Appellate Court rejects Patrick Frazee’s appeal to guilty murder conviction
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- On Dec. 29, the Colorado Appellate Courts reaffirmed the murder conviction for Patrick Frazee, the Teller County man found guilty of killing his fiancee in 2018.
Kelsey Berreth, the mother of Frazee's daughter and fiancée, was last seen on Thanksgiving Day 2018. Her disappearance prompted a statewide search.
Frazee was eventually arrested and charged with her murder. A large part of the state's case against Frazee came from testimony by his former secret girlfriend, Krystal Lee. Lee said Frazee tried to get her to murder Berreth multiple times before Frazee beat Berreth with a baseball bat.
Frazee was also found guilty of three counts of solicitation of murder and one count of tampering with a deceased body.
The sentencing followed immediately after the verdict was announced. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 156 years for the other charges.
In his brief of appeal filed in March of 2021, Frazee's defense team brought up several issues with their client's murder trial and the prosecution's case. These issues include testimony from key law enforcement witnesses, the impartiality of three jurors, and evidence introduced during the middle of the trial.
The Colorado Appellate Court affirmed the guilty conviction, however, the reasoning for their decision is unclear to the public.
The Colorado Appellate Court judges did not publish their opinions. According to the judges, the ruling did not require a published opinion because it did not meet the necessary standards per state law.
