Mont. Governor Grants Clemency to Man Serving 100 Years for Murder

“In the spring of 2014 when the parole board basically blocked Beach’s application for clemency and refused to forward that to the governor, even though he has written to them and requested that he be given the opportunity to weigh in on it, I felt that signaled to me that that there was something broken in our system”.

Barry Beach, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole after admitting to investigators that he used a wrench and tire iron to beat to death Kimberly Nees, a 17-year-old pupil at Poplar High School, after she refused him sex.

Bullock commuted Beach’s 100-year-sentence to time served with 10 years suspended.

Those advocates won a victory in 2012 when the U.S. Supreme Court found that an Alabama law mandating life without parole for a juvenile convicted of murder violated a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Convicted killer Barry Beach, who’s spent three decades trying to exonerate himself, walked out of the Montana State Prison a free man Friday, after Gov. Steve Bullock granted him clemency.

But Beach said his 1983 confession to Louisiana authorities was coerced. He was released on bond and lived and worked in Billings for 18 months, until Montana’s Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn the lower court’s order and return Beach to the state prison. Four years ago he was released when a Billings judge granted his request for a new trial.

Bullock’s decision to grant Beach clemency follows a law passed earlier this year by the Montana Legislature which allows the governor to overrule decisions by the Montana Board of Pardons & Parole.

“I knew it was going to be here someday”, Beach said. Beach will remain on probation for 10 years, supervised by the state Department of Corrections.

Rehabilitation, the board said, requires not just being a good citizen in prison, but also admitting guilt… and Beach has said all along that he’s innocent. Jon Tester and former Republican U.S. Sen.

In October, Beach again filed a request for clemency.

Glenna Nees Lockman said “Oh, my God, that’s not right” upon hearing news that 53-year-old Barry Beach was being freed Friday.

– Three psychological reports have been completed regarding Mr. Beach, and these reports conclude that he poses minimal risk to public safety and is likely to successfully transition back into society.

His mother, Bobbi Clincher, said Friday the hotel’s owner had told her the job was still available for Beach, and she expected he would resume working there soon. “It really has”, Clincher said.