“The bottom line is I would have no problem with Barry living in my community,” said Dan Gengler, an insurance actuary who met Beach through the prison ministry. “I would have no problem with him living next door to me, I would have no problem with him staying overnight in my home.”
Since 1984, Beach has been imprisoned for the brutal murder of his 17-year-old Poplar High School classmate and neighbor, Kim Nees, a crime to which he confessed, but has maintained ever since he did not commit.
But unlike a three-day executive clemency hearing in June, which allowed attorneys to outline Beach's defense in painstaking detail, Wednesday's hearing before the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole featured 14 character witnesses who emphasized Beach's moral integrity, and advocated his release from prison, calling his 100-year, no-parole sentence too severe.
Among those who turned out to support the 45-year-old inmate were Poplar Mayor Dallas O'Connor, former state Sen. Chris Christaens and former Yellowstone County Commissioner James Ziegler, who implored the board to set Beach free.
“I'm just here to ask you to find it in your hearts to recommend a parole for Barry, as I do believe that it's the town's feeling that it's time,” said O'Connor. “There is some polarization in Poplar, but most feel that Barry is innocent.”
“I am personally committed to providing Barry employment and housing,” Ziegler said. “I will do my part to help him re-enter society. He has served more than his time.”
Even Pam Nees, Kim Nees' older sister, appeared at the hearing to support Beach. However, the woman was not emotionally capable of testifying herself, according to her best friend, who read Nees' written statement to the three-member panel.
“I honestly believe that Barry did not kill my sister,” she said in the statement. “I feel Barry's pain and his family's pain, also. Finding the truth will set Barry free.”
The board must now determine whether Beach's sentence should be commuted to allow parole, or whether to recommend a full pardon to Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
Board Chairman Vance Curtiss characterized the case as “broad and complex,” but assured those seated inside the Powell County Community Center that an “honest and fair judgment” would be delivered soon.
The case's complexities were outlined in June by Beach's own legal team, which assembled seven years ago when a New Jersey-based advocacy group took notice of the case. The group, called Centurion Ministries, helped Beach appeal to the board for executive clemency or parole.
After reviewing the application, the board granted Beach a pair of public hearings, despite strong objections from prosecutors at the Montana Attorney General's Office, who say the confession corroborates too many accurate details to be false. The confession's credibility has also been upheld all the way to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
But investigators with Centurion and Beach's attorney, Peter Camiel, argue that much of the confession doesn't match key evidence found at the murder scene in Poplar, including his descriptions of what Nees was wearing and how he disposed of the body.
Camiel subpoenaed 24 witnesses to appear at the initial clemency hearing, including Marc Racicot, the special prosecutor in Beach's case and a former governor of Montana, as well as the Louisiana detectives who obtained Beach's confession, and the women who Centurion and members of the Poplar community have implicated in the murder.
“We ask the board to recommend a pardon to the governor, which is what we're really asking for, or in the alternative that his sentence be commuted, to time served and that he be released to his family,” said Jim McCloskey, founder of Centurion Ministries.
“This turned out to be something much more broad and complex than I anticipated when I put my stamp of approval on this hearing,” Curtiss said.
Beach testified on his own behalf at Wednesday's hearing.
“I wouldn't be here today if I didn't know in my own heart that what I'm asking for is right,” Beach said.
Since his imprisonment at the age of 22, Beach said he has completed a half-dozen educational courses and has become a master carpenter, refusing to let bitterness erode his hope.
“I promised myself I would continue to educate myself, that I would become a part of the prison population in a positive way,” he said. “I knew that some day, one way or another, I was going to walk out of here a free man, and I had to be a better person than when I went in. I refuse to be a victim of the system. I've served over 24 years behind bars. I'm simply asking for my chance to go out and live the rest of my life.”
Following the testimony, board member Teresa McCann O'Connor, who chaired the hearing, told attorneys on both sides to prepare any closing statements addressing Beach's imposed sentence by next Wednesday.
Then the board will gather to draft a written opinion, which will be forwarded to Schweitzer.
If the board recommends executive clemency, and the governor accepts its counsel, Beach will have his name cleared. If the board denies clemency but recommends parole eligibility, Beach can expect another hearing to determine if and when he can be released.
But if the board denies Beach's appeal entirely, he'll have spent his last chance for freedom and exoneration.
“This is the culmination of Barry's almost quarter of a century in prison and our exhaustive seven-year investigation,” McCloskey said.
After the hearing, which lasted less than three hours, supporters of Beach gathered outside the community center for photographs. In the background, several cars were decorated with the message: “Free Barry Beach.”
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com
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