Virginia Beach man pleads guilty to killing mother, stepfather

VIRGINIA BEACH

Her body wracked with osteoporosis and hobbled by two broken hips, Barbara Lee sat helpless on her living room couch and pleaded with her son.

"He's been good to you," the 71-year-old woman shouted. "Leave him alone."

Berry Richard Johnson wouldn't stop. He swung a hammer at his stepfather and struck him in the head. When the bloodied tool slipped from his hand, Johnson went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. He plunged the blade into Robert Lee's back.

As the 63-year-old man lay bleeding to death that April night, Johnson got another hammer from the garage and attacked his mother.

He later would recount in detail to detectives how he committed the killings.

On Monday, Johnson, 50, pleaded guilty in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree murder. He faces up to life in prison in the deaths. Sentencing is set for Feb. 10.

Court records show Johnson, a cocaine user with a history of drug and non violent convictions, lived with his mother and stepfather in their Dorset Avenue home.

After the killings late April 10, Johnson said that he smoked crack cocaine at the house with a female friend. She left early the next day.

Johnson slept that night at the house but left before his sister arrived with her husband and grandchild and discovered the bodies.

On April 12, Beach police pulled Johnson over about 4:30 p.m. as he drove his stepfather's Chevrolet Cobalt at Rose Marie Avenue and Broad Street. Johnson had slashed his wrists and was taken by paramedics to Sentara Bayside Hospital for treatment.

There, court records show, Johnson told investigators that, before he killed his mother and stepfather, he had sold Robert Lee's lawn mower for $40 to buy drugs. He also admitted borrowing one of the hammers used from a neighbor earlier that evening.

"I really don't know why I did it," he told Detective Ray Pickell.

Johnson described his stepfather, a technical writer for a defense contractor, as "a good man" who treated Barbara Lee well. He cared for the woman, who was in poor health and unable to walk.

Court records show Lee's hands were badly injured as she tried to defend herself against her son. After killing her, Johnson dragged his mother's body into a bedroom so she would be out of sight.

Prosecutor Michael D. Defricke said there was no promise of leniency in the plea agreement.

Strothleen Anderson, Johnson's older sister, attended the plea hearing and said she will be in court for the sentencing. She said she is torn between wishing for a life sentence and execution for her brother.

"I think he should suffer as much as they did," she said in a telephone interview. "But he never would."

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com