Forrest County men sentenced to 25 years in 2012 murder

Two Forrest County men will serve 25 years each after pleading guilty to murder in the 2012 shooting death of a Hattiesburg woman.

Sherby Dale Barnes Jr., 34, and Cotrell Lawrence Thomas, 24, were sentenced Wednesday by 15th District Circuit Court Judge Prentiss G. Harrell in Lamar County Circuit Court in Purvis for the depraved heart murder of Judy Johnson of Hattiesburg.

Harrell gave each man a 30-year sentence, with 25 years to serve in prison.

According to Hattiesburg police, Johnson’s body was found in her upstairs bedroom at her Plantation Place apartment, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. She was discovered about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 30, the same morning that heavy rain bands from Tropical Storm Isaac surged into the Pine Belt region.

Barnes and Thomas had both pleaded guilty the past few weeks, District Attorney Hal Kittrell said.