Convicted killer gets a second chance at life

WILMNGTON, NC (WECT) – A convicted killer sentenced to death got a second chance at life Thursday.

Kyle Berry is on death row for the brutal murder of 16-year-old Teresa Fetter. Berry stabbed and beat the teenager then left her in a wooded area in 1998.

After years of appeal, Berry pleaded guilty to the murders of both Fetter and a woman named Lisa Maves. Prosecutors say Berry killed Maves in Wrightsville Beach and pushed her body into the ocean. Berry later murdered Fetter because she knew about Maves' death.

A superior court judge found errors in his sentencing trial earlier this year and that is why the case went back to court Thursday.

In the plea deal with the state, Berry agreed to enter a guilty plea to both murders in exchange for two consecutive life sentences. That removed Berry from death row.

Family members of both victims spoke in the hearing.

"Today is my daughter's day," explained Teresa's mother, Margaret Fetter. "Today is Lisa Maves' day. These things have haunted me for 12 years. You made me watch my daughter die over and over."

Maves' brother, Sam Stout, spoke to the hushed courtroom as well.

"This was a senseless crime. Those two girls did not deserve to be brutally murdered," Stout said.

District Attorney Ben David released a statement once the proceedings were over.

[Click here to read a statement from DA Ben David]

"We have determined that today's pleas best achieve justice in these individual cases," David wrote. "While preventing further hurt to three families which are completely blameless."