WINONA – A man who said “goodbye” to his girlfriend just before he shot her in the chest was sentenced to 30 years in jail in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
John Lee Forrest, of Winona, was found guilty of shooting Betty Jean Hardwick with a 20-gauge shotgun outside of her apartment on Aug. 6, 2009, as well as possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The jury deliberated just 20 minutes before returning a guilty verdict on both counts.
Forrest’s attorney filed a motion to overturn his guilty verdict in circuit court, but it was denied by the judge.
Forrest, 39, has prior charges and convictions against him in Montgomery County and Florida for drug possession and grand larceny.
According to an initial report by Captain Tommy Bibbs, of the Winona Police Department, the police were called to Hardwick’s residence between 2 and 3 a.m., on Aug. 6, and found Hardwick, her two daughters and another man locked in a bedroom.
“They said Forrest was trying to come in the house,” Bibbs said earlier. “So, they were locked up in the bedroom and Betty was sitting on the floor bleeding.”
Hardwick, who was conscious when authorities arrived, was transported to Tyler Holmes Memorial in Winona before being airlifted to Jackson in critical condition. She was later released.
Witnesses told Bibbs that after the shooting, Forrest reportedly went up the street carrying the weapon, and told some friends “You all better leave because the police are on their way.”
Bibbs further said that Hardwick’s daughters, who live at the apartment with Hardwick and Forrest, were home when the incident occurred.
“They were upset and when I questioned them they said, ‘John Lee did it,’” Bibbs said.
The two women also told Bibbs that Forrest had been “shooting the gun all day,” before he came in the house and loaded it “one time and went out on the porch.”
Witnesses told Bibbs that when Hardwick pulled in front of the apartment, after coming home from work, she encountered Forrest on the front porch and the two exchanged words.
“They heard him say something,” Bibbs said. “And then she said something. Then they heard John Lee say, ‘Goodbye Betty,’ and he fired.”
Bibbs said the blast of the single barrel shotgun knocked Hardwick back into her vehicle.
“During our investigation,” he said, “we found blood in the car and we could also see a trail of blood from the car all the way into the house and into the bedroom.”
Forrest was found a short time later sitting on a porch in the neighborhood and he was taken into custody. The weapon was recovered in a nearby culvert.
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