August 9 TENNESSEE: [my note----killing of a prison guard will almost certainly be a death penalty offense if/when suspect(s) is/are captured] Inmate, wife sought after Tenn. courthouse shooting In Kingston, n inmate serving a 35-year sentence on robbery and assault charges escaped Tuesday after his wife gunned down and killed a guard who was escorting the shackled prisoner outside a courthouse, authorities said. A search is underway for George Hyatte, sentenced to 35 years for aggravated robbery and assault. The bloody escape set off an extensive search for George and Jennifer Hyatte. Helicopters circled over this eastern Tennessee town and schools - open for student registration - were locked down. The Ford Explorer in which the couple fled the scene was later found abandoned with blood on the driver's side, and officers think the woman may have been wounded during the attack, Police Chief Jim Washam said. Authorities believed the pair later switched from the SUV to a van. The escape occurred as corrections officers were loading Hyatte and other inmates into a prison van outside the courthouse Tuesday morning. A woman drove up in the Ford Explorer and fired several shots from a handgun, Washam said. "Mr. Hyatte hollered 'Shoot him!' She opened up fire on the officers, hitting one in the abdomen," Washam said. Witness C. G. Gray said he and his wife were about 50 feet from the prisoners when they heard shots. He said corrections officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, who was not wearing a protective vest, never got his gun out of his holster. Morgan died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, about 30 miles east, hospital spokeswoman Lisa McNeal said. "The other officer did a get a shot off, apparently striking one of the individuals," Washam said. Hyatte, 34, was serving 2 consecutive 15-year sentences for robbery convictions and a 5-year sentence on top of that for assault in a case out of Rhea County, state prison officials said. Several years ago he escaped from local authorities and was a fugitive for about a day after a holdup at a drive-in market. Hyatte is 2 years into the 35-year sentence at Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex. He was at the courthouse to plead guilty in a deal with prosecutors over an armed robbery charge, Washam said. Hyatte was handcuffed and shackled at the feet, witnesses said. Authorities were trying to determine if an accomplice was involved, Sheriff David Haggard. (source: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: Prosecutor to seek death penalty in inmate stabbing Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an inmate charged with murder in the stabbing of a fellow prisoner last month. Kenneth Henry Justus, 38, was serving 2 consecutive life sentences for killing Upstate store clerks during robberies nearly a decade ago when investigators said he entered 22-year-old Justis Matthew Bergenzer's cell at the Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeland and stabbed him about 13 times in the head and chest with a homemade knife. Prosecutor David Pascoe said those previous killings are why he plans to serve a notice to seek the death penalty on Thursday morning at the Dorchester County courthouse. No other inmate currently on South Carolina's death row was sentenced to die for killing an inmate. One of South Carolina's most notorious prisoners, serial killer Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins, was put to death in 1991 for a killing inside the prison walls. Gaskins also admitted to killing 13 other people. Corrections Department director Jon Ozmint said he wants Justus to be sentenced to death as a deterrent to other inmates serving life sentences. "Otherwise, a guy doing life might think he could get a killing for free, so to speak," said Ozmint, who plans on being in the courthouse Thursday when the death penalty notice is issued. Justus' lawyer, Marva Hardee-Thomas, did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment. Justus and Bergenzer, who was a month away from completing a one-year sentence for grand larceny and escape, were both in the same wing of the maximum security prison when the stabbing took place. A guard locking the wing down for the night on July 26 noticed a group of inmates around Bergenzer's cell and found the prisoner lying on the floor. Paramedics could not revive him, prison officials said. Other prisoners saw Justus leaving Bergenzer's cell with blood on his clothes and said he tried to flush the knife down the toilet in his own cell, according to a sworn statement from a State Law Enforcement Division agent. Justus had been disciplined several times by prison officials for having drugs, but Ozmint could not recall any infractions for assaulting other inmates. Bergenzer was being held in maximum security because of a previous escape attempt, Ozmint said. (source: Associated Press)
