Beach attorneys file new petition

Attorneys representing Barry Beach, serving a 100-year prison term for a homicide he denies committing, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus Thursday before the Montana Supreme Court, asking that the court find his sentence unconstitutional because he was a youth at the time of his alleged victim’s death.

Beach, 52, was sentenced in 1984 to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1979 beating and murder of high school classmate Kimberly Nees on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. He was 17 at the time of her death. The new filing is the latest in a long-running legal battle around his case, which has gathered significant popular support among Montanans and others who believe he was wrongfully convicted.

The new petition raises issues about the constitutionality of Beach’s 1984 sentence, referencing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit the circumstances under which youth offenders can be sentenced to life without parole. His attorneys contend that Beach’s 100-year sentence is functionally equivalent to a life sentence because he is unlikely to be alive at its conclusion.

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole ruled in May that Beach’s earliest possible release date is Oct. 15, 2036, when he will be 74. At the time of his sentencing, full “good time” credit on his sentence would have required him to serve a minimum of 50 years in prison, Beach’s attorneys write.

Beach’s legal team also argues both the original trial court failed to adequately consider his youth in handing down the original sentence. They argue that he should be resentenced, or that his parole restriction be struck.

Since being convicted of killing Nees in 1983, Beach has spent decades trying to clear his name, saying that he didn’t commit the crime and that the confession that led to his conviction was coerced by aggressive Louisiana interrogators.

In recent years, some evidence has emerged indicating Nees may have been beaten to death in an out-of-control fight among a gang of girls. Additionally, Beach’s model behavior when he was free for 18 months between November 2011 and May 2013 after a later-overruled judge ordered a new trial has drawn many supporters to his cause, including figures such as U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Conrad Burns, and current and former Montana Govs. Steve Bullock and Brian Schweitzer.

Most recently, however, the state parole board denied a clemency application by Beach in June, concluding he cannot be considered rehabilitated without taking responsibility for the crime for which he was convicted.

Reach Eric Dietrich at 791-6527 or edietrich@greatfallstribune

.com. He can also be followed on Twitter at @GFTrib_EricD.