Captain Raul M. Monte

Raul M. Monte

Captain Raul Monte was shot and killed in the Powhatan County Courthouse while assisting another officer subdue two prisoners who was attempting to escape. Captain Monte, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom waiting to testify, was shot when the inmate grabbed the other officer's gun and opened fire.

Both suspects was taken into custody at the scene before being able to escape from the courthouse. The inmates, both 25, serving 20 year terms for robbery, were to be tried on charges committed at a Virginia prison farm. One was sentenced to death in 1972. His sentence was commuted to life six years later. The other inmate, after three trials ending with a hung jury, was convicted of murder at his fourth trial and sentenced to death in 1974. It took six deputies to drag him from the court room when he went into a rage when the sentence was announced. His sentence was later commuted to life. When he applied for a parole in 1988 he was told he would be in prison for the rest of his life.