Defense attorney: Dubose guilty of killing officers, but mentally ill

Jun. 2—EATONTON, Ga. — The lead defense attorney for Ricky Allen Dubose admitted in opening statements Wednesday that he is guilty of killing two state corrections officers, but that his guilt is associated with an intellectual disability and mental illness.

That's what Amber Pittman told jurors listening to testimony and viewing evidence in Dubose's double-murder trial. The trial is being held in Putnam County Superior Court in Eatonton.

"Ricky Dubose owned up to what he did," Pittman said. "He accepted full responsibility for what he did."

Dubose is on trial for the shooting deaths of Sgt. Curtis Billue and Sgt. Christopher Monica on June 13, 2017, during an escape from a state prison transport bus in Putnam County. Both officers lived in Baldwin County and worked out of the transportation unit at Baldwin State Prison near Milledgeville.

"This case is about a terrible crime — a terrible crime that was committed by an intellectually disabled man, suffering from untreated mental illness," Pittman told the jurors, who were selected from Glynn County. "You already know that Ricky Dubose shot and killed two corrections officers while escaping from a bus."

She also informed jurors that her client was a member of a gang known as The Ghost-face Gangsters.

"But that's not the whole story," Pittman said. "And we're here to tell you the whole story because the whole story matters. It matters because the truth matters."

During the shooting of the state corrections officers and subsequent escape, Dubose followed co-conspirator Donnie Rowe through that gate on the bus, the defense attorney said.

"He followed Donnie Rowe into making a series of terrible decisions with tragic consequences," Pittman said.

She told jurors that was only part of the story.

But the whole story matters.

And over the next several weeks, Pittman said jurors will hear that whole story.

Again, Pittman said the story is a tragic one.

"But before we go any further, I want to acknowledge that this is a tragedy," Pittman said. "I wish I was not here speaking with you today. Our hearts go out to the Billue and Monica families, to the Georgia Department of Corrections officers, and to their friends. This is a tragedy and our hearts go out to these people."

The trial began Wednesday and is expected to continue for at least three weeks.

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