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Was Barry Beach wrongfully convicted of the Murder of Kim Nees in Poplar, Montana more than two decades ago? Beach, who confessed to Lousiana authorities, after he was threatened with the death penalty, recanted his confession and has long maintained his innocence. In a recent episode of Dateline NBC, Beach's lawyers from Centurion Ministries (the oldest and one of the most successful innocence projects in the US) make their case for Beach's innocence. It is a compelling case. Without DNA evidence, CM's investigators put forward over 30 witnesses to the Montana Board of Pardons and Paroles. These witnesses not only raised questions about the reliability of the confession but also supported a decades old theory that the murder was committed by several local girls who were jealous of Kim because she was the class valedictorian and was planning on getting out of Poplar. It's not easy to turn over a rock that has been buried for over 20 years, but CM did so and some of the town's secrets began to surface. Although the Board denied them relief, here's hoping that more people have the courage to come forward and the full story of this murder mystery comes out. Here's hoping that when it does, Barry Beach will be exonerated. The Dateline Special and other information about Barry's troublling conviction can be found at this website:
http://www.montanansforjustice.com/main.html
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