CARROLLTON — A Mississippi man who admitted killing his wife and two other people at a party pleaded guilty Monday.
Michael Barnhill, 31, of Winona, pleaded guilty in Carroll County to three charges of first-degree murder and one charge of aggravated assault.
Circuit Judge Joseph Loper sentenced Barnhill to life in prison for each murder conviction and 20 years for aggravated assault.
Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker said in March that Barnhill shot and killed his wife, Marlee Jones Barnhill, on March 1, the night before what would have been her 27th birthday. Walker said Barnhill also fatally shot the party’s hosts, Jim and Jamie Brooks Harrell.
Walker said the shootings happened after Marlee Barnhill tried to stop her husband from driving drunk.
An indictment said Barnhill fired at another woman at the party, Amber Garrard.
The Greenwood Commonwealth reported that Marlee Barnhill’s sister, Ashley White, spoke in court Monday.
“Your series of bad decisions cost us all so much. … The things you have taken from us are innumerable,” White told Michael Barnhill.
Prosecutors dropped a capital murder charge against Michael Barnhill, which could have carried the death penalty.
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