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| 2/7/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Judge moves Berry status
Man facing murder charge for father’s death will see doctor
Steve Grazier
Journal Staff Writer
The judicial process is moving slowly for a case involving a 21-year-old Montezuma County man charged with murdering his father and decapitating and dismembering the body.
A second psychiatric evaluation was ordered for Jeremiah R. Berry last month by 22nd Judicial District Court Judge Douglas Walker, and an update was scheduled to be discussed in court Thursday during a status conference. Since no evaluation took place, the judge rescheduled Berry's status hearing for 1:30 p.m. March 5.
"The court has not issued an order for evaluation and will do so ASAP," states a district court document summing up Thursday's proceeding. "(The) court will set up an appointment for (the) defendant with a doctor in Durango."
Berry's hearing was slated to be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, but Walker brought the matter up earlier in the day - to District Attorney Jim Wilson's surprise.
"He suddenly called it," said Wilson, who noted the schedule change makes it difficult to adequately notify certain witnesses who are to be informed of any procedural changes in the case.
District court judges have the right to rework court dockets to speed up a lengthy slate of daily cases, Wilson said.
The initial finding from a psychiatric review of Berry by the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo determined in December that he was sane and competent enough to stand trial.
In July 2008, Berry pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged with second-degree murder. He is accused of killing his father, Jack Berry, who was 42, after telling Montezuma County Sheriff's Office detectives he shot his father in the back of the head after he was raped by the man, then decapitated and dismembered the body and fed flesh to coyotes, according to court documents from the case.
Jeremiah Berry told police that he killed his father in a canyon south of the Dog Hotel, a dog kennel located at 33350 Colorado Highway 184, on or about Feb. 19, 2008. According to previous court testimony, county detectives have found body parts, including a skull, hands and feet, thought to be those of Jack Berry within buckets hardened with cement in a storage room at the kennel.
If found guilty by a jury, punishment for second-degree murder ranges from eight to 24 years in prison. With aggravating circumstances, a penalty can reach 48 years. A monetary penalty ranging from $5,000 to $1 million also can be administered.
Jeremiah Berry is being held at the Montezuma County Detention Center on $500,000 bond.
Reach Steve Grazier at steveg@cortezjournal.com.
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