KINGSTON, Tenn. (AP) — A couple charged in the killing of a corrections officer during a getaway outside a small-town courthouse returned to the same building Monday under heavy security.
U.S. marshals brought prison inmate George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, to Tennessee from Columbus, Ohio, where they had been held since their arrests Aug. 10.
They were caught some 36 hours after authorities say Jennifer Hyatte, a former prison nurse and Utah resident, fatally wounded a guard while helping her husband escape. George Hyatte had been at the courthouse for a hearing.
"Dirty dogs. Sorry dogs," Sandra Brackett, one of a handful of onlookers, said as the couple was escorted to the county jail for fingerprinting and booking.
More than 40 officers, some with shotguns and several wearing bulletproof vests, surrounded the county jail as marshals pulled up with the Hyattes and several police cruiser escorts.
The nearby Roane County Courthouse was closed to the public while the Hyattes were arraigned separately. They then were whisked away to maximum-security prisons until their next scheduled court appearances Aug. 31.
"It is a relief to have those people back and in custody, because where they are at now they are not going to cause anybody any trouble," Sheriff David Haggard said.
Authorities accuse Jennifer Hyatte of ambushing the guards who were transporting her husband. Corrections officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56, was killed and Jennifer Hyatte was shot in the leg by a guard.
The Hyattes were captured late the next day at a budget motel in Columbus after the cab driver who drove them to the city called police.
George Hyatte, 34, has a long criminal record of robberies, assault and escape and already is serving a 41-year sentence. Jennifer Hyatte, 31, had been fired from her prison job because of her relationship with Hyatte, whom she married this year.