Once convicted of manslaughter, Montana man adjusts to life after 3 decades behind bars

HELENA, Mont. — When Barry Beach was convicted of manslaughter in 1984 for the killing of a female schoolmate, Miami Vice was a hit TV show. A car phone was a rich man's boxy appliance. Beach's mullet hairdo was in vogue.

Nearly 28 years later, Beach has returned to freedom and a new world. Not only is everything more expensive, technologically advanced and a whole lot faster, he has returned to his adopted hometown of Billings a cause celebre to many people who believe he is innocent.

Beach's status has seemingly grown each year as his case received more attention amid doubts about his guilt. He has the backing of a long list of influential supporters in Montana along with a New Jersey-based innocence group that helped publicize his case. Pro-Barry Beach placards began appearing in local businesses and national news reports prompted even more people to come forward with new information potentially incriminating others in the crime.

It all helped Beach walk free last week as a judge released him while he awaits a new trial in the 1979 manslaughter of a teenager who was savagely beaten.

Prosecutors are contesting Beach's release and are adamant that the right man was convicted in the manslaughter of 17-year-old Kim Nees, pointing to his confession as the ultimate proof. Beach says it was a coerced and false confession. Prosecutors are also flabbergasted by the positive reception for Beach and find it insensitive to the family of the victim.

Beach says he has been bolstered by the support he has found in Billings, with strangers coming up to hug him in the street as the 49-year-old builds a new life in this strange, new world.

He has a job making Christmas cookies at the bakery owned by the wife of the supporter he's living with. He's fixing up the Ford pickup that he inherited. He plans to help out a local jail ministry over the holidays, even though he knows his own reprieve from behind bars may be temporary.

"I'm just trying to get my wheels," said Barry Beach after replacing his truck's bald tires at a Laurel store. "It's part of the life out here is you've got to be mobile you know. I'm just trying to get caught up so I can start living life, start enjoying life."

Last week, the judge released Beach without bail since, in part, he will be living with a former county commissioner and well-known Billings business owner. An enthusiastic Beach said he has enjoyed each moment ever since — even the mundane chore of buying auto insurance.

"I spent all my years in prison setting up and preparing for this moment," he added. "I truly feel like I am living the life I fought so hard to have."

Prosecutors aren't ceding the case.

The state attorney general's office will be asking the Montana Supreme Court to reverse District Judge E. Wayne Phillips's order for a new trial, hoping to restore Beach's original sentence and send him back to prison. Both sides say it could take the court up to a year to sort through the case.

"I think the other important thing to keep in mind is that we have a victim here and family members of a victim," said Assistant Attorney General Tammy Plubell. "It gets increasingly difficult to explain all this to them."

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