GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) -- The trial for the final defendant in the 2017 killings of two state correctional officers on a prison bus traveling through Putnam County has begun.

Jury selection for Ricky Dubose's trial started Monday in Glynn County Superior Court.

Court Clerk Trevor Addison states that 1,000 jurors were originally summoned, and jury selection is expected to last about three weeks.

However, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Wright Barksdale says jury selection could last until early June.

Donnie Rowe has already been convicted and sentenced in this case. His trial was held in Putnam County last fall.

Rowe had been up for the death penalty and was convicted on all counts he was charged with -- two counts of felony murder, two counts of malice murder, escape and hijacking a motor vehicle. But the jury became locked in a split decision, leaving sentencing up to Judge Brenda Trammel. In the event that a jury can't reach a unanimous verdict, Georgia law requires the judge to sentence the defendant to life in prison or life without parole. Judge Trammel sentenced Rowe to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Dubose's trial comes nearly five years after the killings of officers Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue.

Rowe and Dubose were being transported on a state prison bus from Eatonton to Sparta when Monica and Billue were overpowered and fatally shot.

Rowe and Dubose thenescaped the prison bus and were located days later in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, amid a nationwide manhunt.

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Dubose has had multiple prior convictions, beginning in 2010 and again in 2014. These crimes were spread across Madison, Elbert, and Gwinnett counties. His past convictions include identity fraud, burglary, robbery, armed robbery, theft by taking, and aggravated assault.