TELLER COUNTY — In a re-sentencing hearing for Krystal Kenney on Tuesday, a judge gave her to 18 months in prison and 1 year of parole. As of Wednesday morning, she is now out on parole for that one year of supervised release.
The Idaho nurse had served about 14 months of her sentence for tampering with evidence in the Kelsey Berreth case. Her testimony sent Patrick Frazee to prison for life on a first-degree murder charge for the death Berreth in 2018.
Kenney pleaded guilty to a charge of tampering with evidence and in exchange was sentenced to three years in prison. However, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled the sentence unconstitutional based on the crime committed.
The maximum prison sentence in Colorado for tampering with evidence is 18 months. However, that number was doubled in Kenney's case, because she was charged within the aggravated range of sentencing. Kenney's attorney told News5 that never should have happened.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser agreed to a motion to allow Krystal Kenney to be released early from prison.
You can read Attorney General Phil Weiser's motion to expedite the sentence here.
Kenney, Frazee's mistress, provided prosecutors all the essential information on how Frazee beat Berreth to death with a baseball bat while she was blindfolded with a sweater to sniff candles. She also admitted to helping Frazee clean up the crime scene but said she intentionally left evidence for investigators to find.
"We did a deal with the devil. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about that, and I'm not proud of that. But, there's no question that Kelsey wouldn't have had the sure justice without making that deal with the devil," former District Attorney of the 4th Judicial District, Dan May, said following Frazee's trial.
As a result of her testimony, Frazee is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, plus 156 years.
