Former mayor says Poplar backs convicted murderer's release
By MATT GOURAS Associated Press
DEER LODGE - A convicted murderer says he was tricked into giving a confession in 1983 and is asking that his 100-year sentence be reduced, to allow parole while he awaits a separate decision on an executive clemency request.
Barry Beach, in prison for 23 years for the 1979 murder of 17-year-old Kim Nees in Poplar, was the focus of a hearing Wednesday featuring character witnesses. They testified that the original sentence was too severe and said Beach deserves to be set free.Beach was supported by former state Sen. Chris Christiaens, D-Great Falls; by former Yellowstone County Commissioner James Ziegler Sr. of Billings; by a former prison guard, childhood friends, his mother, people involved in prison ministries and others.
They said that Beach's imprisonment was a tragedy and that he should be granted parole if the board does not approve forwarding his clemency request to Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
The former mayor of Poplar said the community backs Beach's release.
``I'm just here to ask you to find it in your hearts to recommend parole for Barry,'' said Dallas O'Connor. ``It is the town's feeling that it is time.''
The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole hearing follows a June hearing that focused on whether Beach really was the killer in a crime that has gripped Poplar for years. Beach has argued that a group of girls, some with relatives on the tribal police force in Poplar, are the real killers. Beach's defense team, which includes a New Jersey advocacy group that works to free wrongly convicted inmates, has argued much of the confession doesn't match key evidence found at the murder scene in Poplar, including Beach's descriptions of what Nees was wearing and how he disposed of the body.
The attorney general's office has opposed Beach's claims of innocence, and called on such witnesses in the June hearing as former Gov. Marc Racicot, the original prosecutor in the case, to dispute Beach's claims.
Prosecutors said the confession corroborates too many accurate details to be false. The confession's credibility also has been upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Barry Beach, in prison for 23 years for the 1979 murder of 17-year-old Kim Nees in Poplar, was the focus of a hearing Wednesday featuring character witnesses. They testified that the original sentence was too severe and said Beach deserves to be set free.Beach was supported by former state Sen. Chris Christiaens, D-Great Falls; by former Yellowstone County Commissioner James Ziegler Sr. of Billings; by a former prison guard, childhood friends, his mother, people involved in prison ministries and others.
They said that Beach's imprisonment was a tragedy and that he should be granted parole if the board does not approve forwarding his clemency request to Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
The former mayor of Poplar said the community backs Beach's release.
``I'm just here to ask you to find it in your hearts to recommend parole for Barry,'' said Dallas O'Connor. ``It is the town's feeling that it is time.''
The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole hearing follows a June hearing that focused on whether Beach really was the killer in a crime that has gripped Poplar for years. Beach has argued that a group of girls, some with relatives on the tribal police force in Poplar, are the real killers. Beach's defense team, which includes a New Jersey advocacy group that works to free wrongly convicted inmates, has argued much of the confession doesn't match key evidence found at the murder scene in Poplar, including Beach's descriptions of what Nees was wearing and how he disposed of the body.
The attorney general's office has opposed Beach's claims of innocence, and called on such witnesses in the June hearing as former Gov. Marc Racicot, the original prosecutor in the case, to dispute Beach's claims.
Prosecutors said the confession corroborates too many accurate details to be false. The confession's credibility also has been upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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