‘Dirty dogs’ return to Tennessee

George and Jennifer Hyatte were brought by U.S. Marshals to Tennessee from Columbus, Ohio, where they had been held since their arrest Aug. 10.

They were caught some 36 hours after authorities say Jennifer Hyatte, a former prison nurse, ambushed two corrections officers while they were escorting her inmate husband from the courthouse to a van to take him back to prison.

Veteran officer Wayne “Cotton” Morgan was killed, while his partner Larry “Porky” Harris was able to return fire, wounding Jennifer Hyatte in the leg as the couple fled.

“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.

After brief, separate arraignments in the nearby Roane County Courthouse, the Hyattes were whisked away by the Tennessee Department of Corrections to maximum-security prisons until their next scheduled court appearances on 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,” Roane County Sheriff David Haggard said.

More than 40 officers, some with shotguns and several wearing bulletproof vests, surrounded the county jail as the marshals pulled up with the Hyattes and several police cruiser escorts.

Police blocked the road beside the courthouse while they were moved, and closed the courthouse to the public while they were arraigned.

Asked if the heightened security suggested authorities believe others were involved in the escape, Haggard said that possibility has not been ruled out.

“I am sure they are going to be interviewing a lot of people that may be related to this case,” the sheriff said of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is heading the probe, “and we may see some action later on.”

Jennifer Hyatte, 31, who met and married her husband in prison and lost her nursing job because of that relationship, and George Hyatte, 34, who has a long record of robberies and escapes, were separated by guards as much as possible. They arrived in different vehicles and were arraigned individually.

But U.S. Marshal Jeffrey Hedden said they might have been able to talk to one another on the chartered flight from Ohio to Tennessee.

“I don’t know that they did (talk),” he said. “It was a small plane, (but) large enough where they weren’t playing footsie.”

Each was handcuffed, shackled with leg irons and their hands covered in zip-tied mitts as they were led by officers into General Sessions Judge Thomas A. Austin’s court for arraignment.

Austin read the warrants. The documents recounted the Aug. 9 escape at 10:05 a.m., when authorities say Jennifer Hyatte parked her SUV in the lane behind the prison van, got out and surprised Morgan, the guard.

“George Hyatte yelled at Jennifer Hyatte to shoot him!” the warrant said. “Jennifer Hyatte shot officer Morgan and then pointed her weapon towards (Harris), they both returned fire at each other. Jennifer Hyatte and George Hyatte were able to escape.”

Neither of the Hyattes said a word as Austin read the first-degree murder charges and advised that “anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”

Jennifer Hyatte frequently nodded to his questions, while glancing around the small courtroom at the television cameras. George Hyatte looked straight ahead at the judge.

“Ordinarily we would talk about your bond, but this is a capital murder case you are charged with and also, as you know, you are a state inmate, so there is no bond,” Austin told George Hyatte, who already is serving a 41-year sentence.

Jennifer Hyatte, who had no criminal record, also was denied bond because of the seriousness of the crime, the judge said.

Austin appointed them defense lawyers: Cynthia Schemel of Chattanooga to represent George Hyatte and David Eldridge of Knoxville to represent Jennifer Hyatte.

The elaborate security measures will continue every time the Hyattes come to court, the sheriff said. “It will be essential for us to go through this process (to ensure) … the public will be safe as well as the inmates,” Haggard said.