Man gets life sentence for killing friend outside hotel
Published 4:43 pm Friday, August 2, 2019
(AP) — A Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his friend outside a Mississippi hotel will spend the rest of his life in prison.
News outlets report 39-year-old Nicky Joe Johns of Columbia, Tennessee, was sentenced Wednesday for the Sept. 2017 death of 37-year-old Christopher Rochelle.
Authorities say Johns, Rochelle and another friend drove from Tennessee to Mississippi and had been using drugs in the days leading up to the shooting.
Investigators obtained surveillance video of Johns shooting Rochelle in the head outside an Ocean Springs hotel. Officials say Johns could be seen going through Rochelle’s pockets before driving away.
Johns led police on a chase three days later and was arrested after authorities found him in a garbage can.