Ricky Dubose, a Georgia prisoner who killed two guards during an escape from a prison transport bus in 2017, has been sentenced to die.

Dubose, 29, was serving a 20-year sentence for a 2015 armed robbery and assault in Elbert County when he and another prisoner, identified as Donnie Rowe, managed to escape from the bus in Putnam County, southeast of Atlanta, on June 13, 2017.

They first slipped out of handcuffs and burst through an unlocked gate at the front of the bus. Dubose then managed to get hold of one of the officers’ guns and shot the guard, identified as Sgt. Christopher Monica. He then shot Sgt. Curtis Billue, the driver. Both the officers were shot in the head and succumbed to injuries.

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CCTV cameras on the bus recorded the escape and about 30 other prisoners witnessed the killings.

Both the accused were taken into custody in Tennessee days later.

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On Monday, the jury found Dubose guilty of charges including murder, and on Thursday, they unanimously agreed on a death sentence for him.

Meanwhile, during her opening statement, an attorney for Dubose had acknowledged that he was guilty. She, however, said the jury should find him guilty and intellectually disabled or guilty but mentally ill. That would have made him ineligible for the death penalty. These arguments were rejected by prosecutors who said Dubose was an intelligent and calculated killer.

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Donnie Rowe, on the other hand, was convicted of murder in September and sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.