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Posted on 09/30/2005 1:03:42 PM PDT by SmithL
KINGSTON — A prison guard calmly testified this morning how he fired 11 rounds from his revolver and his wounded partner's pistol during a brazen daylight escape by an inmate and his wife last month.
Larry "Porky" Harris testified at a court hearing that he and correction officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan were returning George Hyatte, 34, to a prison van after an appearance at the Roane County Courthouse.
He said he didn't notice Jennifer Hyatte, 31, a former prison nurse and mother of three, come up to them in the parking lot until George Hyatte shouted, "Shoot him!"
"As Cotton turns around he says, ‘No,' and sorta brings his arms up," Harris testified as the Hyattes sat a few feet away from him in the courtroom.
Morgan was struck once in the stomach, said "Oh!" and collapsed to the pavement, Harris testified. Morgan was later pronounced dead at a Knoxville hospital.
Harris said he emptied his six-shot revolver and had to unsnap the guard on Morgan's holster to remove his service weapon. He said he was told later that he fired five rounds from Morgan's pistol.
One of the rounds struck Jennifer Hyatte in the leg, but she and her husband were able to escape.
General Sessions Court Judge Dennis Humphrey sent first-degree murder charges against the Hyattes to a grand jury to review on Oct. 17.
Harris was the only witness to testify at today's hearing.
The testimony came amid heavy security and after a profanity-laced tirade by George Hyatte against officers before the hearing.
The escape, dubbed a "Bonne and Clyde" style shootout, became the focus of a nationwide manhunt that ended with the Hyattes' capture 36 hours later in a Columbus, Ohio, motel room.
Jennifer Hyatte, who met George Hyatte in prison, married the career criminal, described as a smooth-talking ladies' man, in a prison ceremony in May. Their first night on the run, spent in a motel in a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati, was the only night they've spent together as husband and wife.
The next day, Aug. 10, a cab driver who gave them a ride to Columbus, became suspicious and notified authorities. U.S. marshals and local police captured them without incident that night in a Columbus motel.
Authorities brought the Hyattes back to Kingston on Aug. 22 under tight security for an arraignment. Since then, they have been held in separate prisons in Nashville. George Hyatte is already serving sentences totaling 41 years on burglary and assault charges.
Humphrey denied bond for Jennifer Hyatte after her attorney said there had not been a notice prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. George Hyatte, who already was in prison, didn't qualify for it.
Humphrey said Jennifer Hyatte's actions showed she wasn't eligible for bond.
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Murdering Trash, the both of them.
They killed a cop, they are done for. Not a amtter of IF, but when.
I want me one of them 11 shot revolvers....
this case cries out for a lead asprin to remove this headache.
I'd suggest this guy have some target practice. But at least he got off the shots.
It's a damned shame that she didn't bleed out in the van.
"The testimony came amid heavy security and after a profanity-laced tirade by George Hyatte against officers before the hearing."
Some gall to be cursing at the guards after what he has done.
Got hissef a real beauty queen there, he did.
No kidding. But I guess emotion will affect someone's aim.
"A prison guard calmly testified this morning how he fired 11 rounds from his revolver and his wounded partner's pistol during a brazen daylight escape by an inmate and his wife last month."
You would think a reporter who graduated from college would know how to construct a sentence better than this. How about, "A prison guard calmly testified this morning how he fired 6 rounds from his revolver and 5 from his wounded partner's pistol during a brazen daylight escape by an inmate and his wife last month." Geez.
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