A Georgia inmate has pleaded not guilty to killing two prison guards 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 guards 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.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com