The Cortez Journal reports on the end of a grim story that began in February 2008. Jeremiah Raymond Berry pleaded guilty on Friday to killing his sexually abusive father and feeding him to coyotes. The Cortez Journal has more:
Jeremiah Raymond Berry was sentenced to three years in a Colorado Department of Corrections facility followed by 10 years of "intense supervised" probation. He appeared Friday afternoon before 22nd Judicial District Judge Douglas Walker, who accepted a plea deal reached between the district attorney and Berry's public defender.
The AP details the hearing and the crime:
Berry, who cried throughout his sentencing hearing, had been charged with second-degree murder for the February 2008 death of his father, 42-year-old Jack Berry. Jeremiah Berry had faced 48 years in prison if convicted of that charge in Montezuma County. He had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but doctors concluded during two mental evaluations that he was competent to stand trial.
Jeremiah Berry shot his father in the head, and then dismembered his corpse to feed parts of it to coyotes, according to court documents. Authorities said they also found some of Jack Berry's body parts encased in a bucket with concrete.
Jeremiah Berry told police he killed his father after his father raped him. He said his father told him that day he had been told by God his son needed a sex change to become his wife.