FAYETTE COUNTY — A 71-year-old Mulberry Grove man was sentenced Tuesday in Fayette County Court to 30-years in prison after a jury in September found him guilty of the 2017 murder of Brownstown cattleman James Skinner.

David Bright
(Source: FCSO)

While he will likely serve the remaining years of his life in prison, David Leroy Bright was given credit Tuesday for the time he has served in the Fayette County Jail since his January 2018 arrest in the case.

Before being sentenced Tuesday, Bright gave a brief statement in which he claimed he was not guilty of Skinner’s murder.

After a 5-day trial in September, a Fayette County jury found Bright guilty of two counts first-degree murder.

The murder is believed to have occurred on September 17, 2017, the day Skinner’s body was found near Bluff City.

Bright was accused of striking Skinner in the head with a sledgehammer, thereby causing his death.