Dougherty County police officer killer gets life in prison | VIDEO

ALBANY — Dontravious R. Thomas, who had faced the death penalty for the December 2010 shooting death of Dougherty County Police Lt. Clifford “Cliff” Rouse, pleaded guilty Wednesday to malice murder and felony murder in return for a sentence of life in prison without chance of parole.

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The plea was made before Judge Stephen Goss in Dougherty Superior Court. Thomas also was sentenced to an additional 65 years in prison on charges of aggravated assault, armed robbery, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of a fire arm during the commission of a felony and possession of a fire arm by a convicted felon, all to be served consecutively to the life sentence.

Thomas agreed to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for the state agreeing to forgo pursuit of the death penalty. Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards informed the court that after extensive discussions, Rouse’s widow and other family members agreed to the plea agreement.

According to evidence presented at the plea hearing by Dougherty County Chief Deputy District Attorney Heather Lanier, Thomas, 24, shot Rouse while fleeing from an armed robbery at the Pitt Stop convenience store on Sylvester Road in East Albany on the night of Dec. 23, 2010.

Rouse and other police officers had responded to the robbery and were searching areas adjacent to the convenience store. Rouse spotted a man matching the description given by Pitt Stop employee Rebecca Licona, who had been robbed at gun point.

Lanier shared that when Rouse tried to apprehend the defendant, Thomas fired shots from a Glock 9 mm pistol in the direction of Rouse, wounding him twice in the abdomen, just below the protective vest Rouse was wearing.

Other police officers ultimately found Thomas hiding under a trailer in the B&S Estate mobile home park not far from where Rouse was found slumped beside his patrol car.

Thomas sat silently and did not refute any of the account offered during Wednesday’s hearing. He also did not offer any statements to the court before or after sentencing.

Before accepting Thomas’ plea and handing out the sentence, Goss heard victim impact statements from five of Rouse’s family members and co-workers, including former Dougherty County Police Chief Don Cheek. Cheek was chief of the department at the time of the shooting and had known Rouse for over a decade.

“This was the call that every police executive and police supervisor dreads,” Cheek said of hearing the news of Rouse’s shooting. “In my 40-plus years in law enforcement, this was the second time I had been through a situation similar to this, but this one hit me so much harder.

“That call was absolutely the worst call I’ve ever received in all my years in law enforcement. Cliff Rouse was one of those fine young officers that you just feel like was like a son.”

That notion of family was echoed in the impact statement of Rouse’s friend and fellow officer Capt. Tommy Jackson who had gone through police academy training with Rouse.

“The biggest thing about this is we’re (police officers) a family,” said Jackson. “This affected us drastically. We’re a secondary family. Police officers, as you know, are a tight knit family. His future was cut short.”

Rouse’s family also shared their feelings about losing a loved one during the hearing. Rouse’s sister, Debra Jones, and his mother, Jackie Rouse, each read a prepared statement, directly addressing the murderer.

“As I am here today before this court to address the pain in my heart, I don’t stand alone,” Jackie Rouse said. “You who know me know I’m a woman of strong faith and my God is my power here today. Mr. Thomas, I tried as hard as any woman in this world, and as the mother of a child, to hate you, and my heart will not let me hate you. I can’t hate your soul and go to heaven, but I hate everything that you did to our family.

“I hate the life you’ve led and what you’ve destroyed, and that’s my family and the life of my son. I know I can’t get to the gates of heaven with that kind of hate in my heart. If I have that hate in my heart, I won’t see my son again and he’s there waiting.

“I have prayed for the last 1,515 days that I could come to some kind of closure for the loss of our son,” she said. “These last 1,515 days we, as his parents, have missed so much that you enjoy with your children. My daughter-in-law has been robbed of the years and joys of a lifetime of growing in love and marriage. All that was cut too short. My grandchildren no longer have their daddy to grow and mature with them, or share in the events of their lives. His sister is unable to share a life with her brother.

“You see, all of this was taken from us December 23, two hours before Christmas Eve. I pray that when you close your eyes at night, you remember the sight of that fallen officer lying on the ground, fighting for his life, and I hope you remember the sounds of the sirens of the ambulances as he was carried to the hospital as they worked frantically trying to save the life of a young man that had so much to live for. All of these things I hope you remember for the rest of your life. Because, you see, young man, I will remember the night in my life that I got a phone call with the words that my son died. This is stamped on my heart and my mind forever.”

Rouse, who was 39 and who had been in law enforcement for 18 years at the time of his death, was a Camilla resident who, in addition to his parents and sister, left behind a wife and two children — a son who is now 17 and a daughter who is 10. He was the first officer with the Dougherty County Police Department to die in the line of duty.

A plaque honoring Rouse was hung in his honor in 2013 at the main entrance of the DCPD headquarters on Habersham Road in south Albany.