnie Rowe acted together and with the party to a crime, Ricky Dubose, on June 13, 2017, here in Putnam County, Ga. with malice, aforethought, causing the death of Curtis Billue, by shooting Curtis Billue,”

    Baskin told jurors in opening statements.

    Billue was 58 at the time of his death.

    Baskin said the same was true when Rowe and Dubose, acting together as parties to a crime, shot and killed Christopher Monica, 42.

    The senior assistant district attorney said the same was also true for what the men did to victims in counts three and four of the grand jury indictment involving felony murder.

    In that instance, Rowe and Dubose, again acting as parties to the crime while committing the felony of escape, caused the deaths of Billue and Monica, both of whom were sergeants assigned with the Georgia Department of Corrections. The victims were both assigned to the transportation unit of Baldwin State Prison near Milledgeville.

    Dubose, who is charged with the same offenses as Rowe, will be tried separately. His trial is set for next year in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

    Earlier on Monday, the 12 jurors who will decide the case, along with four alternates, were given strict instructions not to read or research accounts of media coverage about the case during the duration of the trial. The jurors were selected from Grady County and will be sequestered during the trial.

    Jurors were chosen from Grady County because of pretrial publicity surrounding the death penalty case.

    None of the jurors have been told whether they are members of the 12-person jury or which of them are serving as alternates.

    “We have already evoked the rule of sequestration, so if there are any witnesses in the courtroom, I need for the attorneys to make sure that you have identified them and ask them to wait outside,” Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell said.

    Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III followed up by asking that Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills be allowed to stay in the courtroom for assistance to the prosecution team.

    Franklin J. Hogue, Rowe’s lead defense attorney, later discussed the request with Adam S. Levin, who along with Erin L. Wallace, is assisting in the defense. After the consultation, Sills was allowed to stay but all other witnesses were told to remain outside the courtroom until they were called to testify.

    Baskin pointed out during her opening statements that the state must prove the crimes against Rowe during this trial.

    “June 13, 201,7 was a Tuesday morning, an ordinary Tuesday morning for Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica,” Baskin said.

    She provided background on each of the victims, related to where they were assigned as state employees with the Georgia Department of Corrections.

    “The evidence will show that it was a day (June 13, 2017) that Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose had been planning for,” Baskin said. “On June 13, 2017, Donnie Rowe was about six weeks away from turning 44.”

    She provided jurors with some of his background as a convicted felon.

    In 2002, Rowe was convicted of armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during a crime. The conviction happened in Macon-Bibb County.

    At the time of the murders of Billue and Monica, Rowe was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    Baskin said Rowe was taken to Baldwin State Prison on June 8, 2017, and housed in the “K” Dorm.

    Rowe was being transferred from that prison to Valdosta State Prison on the morning of June 13, 2017.

    Dubose, meanwhile, had just turned 24 — 14 days before the murders and subsequent escape from the state transport bus in Putnam County.

    Dubose was serving time for aggravated assault, armed robbery and theft. He was serving a sentence of 20 years in prison on a three-count conviction in Elbert County.

    He had been housed in the “K” Dorm of Baldwin State Prison since May 24, 2017.

    Dubose was being transferred to Hayes State Prison on the morning of June 13, 2017.

    Baskin said evidence will show that Rowe and Dubose were in another prison together on Oct. 11, 2016, and May 23, 2017.

    The two men had previously shared the same dorm at Macon State Prison for approximately 13 days.

    Dubose showed up at Baldwin State Prison on May 24, 2017, while Rowe arrived there on June 8, 2017.

    “The evidence will show that they were in the same dorm,” Baskin said.

    The senior assistant district attorney said there were a couple of video cameras onboard the state transport prison bus on the morning of the murders and escape. One was located in the rear of the bus, while the other one was located in the front section of the bus.

    The camera in the front of the bus was not pointing toward the driver, Curtis Billue, or his partner, Christopher Monica, who was seated nearby.

    Baskin told jurors that they will see the video and hear the audio from inside the bus on the morning of the crimes.

    The prosecution began calling witnesses to testify after opening statements were offered by attorneys on both sides.

    Rowe’s lead defense attorney, Hogue, meanwhile, contended that there was no premeditation as alleged by the prosecution.

    “It was hardly a plot,” Hogue told jurors. “And it was barely planned. Preparation, such as it was, began on the bus.”

    He said the crimes were not planned by Rowe and Dubose some 255 days beforehand when they spent time together at another prison.

    Hogue said the crimes were not planned at all prior to that day.

    “There was no one on the outside waiting down the road with a change of clothes, a car full of gas, a lot of money, no clear destination, nobody waiting in a prearranged place,” Hogue said.

    “It all happened right there on the bus.”

    Testimony was to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Putnam County Superior Court.

    https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/p...e27625f38.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #45
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    State rests in death penalty murder trial of Donnie Rowe Jr.

    By Billy Hobbs
    Union-Recorder

    EATONTON, Ga. — After calling 28 witnesses to testify in the death penalty double-murder trial of Donnie Russell Rowe Jr., the state has rested its case in just three days.

    The trial began Monday morning in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

    Rowe and co-defendant Ricky Dubose are accused of two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, escape and hijacking of a motor vehicle.

    Dubose will be tried separately. His trial isn’t slated until sometime next year.

    Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III announced that the state rested its case shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

    Minutes later, Rowe was asked a series of questions by Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell, who is presiding over the trial.

    Rowe stood with his defense attorneys and responded to the questions, one of which included whether or not he planned to testify in his own defense. Rowe indicated he did not wish to testify.

    The defendant also indicated he understood his rights to testify or to not testify.

    The judge informed Rowe that his decision was his own — not that of his attorneys or anyone else.

    Trammell also told Rowe that his decision not to testify could not be held against him by the jury.

    It has not yet been decided whether the defense team will call any witnesses. That decision is expected to be made Thursday morning.

    The judge and attorneys are expected to meet at 8:30 a.m. to determine the final charges as to how they relate to what jurors will be instructed.

    https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/s...055b6fd5a.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #46
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    UPDATE: Jury finds Rowe guilty on all 6 counts in double murder

    By Billy Hobbs
    Union-Recorder

    A jury of seven women and five men deliberated three hours and 45 minutes and found Donnie Rowe Jr. guilty on all six counts related to the murders of two state corrections officers in July 2017.

    Deliberations began shortly after the noon hour Thursday.

    Trial testimony lasted less than four days. Court officials had previously thought trial testimony might last up to three weeks.

    Rowe and co-defendant Ricky Dubose are accused of two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, escape and hijacking of a motor vehicle.

    Dubose will be tried separately. His trial isn’t slated until sometime next year.

    The trial began Monday morning in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

    The same jury of men and women will determine the convicted murderer’s sentence on Friday.

    https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/u...6070e350f.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #47
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    UPDATE: Jurors heard from a woman who says Rowe & Dubose held her & husband at gunpoint

    By Greg Loyd
    WGXA News

    EATONTON, Ga. (WGXA)- For more than two hours, jurors in the penalty phase of the Donnie Rowe capital murder trial heard from a Tennessee woman who identified Rowe and his alleged accomplice Ricky Dubose as the two men who held her and her husband hostage during a home invasion.

    A tearful Becky Hickerson recounted how the men who invaded her Bedford County, Tenn. home on the afternoon of June 15, 2017, spent three hours holding her and her husband Bob at gunpoint.

    Hickerson said during the ordeal the men demanded clothes, money, food, and a car.

    Hickerson said earlier that same day, she and her husband saw a TV news story warning that Rowe and Dubose could be in middle Tennessee after escaping from Putnam County following the murders of the two Baldwin State Prison guards, Christopher LaMonica and Curtis Billue.

    Hickerson said that the pair tied her and her husband up. She said before they left— they made a final threat. Hickerson said they said if the couple didn’t blame the home invasion on two Black men, they would return and murder them.

    Hickerson said when she heard the men driving away in their Jeep, the couple worked to free themselves. Once they were free and able to call 911, the couple did not hesitate in offering authorities their captors true descriptions, including telling them they believed them to be Rowe and Dubose.

    Bob Hickerson could not be in court with his wife today because he recently died from COVID.

    However, the jury heard his 911 call and saw him corroborate his wife’s story through police body camera footage.

    Before the lunch recess, 10 prosecution witnesses took the stand this morning in day two of the penalty phase of the Donnie Rowe murder trial.

    Prosecutors appear to be using their testimonies regarding a wide range of experiences to piece together a colorful and revealing tapestry of the character of convicted double murderer Rowe.

    Among those taking the stand so far include a woman whose home was burglarized in Madison, Ga. just hours after officers Curtis Billue and Christopher LaMonica were murdered in Putnam County.

    She testified to coming home and finding someone had broken into her residence. Amid the mess left behind was a prison uniform someone discarded before taking a shower.

    Officers who responded to the Madison burglary scene also testified to the condition of the home and the discovery of the prison uniform.

    Prosecutors also called a man whose truck was stolen from Georgia shortly after the murders— and his testimony was followed by a detective who told of discovering that stolen truck behind a rural Tennessee church that had been vandalized and broken into.

    Testimony is set to resume at 12:50 pm this afternoon.

    The second day of the penalty phase in the Donnie Rowe murder trial is underway.

    The morning started with the prosecution calling witnesses testifying about Rowe’s character and criminal conduct both before and after he murdered two Baldwin State Prison guards in 2017.

    A retired TelfIair State Prison guard took the stand first this morning.

    Ella Smith testified about an encounter with Rowe back in 2016 while he was incarcerated at the Teffair State Prison.

    Smith said Rowe skipped the breakfast call one morning in April 2016. After the other prisoners in his block had already completed the breakfast call, Smith testified Rowe began violently banging on the door, cursing at her and demanding to be admitted to the mess hall.

    Smith said when she told him no that Rowe threatened her.

    The defense team attempted to counter her testimony by asking if she wrote Rowe up for disciplinary action. Smith confirmed that she had.

    The defense then produced a jail document that indicated Rowe admitted his guilt in the incident with Smith and was punished by the prison.

    The testimony after Smith is now focusing on witnesses testimony discussing Rowe’s activities after killing the guards and escaping.

    In this penalty phase that started Friday, both the prosecution and defense will call witnesses testifying to Rowe’s character.

    Then, the same jury who convicted Rowe on Thursday will decide if he should spend life in prison or be sentenced to death.

    https://wgxa.tv/news/local/former-pr...-penalty-phase
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #48
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    Donnie Rowe sentenced to life without parole for killing two Georgia corrections officers

    The jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision on the death penalty after deliberating for part of Tuesday and Wednesday

    EATONTON, Ga. — For the second time in the last week, jurors have decided the fate of Donnie Rowe -- this time in the sentencing phase of his trial.

    The jury could not come to a unanimous decision about the death penalty after deliberating for several hours across Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

    As a result, he was sentenced to life without parole.

    Rowe was convicted Thursday with the murders of Georgia corrections officers Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica. They’re the two officers who were killed on a prison transport bus in Putnam County in summer 2017.

    The trial for Ricky Dubose, the other inmate accused in their deaths, is slated for May 2022.…

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.13w...5-831327791239

  9. #49
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    The death penalty in Georgia is truly dead. They can’t even sentence someone like this to death. Their last true death sentence was back in 2014. If they don’t restart soon Stacey Abrams will definitely come in and commute them all.
    Last edited by Neil; 09-29-2021 at 08:39 PM.

  10. #50
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Maybe because, if I remember correctly, he was not the shooter. It was Dubose who shot both officers.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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