Atlanta ? A Georgia dentist pleaded guilty Friday to killing his wife in 2004 and to shooting to death a girlfriend 14 years earlier while he was in dental school.

In both cases, the women’s deaths initially had been declared suicides.

Barton Corbin, 42, entered guilty pleas to two counts of malice murder four days into jury selection for his trial in the death of his wife, Jennifer Corbin. He had been scheduled to stand trial later for the death of his former girlfriend, Dorothy “Dolly” Hearn, in Augusta.

Corbin was sentenced to two life terms, though the judge ordered that they be served simultaneously and that Corbin be eligible for parole.

Hearn’s death had been ruled a suicide but the case was reopened soon after Jennifer Corbin was found dead in 2004 in the couple’s Buford home near Atlanta. Both women died of single gunshot wounds, and in both cases, the gun was found nearby.