Carroll County man pleads guilty to triple homicide; receives three life sentences

A Mississippi man has been sentenced to three life sentences plus 20 years for a triple homicide and aggravated assault in Carroll County.

Michael Martin Barnhill, 30, pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Marlee Jones Barnhill, and a couple, Brooks and Jim Harrell.

On March 1 of this year, the four were together to celebrate Marlee’s 27th birthday.

Over the course of the evening, Michael Barnhill got drunk and became “angry and combative,” when others tried to get him to stop his belligerent behavior, according to a statement from Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker,  the Clarion Ledger reported at the time.

Michael Barnhill’s victims: wife Marlee Barnhill, left, and Brooks and Jim Harrell.

Marlee Barnhill kept her husband’s keys to stop him from driving drunk. Michael Barnhill retrieved a .40 caliber pistol from his vehicle and returned to shoot his wife in the chest.

When Jim Harrell went to her defense, Michael Barnhill also shot him and then shot Brooks Harrell as she tried to help her husband.

Also in the house at the time of the shooting where two other women, Mauri Suggs and Amber Garrard, and a 10-year-old boy, who escaped to an upstairs room and locked themselves in. Apparently, Michael Barnhill shot at one of the women.

Michael Barnhill was not at the scene when police arrived, but he returned while they were still there, claiming he didn’t know what happened. The survivors told deputies that he was the killer. Michael Barnhill was arrested that night.