The Supreme Court of Georgia has unanimously upheld the conviction of a man who murdered his wife in 1991 and buried her in their backyard, where her remains went undiscovered for nearly 20 years.
In an opinion released Tuesday, the high court affirmed the life sentence of Kevin James Lee for the malice murder of Ann Berry. The ruling details a case that went cold for decades and ended with a defendant rejecting a chance at freedom just moments before a jury convicted him.
Berry disappeared on July 31, 1991. According to court records, she called her sister that night asking to move in with her, attempting to flee a volatile relationship. Her sister recalled hearing Lee yelling and children crying in the background. Berry never arrived.
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For years, Lee told friends and family varying stories, claiming his wife had run off with a drug dealer or left him for another man. A week after she vanished, he took their children and moved to Kansas.
The case broke open in April 2011, when a group of teenagers digging a firepit in the woods of Coweta County unearthed a trash bag containing human skeletal remains. The discovery was made less than 100 yards from the home Lee and Berry had shared. DNA testing eventually confirmed the remains belonged to Berry.
Lee was arrested in California in 2018 and brought back to Georgia to face trial.
In his appeal, Lee argued that the evidence against him was purely circumstantial and failed to exclude other suspects, specifically pointing the finger at Larry Cook, a family friend who is currently incarcerated for a separate murder. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, noting that jurors heard testimony from Cook, who denied involvement and stated, “Ann was my friend.”
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The court also found that the jury was entitled to weigh the discovery of the body on Lee’s former property against his inconsistent stories regarding her disappearance.
Perhaps the most stark detail highlighted in the court’s opinion was a pre-trial decision made by Lee. Before jury selection began in 2022, prosecutors offered him a plea deal to the lesser charge of concealing the death of another. The deal would have allowed Lee to plead guilty, receive credit for time served, and immediately go free.
The opinion notes that the trial judge ensured Lee understood the offer, but Lee refused, insisting on his innocence and hoping that old police notes regarding other potential suspects would exonerate him. When the judge warned him that those notes would likely be inadmissible, Lee replied, “I’m ready to put my life in the jurors’ hands.”
The jury subsequently found him guilty of malice murder.
Justice McMillian, writing for the unanimous court, stated that Lee’s attorneys were not ineffective for failing to force the plea, as the record showed Lee fully understood the risks of going to trial.
While the court set aside a consecutive sentence for concealing a death due to a statute of limitations error, Lee’s life sentence for murder remains in effect.
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