EATONTON, Ga. — Ricky Allen Dubose was back in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton for the second time in as many weeks Thursday as pre-trial motion testimony continued focus on the time he and a co-defendant Donnie Rowe were taken into custody in Rutherford County, Tennessee following the June 13, 2017 shooting deaths of two state corrections officers.

Dubose and Rowe are accused of having shot to death Georgia Department of Corrections Sgt. Curtis Billue and Sgt. Christopher “Chris” Monica during an escape from a state prison transport bus near Eatonton last summer. The men then led local, state and federal authorities on a nationwide manhunt that ended with their surrender at a residence in Rutherford County.

It followed a home invasion in which an SUV was stolen in Bedford County, Tennessee. The escapees later shot at deputy sheriffs along Interstate 24 before they wrecked and then became the subject of an intensified manhunt involving multiple agencies.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley is seeking the death penalty against both defendants. Separate trials are set for Dubose and Rowe.

Five witnesses testified before Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Alison T. Burleson prior to a lunch break Thursday.

One of those witnesses was Joey Vann, a 10-year veteran deputy with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee.

Vann was asked by Chief Assistant District Attorney Allison Mauldin a series of questions about what led up to the apprehension of Dubose.

Vann was one of several lawmen involved in the manhunt after the subsequent shooting involving deputies during a high-speed chase along an interstate highway and the wreck that followed. 

The deputy said he had been patrolling in another area of the county when he heard that a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) had been posted for two men who had been involved in a home invasion in the neighboring county of Bedford, Tennessee earlier on the afternoon of June 15, 2017.

Vann said when he heard that some of his fellow deputies were being fired upon by one of the suspects from the backseat of the SUV, he headed to render assistance.

After the suspects wrecked the stolen vehicle, they got out and fled from authorities on foot.

Vann said he and a fellow deputy helped set up a perimeter nearby and that an intensified ground search, as well as air search by helicopters, began a short time later.

It wasn’t long before Vann, armed with his rifle outside his patrol car, and the other deputy received radio information that a resident nearby had spotted two men in the wood line, off a nearby road.

Vann said he and the other deputy immediately went to the area and drove down a long graveled driveway to a residence where two shirtless men were discovered laying on the ground.

Before deputies spotted the two men, who later turned out to be Dubose and Rowe, they had received information that two men were possibly attempting to break into a house where a gun was known to be inside.

Vann said he and the deputy with him were concerned at the time, thinking about the possibility that they could be ambushed if the men got into the house and found the gun.

Mauldin asked Vann what he told the men laying on the ground when they arrived at the residence, and the deputy replied, “Don’t move or you will die if you do.”

Vann said he remembered telling the men to comply with their (deputy) commands.

Vann said both men laid on the ground as authorities at the scene figured out what to do next.

Vann said both men were handcuffed and recalled that Dubose asked him not to place the handcuffs so tight on his right wrist because he had injured it.

The deputy said Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Task Force Paramedic Mike Johnson later evaluated Dubose’s wrist.

Vann, along with a sheriff’s office detective, later drove Dubose to the Rutherford County Detention Center where he was booked and interviewed by a special agent with the FBI, as well as a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Vann said Dubose and Rowe were never together. They were placed in separate interview rooms after being booked by jail personnel.

Nathaniel Studelski, who along with Gabrielle Pittman, are defending Dubose in the death penalty case, also asked Vann several questions.

Asked what he told the men at the scene when he first saw them, Vann told Studelski, “Don’t reach for anything or you’ll get shot.”

Vann also said the men stayed on the ground approximately 20 minutes before they were placed inside separate patrol cars where they stayed about 30 minutes.

Another witness called to testify Thursday, meanwhile, was FBI Special Agent David W. Street, who is assigned to the Knoxville, Tenn. field office.

Street told Mauldin that his partner, Special Agent Steve Brooks had received information from the Atlanta field office about some leads related to the Georgia escapees possibly being in the Coffee County, Tennessee. area since Rowe’s brother and sister-in-law live there.

The FBI agent said he and Brooks checked out a couple of different leads in Coffee County, as well as one in Bedford County.

Street said on the afternoon the escapees surrendered that he had just gotten home from a training session and received a telephone call from Brooks informing him about the possible capture of the escapees in Rutherford County.

Street said he left his residence and drove there.

He said he later identified himself to the sheriff’s office command staff at the scene and asked if they had gotten confirmation as to the identities of the men in custody.

Street said the men still were laying on the concrete driveway when he arrived.

Street said he suggested to the sheriff and his command staff members that he establish confirmation that the men in custody were the Georgia escapees wanted on two counts of murder of two state corrections officers.

The FBI agent said he then suggested that the inmates be placed in the back seats of separate patrol cars.

The sheriff issued the order for his deputies to do as suggested by Street.

Street said he happened to have a wanted poster in his vehicle and that he showed it to Dubose and asked him, “Is this you?”

Street said Dubose responded affirmatively.

“He (Dubose) was very calm,” Street said. “He was very tired.”

Street said it appeared to him that both men seemed relieved more than anything.

Dubose is expected to appear back in Putnam County Superior Court on Aug. 1 for another motion hearing.

A trial date has yet to be set in the case.