Wife of Prominent Ga. Attorney Found Guilty of Murder and Burning His Body

The wife of a prominent Georgia attorney has been convicted of killing her husband and burning his body.

On Monday, Nov. 4, a Cherokee County jury found Melody Farris guilty of killing her husband Gary Farris, an Atlanta-area attorney, in 2018. She was convicted on all charges, including murder with malice, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement, according to FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV.

The 59-year-old mother of four showed no emotion as the verdict was read, video shows.

In July 2018, the couple’s son Scott Farris discovered Gary’s remains on the family’s 10-acre farm in Alpharetta, Ga., in a pile of ashes and called police, according to the Tribune Ledger News. Investigators originally believed that Gary suffered a medical emergency and fell into the fire himself. After police found a bullet lodged in one of Gary’s rib bones his death was declared a homicide.

“I walk up and look, and I start seeing bones,” Scott said in the early days of the trial, describing the moment he discovered his father’s remains, according to FOX 5.

Melody initially told investigators that she had never had an extramarital affair, but then later changed her statement to say that she had ended an affair with a man named Roy Barton in 2017. Melody was arrested and charged in Tullahoma, Tenn. in 2019, the Tribune Ledger reported.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that the couple had been arguing about money. One of the couple’s other children, daughter Emily, testified that her mother had another affair in 2009 and her parents’ relationship was under tremendous stress, according to FOX 5. Melody was also the beneficiary of Gary’s $2 million life insurance policy, according to the Tribune Ledger.

Per the Tribune Ledger, prosecutors also showed the jury there had been blood in the couple’s home that trailed from the kitchen, down a set of stairs and onto the lower level.

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Son Scott also testified that he believed his mother’s reaction to the discovery of Gary’s body was insincere, telling jurors: “I’ve seen my mother cry hundreds of times throughout my life and it appeared to me to be fake.”

Meanwhile, Melody’s defense attorney alleged that Scott had reason to kill his father and that he often borrowed money from Gary, a point of contention in the family, according to the Tribune Ledger. They also argued that Scott was the only suspect who owned .38 caliber ammunition, the type of bullet found in Gary’s remains.

Scott denied the defense’s claims, testifying that he did not kill Gary and did not help dispose of his body.

Defense attorney Michael Ray previously argued during the trial’s opening statements last month that police had “confirmation bias” throughout the investigation.

“You’re going to see from the evidence in this case, from day one, the investigation by Detective Hayes and all the other officers in Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office — even the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the GBI — everything that was done in this case was tailored specifically to attempt to convict Melody in the death of Gary Farris,” Ray argued in October, per the Tribune.

Following the closing arguments last week — in which prosecutors reaffirmed their argument that Melody “committed these crimes with a malice of forethought and an abandoned, malignant heart,” per the Tribune — jurors deliberated for two days.

Melody is set to be sentenced in December.