Montana Governor Grants Clemency In 36-year-old Murder

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - Montana's governor granted clemency on Friday to a man convicted of murder as a teenager in the 1979 bludgeoning death of a female classmate in a case that ignited debate about severe punishment of teen offenders.

Barry Beach, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole after admitting to investigators that he used a wrench and tire iron to beat to death Kimberly Nees, a 17-year-old pupil at Poplar High School, after she refused him sex.

Using an executive order, Governor Steve Bullock commuted that to time served and 10 years' probation under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections.

Beach's sentence had drawn the attention of legal advocates, including Bullock, who argued that sentencing for youth offenders should take into account their age and the possibility of reform.

Those advocates won a victory in 2012 when the U.S. Supreme Court found that an Alabama law mandating life without parole for a juvenile convicted of murder violated a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

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