Montana man freed from prison decades after murder he long denied
- 8 years ago
Montana's Democratic governor on Friday ordered the release of Barry Beach, whose cause drew widespread support as he maintained his innocence throughout three decades in prison for the killing of a high school classmate.
Beach, 53, has been serving a 100-year sentence in Montana State Prison for deliberate homicide in the 1979 beating death of Kimberly Nees, 17, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in the northeast corner of the state.
A new law - inspired in large part by Beach's case - gives Montana's governor the final decision in clemency requests instead of the parole board.
Under the clemency order, Bullock commuted Beach's sentence to time served with an additional 10 years suspended, during which Beach will be on probation and supervised by the state Department of Corrections.
Beach was released for 18 months beginning in 2011 after a state judge ordered a new trial based on witness testimony that Nees died in a fight among a gang of girls.
Beach, 53, has been serving a 100-year sentence in Montana State Prison for deliberate homicide in the 1979 beating death of Kimberly Nees, 17, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in the northeast corner of the state.
A new law - inspired in large part by Beach's case - gives Montana's governor the final decision in clemency requests instead of the parole board.
Under the clemency order, Bullock commuted Beach's sentence to time served with an additional 10 years suspended, during which Beach will be on probation and supervised by the state Department of Corrections.
Beach was released for 18 months beginning in 2011 after a state judge ordered a new trial based on witness testimony that Nees died in a fight among a gang of girls.