WOODLAND PARK, Colo. — The man who is serving a life sentence plus 156 years for the murder of Woodland Park mother Kelsey Berreth has filed a motion to appeal his conviction.
Patrick Frazee, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, and tampering with a deceased human body on Nov. 18. His public defenders gave the court notice they intend to appeal the jury’s decision on Jan. 6, according to court documents obtained by 9NEWS on Monday.
This notice does not list Frazee’s reasons for the appeal. Those documents will likely be filed later this year.
What the notice does do is set the appeal process into motion. Frazee’s attorneys have asked for transcripts of all of Frazee’s court appearances, from motions hearings as far back as December 2018 to his trial, which lasted from Oct. 28 to Nov. 18.
Prosecutors argued that Frazee beat Berreth to death with a baseball bat the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2018 and burned her body on his ranch in Florissant. His one-time mistress, Krystal Lee, told investigators that she came to Colorado two days after the murder and helped clean up the crime scene inside Berreth’s apartment.
Lee also said Frazee had asked her to kill Berreth on three occasions in the months before her death, but she didn’t go through with it.
After she said Frazee did commit the murder, Lee admitted to disposing of Berreth’s cellphone near her home in Idaho.
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She pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and will be sentenced on Tuesday. Per the plea agreement, the maximum penalty she faces is up to three years in prison. The tampering with evidence charge could also come with a sentence of merely probation – something 9NEWS Legal Expert Scott Robinson said was highly unlikely.
District Attorney Dan May characterized Lee’s plea agreement as a “deal with the devil” that was necessary to ensure that Frazee didn’t walk free.
Frazee is currently serving his sentence at the maximum-security Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Crowley County.
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