CRIPPLE CREEK – Patrick Frazee did not enter a plea during his court appearance Friday morning, reaching an agreement to delay the hearing until May.
The prosecution and the defense agreed to push back his arraignment until May 24 at 8:30 a.m. The state said there are still pieces of evidence that need to be tested.
Judge Scott Sells also granted the state’s request to seal records from the Teller County Department of Human Services to the public, however, the defense will have access to those documents. We were previously told those records included statements made by Frazee and witnesses.
In a news conference following the 12-minute court appearance, District Attorney Dan May said he wouldn’t comment on whether his office was pursuing a plea deal.
May said it is important to test all of the evidence. The testing is mostly related to consumptive testing on a piece of evidence, which means it can only be tested once due to issues relating to the evidence’s material or its size. May would not say what that piece of evidence is or how it would be tested.
Frazee, 32, is accused of killing his fiancé, Kelsey Berreth, by beating her with a baseball bat on Thanksgiving and burning her body a few days later.
He faces eight total charges — two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, one count of tampering with a deceased human body and two counts of a crime of violence. If Frazee pleads not guilty, the case is headed for trial.
The court appearance lasted just over 12 minutes.
