DISTRICT ATTORNEY
T. Wright Barksdale III recently returned from Pasadena, Calif., after receiving a national award for Outstanding Advocacy in Capital and Complex Homicide Cases for 2022-23.
The award was presented Aug. 9 by the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation during the organization’s annual conference.
Barksdale was nominated for the award by Sheila Ross, director of capital litigation for the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia. The nomination letter referenced the successful prosecution and resulting death sentence in May 2022 of Ricky Dubose.
Dubose stood trial for the July 13, 2017, murder of Georgia Department of Corrections Officers Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica.
Dubose’s codefendant Donnie Rowe was tried in September of 2021 and received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Dubose admitted to shooting both officers, but his defense claimed he was intellectually disabled.
Barksdale gave the closing statement at Dubose’s trial and the jury sentenced him to death June 16, 2022. The convicted murderer died by suicide three days later.
“Dubose’s death sentence was made possible only by the grit and determination of a newly elected district attorney. Many attorneys may have chosen to agree to a life without parole sentence for Dubose, considering the outcome of his codefendant’s trial just nine months earlier. However, Wright chose to fight for his victims and his community, all while establishing a new office and dealing with the demands that follow the elected district attorney. He should be recognized for his achievement,” the nomination letter stated.
Barksdale began his career in 2013 as an assistant district attorney in the Ocmulgee Circuit in Jones County and he moved his family in 2014 to Gray. He and his wife Katie have three children. He took over the duties of Putnam County prosecutor in 2015 and handled both Putnam and Hancock counties from 2017 until he became district attorney.
Originally from Washington County, Barksdale is a graduate of Georgia Southern and Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. He was elected district attorney for the Ocmulgee Circuit in 2020, taking office in January 2021 at the age of 33. Barksdale and his family continue to live in Jones County.
In an Aug. 13 phone interview about the award, Barksdale said he was honored by the recognition, but more importantly, he does not want the community to forget the two officers who were murdered.
“I was happy with the outcome of the Dubose trial, and I want the community to know that if a law enforcement officer is murdered in our circuit, I’m going to seek the death penalty every time,” he stated.
