Governor grants clemency to Barry Beach

Beach has been at the Montana State Prison for most of the past 31 years, sentenced in 1984 to 100 years without parole for the 1979 murder of Kimberly Nees, near Poplar.

Bullock did not release a statement about the decision, but the order notes that Beach was 17 years old at the time of the crime and that he has served more than 30 years for a crime that happened when he was a juvenile.

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.

Governor Steve Bullock on Friday issued an executive order commuting the criminal sentence of Barry Beach.

Flanked by supporters, the 53-year-old Beach told reporters he expected “a lot of healing and a lot of tears” during the four-hour drive back to his Billings home.

Beach confessed to the crime but has since claimed that confession was coerced and has been fighting to clear his name for years.

Beach walked out of the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge at noon. But on a 4-3 decision, the Montana Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2013 and sent Beach back to prison to serve out his sentence. Jon Tester, former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and former Republican U.S. Sen.

Bullock also said Beach lived a productive life on the outside before he was returned to prison in 2013 and has maintained a good correctional record.

Beach said during his years-long attempt at exoneration, he never gave up hope.

Additional requirements contained within the order direct Beach to serve the suspended portion of the sentence on probation under the supervision of the Montana Department of Corrections.

Both Beach and Nees were 17 years old.

Regardless of Beach’s innocence or guilt, Phillips says Beach proved he was reformed by staying employed and out of trouble when he was free for 18 months awaiting a new trial.

Beach’s request didn’t seek exoneration; instead, he asked to shorten his sentence so he could be released or paroled. Under the law, if the pardon and parole board denies a clemency request, that’s the end of the story… or it was, until this year, when Margie Macdonald got involved.

During his time on the outside, Beach worked at the Clocktower Inn in Billings, Montana’s largest city. “It really has”, Clincher said. “He probably would like to take a little bit of time off, but there’s the reality that he has to support himself”.