Jeremiah Raymond Berry Pleads Guilty To Feeding Abusive Father To Coyotes

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.

Comments

[WilliamL]

Richard Jahnke, in Cheyenne in the early eighties, shot his abusive father through a garage door with a shot gun and eventually had the governor grant him a new name.

Three years is too much although he looks damaged

[anniebuddy]

The kid gets messed up for life by a sicko pervert and our justice system punishes him instead of giving him help. How is prison going to make it better in the long run ... for him or society? When are we going to the statistics through our pea brains and comprehend that punishment doesn't work.

[Clearing-Brush]

I only checked in case he was Bush's illegitimate son...... the search continues.....

[evanrkg]

kinda looks like him, dun'it?

[theone718]

This story is...........wow. I mean he needs help, he really does. This kid has had a messed up life.

[JohnHorn]

We all know that.

[LLeGrande]

Our wonderful justice system will now make this troubled boy the wife of a true criminal under the watchful eye of our prison industrial system.

[marcain]

If dad rapes you and says God told him that you need a sex change to be his wife, then dad has to die and be fed to coyotes. Duh. Whenever someone prefaces a sentence with 'God told me' it's always a sign of psychosis. Always.

[Idea1013]

But unfortunately, psychosis alone does not qualify as legal insanity. Go figure.

[SMAckley]

But it was dad who was psychotic.

[iworshipthedoggod]

agreed.

[ezbreezer]

What's wrong with recycling?

[LLeGrande]

Ha ha! Ha ha!

I hope the meat was not bad when fed to the coyotes. It would have been a tragedy if the meat was spoiled, thereby making them ill.

[pporter]

Poor kid, Prison is the las place he deserves. Why not a mental hospital or some place where he could get some serious counciling? WOW

[JohnJudy]

Yeah, three years in prison after being raped by his dad, that should fix everything just fine. We won't be hearing from this young fella again.
tick-tick-­tick......

[confidance government]

Well if a medical examine corroborates his testimony regarding sexual abuse, I would have let the kid walk. He was defending himself from sexual assualt, and the "father" got what he deserved.

[Lucille]

In a nutshell.

[invirginia]

Murder and dismemberment are in the sentencing guidelines for rape? How does feeding someone to coyotes constitute self-defense?

[Lucille]

Who cares what the perpetrator suffers? If the Dad had not raped his son, his own kid would not have shot him and feed him to the coyotes. The kid flipped- out, that's understandable.

[sylar]

Poor kid.

[Bigrcube]

Is it the high mountain air, the higher elevations, or something in that high mountain water, huh?!

[Hypomaniac]

So sorry to hear that Keanu Reeves went out like that.

[princeminski]

Which one is Keanu?

[Harrier]

You're not supposed to feed the wild animals because they will come back for more. There should be signs posted all over

[grammargirl]

The poor father. After all, the patriarch Abraham heard the same voice telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac, yet he went on to become the founding father of the world's top three monotheistic religions...

[diasehmai]

Um, no. Not the same voice. don't let your catholic school bitterness get the best of you.

[RachelMc]

same voice

[StonyStoner]

Abraham said, "Where you want this killing done?'
And gOD said, "Out on Highway 61."

[Tony Walker]

Mohamed heard the same voice

[timetorevolt]

please seek help before you make healines..

[Burkelbile]

... aaand my Swiss clock says it's LUNCHTIME ....

(cuckoo - bongg - cuckoo - bongg - cuckoo - bongg - cuckoo - bongg - ....)

[Jolimont]

Oooh, good one! I'd love to know what the religious nutheads have to say about that!