Georgia woman blames son after life sentence for murdering husband, burning body

CANTON, Ga. (CN) — A Georgia woman was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after she was convicted last month for murdering her husband and burning his body.

But first, she made a last-ditch attempt to shift the blame on her son.

Melody Farris was found guilty by a Cherokee County jury in early November of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement following the death of her husband, Gary Farris.

During her sentencing hearing, the 64-year-old told the judge that she has concealed the true murderer’s identity for six years.

“I want the world to know who did this. Not only did I not do this, I know who did,” Farris said. “I know Scott killed his father.”

Farris accused her son Scott of taking “big daddy” from his siblings and their family, calling his actions unforgivable.

“This, I refuse to cover for you,” she said.

Addressing Scott, who was in the courtroom, Farris said that despite having spent her life loving and protecting him, she would no longer do so. She also claimed that her mother had told her to take the blame for what happened.

Farris went on to say that she saw Scott coming from the burn pile where Gary’s remains had been found and areas of the property that he had cleaned. She added that he had failed a polygraph test after the murder.

Through tears, Farris expressed regret for not testifying during the trial despite her legal counsel’s advice.

Scott appeared baffled and frustrated at his mother’s words until the judge eventually cut her off.

“You’re not supposed to go into evidence at this phase of the case,” Cherokee County Superior Court Judge David Cannon Jr. told Farris. “Your statements need to be constrained to the punishment and related to how I’m going to sentence you.”

Cannon proceeded to sentence Farris to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years — though he noted it was unlikely she would live long enough to be paroled. He also ordered her not to contact anyone in the family.

Throughout the three-week trial, Farris’s attorneys pointed to Scott Farris as the most likely suspect, noting that he was missing a gun and was the only one who possessed the same kind of bullets as those found in Gary Farris’s ribs and on the floor of his bedroom.

Amanda Farris, Scott’s sister and Melody’s daughter, testified that her brother was the only one with guns. She said he had few friends and bouts of aggression after returning home from the military.

While on the stand, she also said that Scott immediately mentioned he had a missing gun after he was the first one to notice the human remains in the burn pile before reporting it to the police on July 5, 2018.

Defense attorney Michael Ray told jurors that authorities did a poor job of collecting evidence from the Farris family’s massive 10-acre property in Alpharetta.

He said investigators never collected any evidence or searched for any invisible blood traces from the room of Scott Farris, who lived on the property. He told the jury that Scott’s room was filthy and even had dog feces, but that his bathroom was spotless with a magic eraser left out.

The attorney also questioned how the tiny Farris could have moved her husband, who was 6’3 and more than 300 pounds, onto the burn pile.

But despite the unusual circumstances surrounding Gary’s mysterious death, the jury ultimately agreed with prosecutors after three days of deliberations that Farris was the only one with a real motive to kill him.

Gary Farris, a prominent Atlanta-area attorney for the firm Burr and Forman, was married to Melody for 38 years. And yet, several witnesses testified that the two lived completely separate lives.

Two of Melody Farris’ secret paramours testified at trial, as prosecutors tried to use her affairs as proof of her dishonesty and lack of remorse toward her slain husband.

Scott testified that he loved his father. He and his brother, Chris Farris, told the court they had questioned their mother’s apparent lack of emotional response to their father’s death, including why she did not hold a funeral for him.

Melody Farris was eventually arrested for lying to authorities about having any extramarital affairs and ending her relationship with Roy “Rusty” Barton — with whom she was found in Tullahoma, Tennessee, after her husband’s death.

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