Couple face murder indictments

The attorney general said separate trials will be sought for the Hyattes.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A couple accused of killing a prison guard during a daring courthouse escape were indicted on first-degree murder charges and could face the death penalty, prosecutors said Thursday.
A grand jury meeting this week returned separate murder indictments against former prison nurse Jennifer Hyatte, 31, and her career criminal husband, George Hyatte, 34, in the Aug. 9 shooting of corrections officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56.
The Hyattes were caught 36 hours after the shooting in a motel in Columbus.
What happened
Morgan was killed in the courthouse parking lot in Kingston, about 30 miles west of Knoxville, as he escorted George Hyatte from a hearing in the courthouse to a van to take him back to prison.
Morgan's partner, Larry Harris, testified at a preliminary hearing in Kingston last month that Jennifer Hyatte surprised the guards and began firing when George Hyatte yelled, "Shoot him."
Harris emptied his revolver, then used his dying partner's gun, firing 11 shots at the fleeing couple. Jennifer Hyatte was wounded, but the two made their getaway.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty on conviction, District Attorney General Scott McCluen said in a statement.
McCluen said separate trials will be sought "because the state intends to use evidence against Jennifer Hyatte that would not be admissible in a single trial that also involved George Hyatte as a defendant."
That evidence likely is Jennifer Hyatte's 34-page diary about the crime found in the Ohio motel room. She titled it "A Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde," referring to the Depression-era bank-robbing lovers.
Prosecutors expect the defendants to be arraigned Monday in Roane County Criminal Court and to be held without bond pending their trials.
McCluen said the Hyattes' trials will be set for March.