<p>Suburban Atlanta dentist Barton Corbin pleaded guilty Friday to killing his wife in 2004 and a girlfriend in dental school 14 years earlier. He was immediately ordered to serve two life sentences in prison for the murders, but would be eligible for parole.</p><p>Corbin entered the pleas to two counts of malice murder after four days of jury selection for his trial in the murder of his wife, Jennifer Corbin. He had been scheduled to stand trial later for the 1990 murder of Dorothy "Dolly" Hearn in Augusta, where both Barton Corbin and Hearn where both dental school students at the time.</p><p>Hearn's death had been ruled a suicide but her case was reopened soon after Jennifer Corbin was found dead in the couple's Buford home in 2004. Both Hearn and Corbin died of a single gunshot wound to the head and their bodies were found with the gun lying nearby. Both were initially ruled suicides.</p><p>While Corbin was given two life sentences, the judge ordered that they be served simultaneously. Corbin also will be eligible for parole.</p><p>While the prosecutors handling the Jennifer Corbin case said it did not meet the criteria for the death penalty, they said Corbin would have been eligible if also convicted in the Hearn case.</p><p>Corbin showed no motion when he entered his pleas. Jennifer Corbin's sister, Heather Tierney, wept while seated in the front row of the courtroom's public seating.</p><p>After the sentence was handed down, family members were allowed to address Corbin.</p><p>"God might forgive you. I never will," Jennifer Corbin's father, Max Barber told Corbin. "I speak for my family when I say I just virtually hope you burn in hell."</p><p>One of Hearn's brothers, Carlton Hearn, told Corbin: "Sixteen years of silence. Sixteen years of pain. My family agrees with what's been said here today."</p><p>Afterward, Tierney showed photos of her sister and her sons, who Tierney has been caring for since Barton Corbin's arrest.</p><p>"Nothing is going to bring Jennifer back. Our hearts are never going to heal from this," Tierney said.</p><p>Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said, "I'm happy we've taken a dangerous predator and put him away for a long time. We've solved a cold case. I'm happy for the Hearn family. Finally they can know their daughter didn't commit suicide, and we solved the murder of Jennifer Corbin."</p><p>Porter said that even though Corbin technically could be considered for parole in 18 years, he believes parole consideration won't come for at least 28 years, based on the parole board's record.</p><p>Porter said the case was cracked when investigators linked the murder weapon to Richard Wilson, a close friend of Barton Corbin's. Porter said he talked to Wilson in Troy, Ala., on Wednesday and verified that Wilson had given Corbin the murder weapon on Nov. 30, several days before his wife's murder.</p><p>He said the plea deal was worked out Thursday. The victims' relatives were informed of the deal Thursday afternoon.</p><p>The Corbins' 7-year-old son found his mother's body in the couple's bedroom in December 2004, with a revolver next to her on the couples' bed. Five days earlier, Barton Corbin had filed for divorce and was suing for custody of their two boys _ the other was age 5 at the time _ and ownership of the $217,900 home in the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buford.</p><p>According to court papers in the divorce proceedings, Corbin said he had discovered his wife, a 33-year-old preschool teacher, may have had a relationship with a woman from St. Joseph, Mo., and punched his wife in the face in front of their children on Thanksgiving Day 2004. Jennifer Corbin's family pushed for the indictment against her husband, refusing to accept her death as a suicide and raising suspicions about Hearn's death.</p><p>Corbin's attorneys had argued that both women's deaths were suicides and were not similar.</p><p>The media frenzy after Corbin's arrest prompted a judge to impose a gag order _ which was later lifted _ and Corbin's attorneys had asked for a change of venue because of all the attention.</p><p>Corbin was first indicted by a Richmond County grand jury on charges of felony and malice murder in Hearn's death less than three weeks after Jennifer Corbin's death on Dec. 4, 2004. Weeks later, a Gwinnett County grand jury indicted him on charges of felony murder and a firearms violation in the death of his wife.</p><p>Hearn, 27, a dental student at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, was found dead with a .38-caliber handgun in her lap, in July 1990 _ the same month Corbin became a dentist. Hearn and Corbin were classmates and had dated for more than a year, but were in the midst of a breakup at the time.</p><p>Hearn's family released a statement last week.</p><p>"The family spent the first 14 1/2 years after Dolly's death with little or no hope for justice," read the statement, provided to The Associated Press by Hearn's brother, Gil. "Although we have always been confident of the circumstances surrounding her death, we deeply regret that a second tragedy had to occur to reveal this truth."</p>
