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Inmate pleads not guilty in slaying of 2 Ga. COs

Donnie Rowe and another inmate are charged with killing COs Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue while escaping from a prison transfer bus

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In this June 15, 2017 photo released by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, escaped Georgia inmate Donnie Russell Rowe poses for a booking photo in Tenn.

Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Associated Press

EATONTON, Ga. — A Georgia inmate has pleaded not guilty to killing two corrections officers during a 2017 escape.

Defense attorney Adam Levin says the inmate, Donnie Rowe, would plead guilty if a prosecutor would agree not to pursue the death penalty.

However, District Attorney Stephen Bradley says execution is “the only just solution,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Rowe appeared in court Tuesday in Eatonville and pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony murder and two counts of malice murder.

He and another inmate, Ricky Dubose, are charged with killing COs Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue while escaping from a prison transfer bus southeast of Atlanta last June. Authorities say the pair carjacked a motorist. They were arrested two days later in Tennessee.

Rowe and Dubose will be tried separately.