ATLANTA — The convicted killer accused of escaping from a Louisiana prison and hiding in the metro area says he just wants to go home.
Derrick Groves told a judge he will not fight extradition during his first appearance on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a SWAT team tore into a home and sent a canine in to get Groves.
During the hearing, Groves appeared resigned to the fact that he is headed back to prison, so he chose not to fight extradition.
Groves was shackled as he went before the judge.
“You’re wanted out of the state of Louisiana for aggravated escape,” the judge said as she read the charges against him.
Groves was one of 10 inmates who officers say escaped from a New Orleans prison in May. The nine others were quickly captured.
But Groves, convicted of double murder, managed to avoid capture despite a national manhunt.
Then Wednesday afternoon on Honeysuckle Lane in Southwest Atlanta, neighbors heard and saw SWAT officers using a ram to tear into this home.
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“They busted the garage door. They busted through the window. And they said someone was in the house, a fugitive,” a neighbor told Channel 2’s Tom Jones on Wednesday.
Officers got a tip that Groves was inside the home. They tossed in gas canisters and used a canine to locate Groves. Officers then placed him under arrest.
Ms. Clements lives across the street and was outside when all the commotion started.
“All of a sudden, I heard, ‘Go back, go back, go back.’ I was just shaking,” Clements said.
She said she never saw Groves but saw a lot of people visiting the home.
“Something is going on. Too much traffic,” Clements said.
Back in court, the judge asked Groves if he wanted to fight extradition.
“I want to return where I’m from,” Groves told the judge.
Groves is being held on an aggravated escape charge.
The judge told him that Louisiana has 15 business days to pick him up, and if they don’t in that timeframe, he could be released.
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