Post by CCADP on Aug 13, 2005 21:21:11 GMT -5
Couple fights quick extradition
By Carrie Spencer
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The couple accused of killing a Tennessee corrections officer in a daring escape objected Friday to being sent back to the state to face charges. At a hearing, the wife appeared dazed and the husband declared, "I don’t want to leave without her."
In Tennessee, meanwhile, more than 1,000 people attended a funeral for the guard.
George and Jennifer Hyatte were arrested Wednesday night without a struggle at a Columbus motel after a cab driver tipped off authorities that he had driven them there. The tip ended a manhunt that began Tuesday with the shooting outside a courthouse in Kingston, Tenn.
George Hyatte, 34, seemed prepared to waive his right to challenge extradition, but when his lawyer leaned in and explained that Jennifer Hyatte had decided to fight extradition, he shook his head and argued briefly with his lawyer.
"I don’t want to leave without her," said Hyatte, who had on two sets of handcuffs chained tightly to his waist. "I don’t want to. I don’t want to."
His wife had been in court a few minutes earlier. Jennifer Hyatte appeared dazed and didn’t talk during the hearing. She showed little emotion until the judge informed her that the charge carries a possible death penalty. She then sighed and leaned back in her chair.
Her lawyer, John Sproat, said later Friday that the extradition challenge is a precaution he advised her to take because of the severity of the charge.
Attorney Robert Essex, representing George Hyatte, did not immediately return phone calls Friday. Another hearing is set for Sept. 8.
Jennifer Hyatte, 31, a licensed nurse with no criminal record, is accused of ambushing two prison guards as they were leading her husband from the Kingston courthouse where he had just pleaded guilty to robbery. Guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot before the couple sped away.
Her father said Friday that he suspected his daughter was planning to help free her husband and asked a probation officer in Utah, where he lives, to alert authorities.
Utah Department of Corrections officials acknowledged receiving the information from Floyd Forsyth, and said the officer planned to contact his counterparts in Tennessee on Tuesday - the day of the shooting.
In hindsight, the department should have acted sooner, department spokesman Jack Ford said Friday, but he said the information "didn’t appear to raise any red flags" at the time.
Jennifer Hyatte had told her father in recent phone conversations that she was putting some possessions in storage and planned to let her ex-husband keep their three children for a while, Forsyth said.
She also asked if he had any spare handcuff keys, said Forsyth, a former sheriff’s deputy.
"I thought maybe she was going to pass him a key," Forsyth said. "There was no doubt in my mind that she was going do something. I just didn’t know it would be this."
Morgan, 56, a decorated Vietnam veteran, was buried with full military honors Friday in Wartburg, Tenn. He was remembered as a Sunday school teacher and deacon at Meadowview Baptist Church who regularly ministered to patients in the local nursing home and to prisoners in the town jail.
He also liked to sing duets with his wife, Viann, and to tend to his flower and vegetable gardens.
"You always wonder why the good people have to be taken," said his son, Dennis Morgan, 33. "My dad’s time on earth was served as well as he could want it, and I think he did a good job at it."
By Carrie Spencer
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The couple accused of killing a Tennessee corrections officer in a daring escape objected Friday to being sent back to the state to face charges. At a hearing, the wife appeared dazed and the husband declared, "I don’t want to leave without her."
In Tennessee, meanwhile, more than 1,000 people attended a funeral for the guard.
George and Jennifer Hyatte were arrested Wednesday night without a struggle at a Columbus motel after a cab driver tipped off authorities that he had driven them there. The tip ended a manhunt that began Tuesday with the shooting outside a courthouse in Kingston, Tenn.
George Hyatte, 34, seemed prepared to waive his right to challenge extradition, but when his lawyer leaned in and explained that Jennifer Hyatte had decided to fight extradition, he shook his head and argued briefly with his lawyer.
"I don’t want to leave without her," said Hyatte, who had on two sets of handcuffs chained tightly to his waist. "I don’t want to. I don’t want to."
His wife had been in court a few minutes earlier. Jennifer Hyatte appeared dazed and didn’t talk during the hearing. She showed little emotion until the judge informed her that the charge carries a possible death penalty. She then sighed and leaned back in her chair.
Her lawyer, John Sproat, said later Friday that the extradition challenge is a precaution he advised her to take because of the severity of the charge.
Attorney Robert Essex, representing George Hyatte, did not immediately return phone calls Friday. Another hearing is set for Sept. 8.
Jennifer Hyatte, 31, a licensed nurse with no criminal record, is accused of ambushing two prison guards as they were leading her husband from the Kingston courthouse where he had just pleaded guilty to robbery. Guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot before the couple sped away.
Her father said Friday that he suspected his daughter was planning to help free her husband and asked a probation officer in Utah, where he lives, to alert authorities.
Utah Department of Corrections officials acknowledged receiving the information from Floyd Forsyth, and said the officer planned to contact his counterparts in Tennessee on Tuesday - the day of the shooting.
In hindsight, the department should have acted sooner, department spokesman Jack Ford said Friday, but he said the information "didn’t appear to raise any red flags" at the time.
Jennifer Hyatte had told her father in recent phone conversations that she was putting some possessions in storage and planned to let her ex-husband keep their three children for a while, Forsyth said.
She also asked if he had any spare handcuff keys, said Forsyth, a former sheriff’s deputy.
"I thought maybe she was going to pass him a key," Forsyth said. "There was no doubt in my mind that she was going do something. I just didn’t know it would be this."
Morgan, 56, a decorated Vietnam veteran, was buried with full military honors Friday in Wartburg, Tenn. He was remembered as a Sunday school teacher and deacon at Meadowview Baptist Church who regularly ministered to patients in the local nursing home and to prisoners in the town jail.
He also liked to sing duets with his wife, Viann, and to tend to his flower and vegetable gardens.
"You always wonder why the good people have to be taken," said his son, Dennis Morgan, 33. "My dad’s time on earth was served as well as he could want it, and I think he did a good job at it."