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KINGSTON — Jennifer Hyatte was sentenced today to life in prison without a chance for parole for the 2005 murder of a prison guard and the wounding of another guard in an attempt to free her husband, George Hyatte. Before she was led out of the courtroom, Jennifer Hyatte tearfully apologized to the family and friends of her victims. “For all of the hurt and pain that I have caused you all … I can’t ask you to forgive me, because what I’ve done is unforgivable,” Hyatte said in Criminal Court at the Roane County Courthouse. The former prison nurse...

A fired prison guard pleaded innocent today to a charge that he helped a prisoner stage a deadly escape last year at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston. Capt. Fay Hall of the Roane County Sheriff’s Department said Randall Ridenour, 35, surrendered to authorities on Friday and was charged with facilitating, permitting and aiding the escape of George Hyatte. Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer Hyatte, face first-degree murder charges in connection with the Aug. 9 slaying of prison guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan on Aug. 9. Ridenour was fired from his job Nov. 23 for allowing Hyatte to use his personal...

A Tennessee prison warden on Wednesday fired a guard who loaned the use of his personal cell phone to George Hyatte three weeks before the prisoner and his wife mounted a bloody escape in Roane County. Randall Ridenour lost his job at the Brushy Mountain Correctional Institution because he allowed Hyatte to use the phone twice while taking him to and from a court appearance in Kingston on July 18. On Aug. 9, authorities allege Jennifer Hyatte killed correction officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan during a shootout at the Roane County Courthouse and fled with her husband to Ohio, where they...

KINGSTON — Former prison nurse Jennifer Hyatte didn’t enter a plea or even utter a word during a brief appearance in Roane County Criminal Court today on first-degree murder charges in the killing of a prison guard. Criminal Court Judge E. Eugene Eblen set a trial date for July 25, 2006. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hyatte and her husband, who are accused of killing correction officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan on Aug. 9. George Hyatte’s trial is scheduled for Aug. 8, 2006. Jennifer Hyatte’s attorney, John Eldridge, said he would like to move the trial to another location...

Roane County District Attorney General Scott McCluen announced today he would seek the death penalty against captured fugitives George and Jennifer Hyatte. The Hyattes, who drew national attention during their flight following the shooting of a Tennessee prison guard, will be tried separately, McCluen said in a statement. A Roane County grand jury returned first-degree murder charges against both Hyattes in the shooting death of correction officer Charles "Cotton" Morgan. They also face attempted murder charges in connection with a subsequent gun battle with Morgan’s partner, correction officer Larry Harris. The grand jury also charged George Hyatte with escape and...

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...

A Kentucky cab driver who told authorities he drove fugitives George and Jennifer Hyatte to an Ohio motel will be given a $10,000 reward next week. John P. Clark, newly appointed acting director of the U.S. Marshals Service, will be in Covington, Ky., to present the money to cabbie Mike Wagers. Wagers, 33, picked up the Hyattes on Aug. 10 at a Kentucky low-budget motel and took them to Columbus, Ohio. The Hyattes were arrested about 10 p.m. without incident. They are charged with first-degree murder of Tennessee correctional officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56, during a daylight escape at the...

Papers found in Ohio cell refer to couple as 'Bonnie and Clyde' Captured fugitive Jennifer Hyatte referred to herself and her husband as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde in a diary of their 36-hour flight from Tennessee she left in an Ohio jail cell, authorities said Friday. In the 34-page account, an Ohio prosecutor said, Hyatte calls her husband, career criminal George Hyatte, the love of her life and addresses the Aug. 9 shooting of a Tennessee prison guard. Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told Columbus television station WCMH that the diary reveals the Hyattes' ultimate destination was Pennsylvania. "Not only is...

KINGSTON - Captured fugitives George and Jennifer Hyatte returned to appear before a judge Monday on first-degree murder charges at the same courthouse where their belated honeymoon began in bloodshed 13 days earlier. The Hyattes wore identical white outfits, and each remained silent in separate hearings as Roane County Sessions Court Judge Thomas A. Austin read them the charges they face, advised them of their rights and appointed their lawyers. "We are very relieved to get this put out of the way," said Kingston Police Chief Jim Washam, whose agency is leading the investigation into the murder of state correction...

KINGSTON, Tenn. - A couple charged in the killing of a corrections officer during a getaway outside a small-town courthouse returned to the town Monday under heavy security. U.S. marshals brought prison inmate George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, to Tennessee from Columbus, Ohio. They had been held there since their arrest Aug. 10, a day and a half after authorities said Jennifer Hyatte fatally wounded a guard while helping her husband escape. George Hyatte had been at the courthouse for a hearing. Later in the day, the couple were to appear at a hearing at the Roane County Courthouse,...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - If Jennifer Hyatte stopped during her flight to Ohio this week to read a paper or watch the news, she would have seen her face on front pages and television screens. Authorities had accused her of murder. With a nationwide manhunt for her and her husband, she must have known she was in a world of trouble. She switched cars, dyed her hair and lied to a cabbie about her travels. Still, when Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Brunner told her on Friday she could get the death penalty if convicted in Tennessee, she slumped back in...

There may have been a small break in the search for a man who, with help from his wife, escaped from a Tennessee prison in a bloody shootout on Tuesday. Hamilton County, Tenn. Sheriff John Cupp said Wednesday prisoner George Hyatte was less than 160 kilometres away, but wouldn't elaborate. Cupp made the remarks while calling off a local search for Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer. Authorities there had responded to sightings of a couple matching their description. On Tuesday, Hyatte was being taken from a courthouse in Roane County, Tenn., where he had pleaded guilty on an aggravated robbery...

A Tennessee prison inmate and his wife were found Wednesday night at a Columbus motel, NBC 4 reported. The pair were captured at the Best Value Inn, located off Sinclair Avenue, NBC 4 reported. Jennifer Hyatte and her husband, George, were taken into custody at about 10 p.m., NBC 4 reported.

Fugitive Couple Apprehended. George Hyatte, Jennifer Hyatte.

Tennessee authorities: "We are searching door to door" "We have not yet looked at the security video from the parking lot"

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - A former prison nurse opened fire on guards escorting her shackled husband from a Tennessee courthouse on Tuesday, killing one guard and escaping with her husband in a sport utility vehicle, authorities said. Convict George Hyatte, 34, shouted "shoot 'em" to wife Jennifer Hyatte, 31, and she opened fire with at least six shots from a handgun, scattering dozens of witnesses outside the Roane County courthouse in Kingston, Kingston Police Chief Jim Washam said. Three bullets struck guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56, who died at a hospital. Morgan was one of two guards escorting the shackled...