Cotton pleads not guilty to escape
An inmate accused of slipping his ankle cuff and escaping from the courthouse pleaded not guilty on Friday afternoon to a felony escape charge in an appearance before Judge Billy Sparks.
Dustin Earl Cotton told Sparks that he would like a public defender, something that Cotton had previously indicated he didn’t want, and he was advised he would be provided one.
A daylong hunt for Cotton began when he fled from deputies at the courthouse on May 8. It ended that night when law enforcement officials pulled him out of the Etowah River around 10 p.m.
Local and statewide law enforcement officials searched along the Etowah River most of the day, but got a new lead around 9 p.m. after someone said they saw him lurking along Glenn Milner Boulevard by Pear Alley condominiums.
Public safety personnel, from firefighters to probation and parole officers to courthouse constables, assisted in the search — along with deputies and Rome and Floyd County police. A Georgia State Patrol helicopter flew over the downtown area and was later joined by news helicopters.
He was found on the riverbank near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Glenn Milner Boulevard by a Rome-Floyd Fire Department crew using a thermal imaging camera.
Cotton is additionally charged with a host of misdemeanors: interference with government property, three counts of obstruction of law enforcement, criminal trespass, theft by taking and loitering or prowling.
He was being held in Floyd County Jail on Friday night for the state Department of Corrections.