PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. — Lawyers began debating Friday if Donnie Rowe deserves the death penalty.
On Thursday, a Putnam County jury found him guilty on all counts of murdering corrections officers Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica.
Now begins the sentencing phase of the trial. Prosecutor Allison Mauldin made the argument for capital punishment. She said those 2017 killings aboard a prison bus capped Rowe's lifetime of crime.
For the defense, Erin Wallace argued that Rowe grew up in a family surrounded by bullying, abuse, and substance abuse. She said he should serve life without parole in a maximum-security prison.
The first witness of the day was a man who said Rowe held a knife to his throat and robbed him back in 1996 in Tennessee.
Rowe was sentenced to three years in prison. He was 23-years-old at that time.
"The verdict that was reached was favorable, however anything ... during the sentencing process that is less than the death penalty... an injustice will be served to society," said Curtis' brother, Bruce Billue.
He has been in the Putnam County courtroom watching the trial play out all week. Other family members did not want to speak with us yet.
Reporter Molly Jett is also in the courtroom and she’ll have the latest at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.