Steve Bullock approved Beach’s clemency request on Friday morning.
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Barry Beach walked out of the Montana State Prison a free man a little after noon MST today, in what will likely be the final chapter in his decades-long quest for freedom.
Since his conviction by a Montana jury in 1984, Beach has argued in legal filings that he is innocent and that his confession was coerced by police.
Using an executive order, Governor Steve Bullock commuted that to time served and 10 years’ probation under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections.
Despite those efforts, and the many questions surrounding his trial, including witnesses who contradicted the prosecution’s version of events, the Montana pardon and parole board refused to grant Beach’s clemency request, on the grounds that Beach was not rehabilitated.
The order directs Beach’s sentence to time served, with an additional 10 years suspended. “You don’t get out of here after twenty-some years and have a secure future”, Beach said. Beach filed a new request days after the law took effect October 1, and his case went straight to Bullock three weeks ago.
Barry Beach hugs a reporter as he departs Montana State Prison in… Bullock noted Beach was only 17 at the time of Nees’ death and exhibited good behavior in prison.
A cousin of the victim, Glenna Nees Lockman, said Friday it was shameful Beach had been released without someone else being charged in the crime. His long campaign for freedom drew support from hundreds, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and former Republican U.S. Sen.
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.
Fifty-three-year-old Barry Beach is serving a 100-year sentence at Montana State Prison in the beating death of high school classmate Kimberly Nees in the small town of Poplar, in northeast Montana.
– Life without parole forecloses the possibility of rehabilitation, and is an “especially harsh punishment for a juvenile, because he will nearly inevitably serve more years and a greater percentage of his life in prison than an adult offender”. Last month, after receiving a fifth request, the parole board forwarded the matter to Bullock. During his time on the outside, Beach worked at the Clocktower Inn in Montana’s largest city, Billings, where his mother, Bobbi Clinch, lives.
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“It’s been a long haul”.
