PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. — One of two inmates accused of killing two corrections officers in 2017 was in court Thursday for a motions hearing.
Ricky Dubose and fellow inmate Donnie Rowe are accused of shooting two officers on a Putnam County corrections bus then running away.
The two men led law enforcement on a manhunt that ended in Tennessee.
The two face several charges including murder.
Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica were the only two guards on the bus. They both died at the scene.
In August, Dubose's trial was delayed when a judge allowed more time for Dubose to get mental testing.
Court was back in session Thursday morning.
Carol Billue was there to see it.
She was sat feet from her brother's alleged killer.
Dubose was watched by at least four department of corrections officers wearing the DOC logo, "GDC."
It's the same one that was painted on the bus where the two guards were killed.
Thursday, Dubose silently watched as his defense team discussed a handful of motions brought before Judge Allison Burleson.
"We are here to deal with what I think is our only outstanding motions in this case," she said at the beginning of the hearing.
The motions were intricate, but the main thrust seemed to be bolstering a likely argument by the defense that, if convicted, Dubose isn't eligible for the death penalty due to what they argue is his intellectual disability.
Georgia law prohibits the execution of people deemed intellectually disabled.
Prosecutors will likely dispute whether Dubose fits that category, like they disputed in court Thursday the relevance of expert testimony presented by the defense.
"The motions today, I think, are premature," said Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stephen Bradley.
Denise Billue, another of Curtis' sisters, watched the first half of the hearing.
When we talked to her over the phone, she said Dubose seems plenty competent to her.
"There's no way that I can wrap it around my mind that these two people were not crafty and intelligent enough to carry out this horrific crime that took the life of my brother who was such an honorable man," said Denise Billue.
Her sister Carol wouldn't speak on camera, saying talking about what happened to her brother still made her too emotional.
Denise spoke for both of them as she remembered her brother.
"He was a man that had service engraved in his heart," she said.
Carol showed her love for him, too -- just in a different way.
Just before walking into the courthouse, she kissed a medallion around her neck with a picture of Curtis -- and the year he was killed.
Judge Burleson did not make any final rulings on the motions Thursday. More hearings are expected.
She did set a trial start date for late July 2020.
When asked, Dubose's defense attorney and the prosecutor both declined to comment on the case beyond what they'd already said before the judge.
RELATED: Jury to hear death penalty case for man accused of killing Central Ga. corrections officers
RELATED: One Year Later: The complete timeline of the capture of escaped inmates Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe
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