BILLINGS — Supporters of a Montana State Prison inmate who recently was denied clemency for a murder he claims he didn’t commit say they will continue their efforts even as state officials say the case is closed.

“It’s not done. It’s not even close to being done,” said Darlene Peterson, a Lockwood woman and friend of Barry Beach, who is serving a 100-year prison sentence for the 1979 murder of 17-year-old Kimberly Nees in Poplar.

Peterson and Jim McClosky, executive director of the Princeton, N.J.-based Centurion Ministries, said they believe a recent decision by the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole to deny Beach’s request for clemency or parole is flawed. Centurion Ministries is a nonprofit organization that has worked to free 40 wrongfully convicted inmates in the past 27 years.

McClosky said the organization is not giving up on its legal effort to free Beach. The organization has spent seven years investigating the case and remains convinced the 45-year-old inmate is innocent, McClosky said.

“I just cannot in good conscience leave Barry behind,” McClosky said this week by telephone.

Since the Parole Board released its written decision on Aug. 23, Centurion Ministries has issued a 34-page response addressed to Gov. Brian Schweitzer. The response describes the Parole Board’s decision as a “grave mistake,” and urges Schweitzer to review the record of Beach’s conviction and clemency request.

Schweitzer’s spokeswoman, Sarah Elliot, said the governor has not received the document from the organization. When he does, the document will be reviewed by legal counsel, although Elliot said there is little the governor can do in the case.

“We don’t have any legal options at this point to do anything or change anything,” Elliot said.

Lawyers in the state Attorney General’s Office who argued against Beach’s request for clemency or parole said his supporters were given wide leeway to prove their case to the Parole Board and failed. Centurion Ministries’ letter and request to the governor is “simply raising the same old arguments that it raised at previous pleadings,” according to a memo the lawyers wrote to Attorney General Mike McGrath.

“They had their chance,” said Assistant Attorneys General Tammy Plubell and Mike Wellenstein. “The Board simply did not believe Beach and Centurion Ministries. Centurion Ministries and Beach are understandably unhappy with the outcome, but they cannot claim they were denied a fair opportunity to present their case.”

Beach claims he was forced to give a false confession to the Nees murder by detectives in Louisiana when he was arrested in 1983 on unrelated charges. He was convicted at trial the following year, and he has unsuccessfully appealed his case in both state and federal courts.

Earlier this year, the Parole Board granted a request by Centurion Ministries to consider what it described as new evidence of Beach’s innocence. Beach’s supporters said witnesses at hearings held in July and August gave compelling testimony, including several witnesses who said a group of women were responsible for killing Nees.

In its ruling, the Parole Board described the testimony as hearsay and said there was “no proof of innocence” as Beach claimed. The Parole Board said its decision “laid this matter to rest.”

Requests for clemency must be approved by the Parole Board before being considered by the governor.

Peterson, who was once engaged to Beach and remains convinced of his innocence, said she believes the Parole Board’s decision was politically motivated because former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot prosecuted Beach as his trial in 1984, when Racicot was an assistant attorney general.

“It started with politics, and the only way I feel it’s going to end is with politics,” Peterson said. “It’s so easy to put someone in prison, but it’s so hard to get them out, even if they are innocent. It could happen to any of us. It’s got to stop.”

McClosky said he will travel to Montana next week to meet with Beach and a group of eight or 10 supporters to plan their next steps. Peterson and McClosky are also anticipating a “Dateline NBC” segment on Beach’s case scheduled for broadcast later this year.

McClosky said his organization would have abandoned Beach’s case long ago if it found any evidence of his guilt. But his group will continue on the case for “as long as there is any possibility of freeing Barry.”