A Biloxi man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for shooting and killing a Waffle House waitress on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Johnny Mount, 52, was found guilty of killing Julie Brightwell in November 2015 after she reportedly told him not to smoke a cigarette inside the restaurant.
Mount, a former Biloxi firefighter who stepped down after suffering a brain injury from a vehicle accident in 2002, became enraged with Brightwell after the comment she made and shot the waitress in the head.
During the trial, Mount’s attorney, Jim Davis, claimed that the shooter was “delusional” and that his client had no idea what was going on the night he took Brightwell’s life.
Assistant District Attorney Billy Stage refuted the defense’s claim and stated that Mount has to be held accountable for his actions.
Davis, on behalf of Mount’s family, offered condolences to Brightwell’s loved ones. The Mount family claims that he became a completely different person after the vehicle accident and expressed sorrow that the former firefighter caused another family to lose a loved one.
