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Idaho nurse sentenced to 3 years for covering up Colorado slaying

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The Idaho nurse who assisted Patrick Frazee in covering up the killing of his fiancee, Kelsey Berreth, was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday.

Krystal Lee, previously known as Krystal Kenney, received the sentence as a result of a deal that allowed her to plead guilty to a single count of felony evidence tampering in exchange for agreeing to testify against Frazee.

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Lee, 33, will also face a year of parole after she is released.

Before her sentencing, Lee told the Colorado court that her "punishment comes every day" and she apologized for her actions.

"I am sorry that Kelsey's friends and family will live the rest of their life without her. I am sorry Kaylee has lost her mother. I am sorry that I did not save Kelsey," she said.

Teller County District Court Judge Scott Sells responded that the actions Lee took in assisting in the coverup of the killing were clearly intentional. He decided to hand her the maximum possible sentence.

"Your actions were not impulsive, they were not spur of the moment," he said. "You made an ongoing, conscious, multiday effort to tamper with evidence."

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Lee, who was romantically involved with Frazee, said he called her to clean up Berreth's Woodland Park home after he beat her to death with a baseball bat on Thanksgiving day.

Lee said she brought gloves, a protective body suit and trash bags and used cleaner to wipe down walls, a couch, a refrigerator, the floors and chair and later showed authorities several locations where she intentionally left blood spatter to lead them to evidence.

Lee said Frazee also directed her to bring Berreth's cellphone to Idaho to make it appear as though she had left the state.

Frazee was found guilty in the case and sentenced to life in prison.

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