January 5, 2023 • 36 mins
In June of 1979, a 17 year old girl was found brutally murdered near Fort Peck, Montana. 17 year old Barry Beach was a classmate of hers and learned of her death on the news. He was interrogated by police three times, and all three times was told he was cleared and no longer a suspect. Several years later, while living with his father in Louisiana, Barry’s step-mother had him arrested for supposedly helping her 14 year old daughter run away. Police found out Barry had been questioned for the Montana murder, and decided to question him for other Louisiana murders they needed to solve. After threatening him with the death penalty, Barry caved under pressure and confessed to the murder of his classmate back in Montana. Because he had been cleared three times before, Barry expected to go back to Montana and be cleared again. But that did not happen. The prosecution presented his confession and the jury convicted him – sentencing him to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
To learn more about false confessions:
https://lavaforgood.com/false-confessions/
To learn more and get involved, visit:
http://montanansforjustice.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012873916456
Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
On part one of our coverage of Barry Beach, a
nonsensical false confession to a crime for which he had
already been cleared as a suspect by the physical evidence
sent him away for one hundred years without the possibility
of pearl. Now, Barry and investigator Richard Hepburn tell us
about his journey to freedom in lieu of the death penalty.
(00:29):
I was sentenced to one years dangerous with no parole,
no furlough in the state of Montana, which meant that
I would never ever see the outside of prison. I
remember waking up one day and making a promise to
myself that no matter what it took, and I was
(00:51):
going to make the very best of my life by
time I ended up in that cell. God had promised
me on numerous occasions that he was going to or
former miracle to set me free. So I wanted to
live my life as normal as I possibly could. I
started educating myself every chance I got. I took every
(01:11):
course they had in prison. I signed up for correspondence courses.
I became involved in every single prison self help group
I could find, and more important than anything else, my
entire life consisted around fighting my case, I taught myself
how to do freedom of information acts. I started researching
(01:34):
the law. I was constantly in the library. I was
constantly talking to other inmates about the law, about habeas
corpus is, about this, about that, And I actually spent
seventeen years on my own piecing together documentation that proved
my innocence. Somehow or other, your conviction was upheld in
(01:55):
spite of your best efforts by the Montana Supreme Court.
On July, the Montena Supreme Court ruled that the confession
was voluntarily given and forensically accurate, and therefore they upheld
the conviction. Amazing, forensically accurate. Literally, nothing you said was
(02:16):
accurate other than that somebody died, right, somebody's murdered. It
must have felt like some kind of cruel, sick joke.
But you were not giving up. You're not going to quit.
I had been shot down by every court in the
United States of America at least once. I had not
only been shot down by the Montena Supreme Court, but
I appealed it to the Federal District Court, got shot down,
(02:37):
appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco,
got shot down, took it to the United States Supreme Court,
got dismissed, went all the way back to the Montena
Supreme Court, and started that process again, only to get
shut down again. So at that point I had actually
started filing executive clemency applications before the Montana Border pardons
(02:59):
in parole. I think I filed two of those. But
throughout all of that, I wrote letters to anybody and
everybody in the world that I could see on sixty
minutes on forty eight hours on dateline. I became an
absolute junkie of these programs simply because every time there
(03:20):
was a story, they would interview the attorney, and I'd
write those attorneys. There would be an investigative reporter, I'd
write those reporters. And I had actually, on my own
and through my own investigation of my own freedom of
information acts, developed a portfolio that I could mail out
of the prison. Two people I was reaching out to,
(03:42):
and one of the earth shattering discoveries you had made
through the Freedom of Information Act, also known as a
Foyer request, was an egregious Brady violation. So I'm going
to back up a little bit. Two September nineteen of
nineteen seventy nine, three months after Kim Nice was murdered,
a girl gives a statement to the Roosevelt County Sheriff,
(04:04):
a guy by the name of Don Carpenter. She claimed
that she was at a movie theater with a really
good friend of hers who was a classmate of ours
in high school. This individual told her that he was
at the crime scene when Kim Nice was killed at
this party, and that he saw certain females hold Kim
(04:25):
Nice down and beat her repeatedly with a hammer. He
also claimed that that hammer was then thrown into the
Poplar River and all the females dispersed in different directions.
That statement led to the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Department sending
divers into the Poplar River, who did, in fact find
(04:48):
a claw hammer right where this witness said that it
was going to be. They sent that hammer off and
low and behold. Law enforcement determines that is the murder weapon.
That statement by that girl gets brushed aside and hidden
and was never disclosed until I started filing freedom of
(05:10):
information acts and I was able to enclose it into
my documentation proving that I was innocent. I'm not sure
how the hell they could determine that a hammer was
not the murder weapon, considering that the gouge marks in
the truck's cab corroborate that it was likely a claw hammer.
We already know what kind of bullshit they were ready
to pull with that pubic hair, and I'm sure an
(05:31):
independent lab would probably have some interesting findings. But again,
I think the machinations of the law enforcement community will
become clearer as we dig deeper. Now, this girl's name
was or Burrshey, and she was reiterating an alleged statement
from a guy named Mike Longtree. So you were able
to include this Brady material in the package that you
had developed to try to get some support. And one
(05:53):
of the people you had reached out to was a
professor at the University of Chicago, the author of the
book Convicted but Innocent, a man named ce Ronald Huff,
who agreed to help you by sending you two letters
of recommendation to send along with your own letter to
the producers of sixty Minutes and to Jim McCloskey, the
legendary founder of Centurion Ministries, an innocence organization that has
(06:16):
spoken of in Reverend tones throughout the wrongful conviction community.
And at that time the letter I sent to Century
Ministries ended up on the desk of an investigator for
Century Ministries who was a volunteer, and he read that
letter from c Ronald Huff along with some other things,
and he's the one who began to advocate all my
(06:36):
behalf and his name is Richard Hepburn. So Richard Hepburn
began to advocate with Century Ministries that they take a
look at my case. Fast forward to the year two thousand,
and I had a lot of hope. So in October
of two thousand, Century Ministries committed to fully reinvestigating my case.
One of the very first things that Century Ministry is discovered, though,
(07:00):
is that all of the forensic evidence that had been
gathered at the crime scene had disappeared and been lost
at the end of my trial in nine four. So
when we started doing their investigation and thinking about DNA,
which had now come in to play, there were no
(07:20):
hair samples, no blood samples. There was a bloody towel
found that night with hair from Kimney's on that bloody towel.
The hair from that towel had been lost and it
took us many, many years to even find the towel
because it too had been lost, even though we later
did find the towel and do DNA testing on some
(07:42):
of the blood spatters there, which is not my blood
or DNA. So in two thousand century ministries they assigned
to investigators to my case. One was Paul Henderson out
of Seattle, Washington, who was a Pulitzer Prize winning author
for investigating wrongful convey actions, and then also a guy
by name of Richard Hepburn out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They
(08:06):
began a very intense and in depth investigation into the
death of Kim nie Since your ministries went out and
interviewed two hundred and eighty six people from Paper Montana
who were out and about in Paper Montana the night
that Kim Nice was killed. Not one single person saw
(08:29):
me anywhere in Paper Montana on the night that Kim
Niee was killed. What they did discover from those two
hundred and eighty six people is repeatedly some of these
people had been told firsthand from different females who live
in the popular area to this day that they in
(08:49):
fact were responsible for the death of Kim Nice and
that they got away with the perfect murder. My name
was Richard Hepburn. I was for years a high school
(09:11):
math teacher and coach. I read about Centurion ministries in
a magazine article about so when I retired, I thought,
I'm going to go over there and volunteer. Well, most
volunteers communicate with prisoners, they gather flowers, they right back
and forth. And I saw this case, this horrible crime.
(09:32):
The seventeen year old kid is that one shed of
evidence that he was even there. And I persuaded the boss,
Jim McClusky, to take the case, and he had a
staff investigator in Seattle. But I said, Jim, I'd like
to do this. You you know what here at all
high school teacher, I could do this. Well, he let
(09:53):
me go out there, and before long Paul moved onto
other cases, and I was the lead investigator. Know I
talked to a lot of people, and everyone in that
bloody town New let those four or five girls jumped
her and Barry didn't everyone right, And the prevailing knowledge
(10:15):
was that this group of girls had lured Kimneys down
to the river for a party where they planned to
confront her about being romantically involved with the same guy
as one of the girls in the group. Now, would
you just go out to bars and talk to people.
I didn't go there much after dark. You know, everyone
knows what happens, and some people are willing to fight
(10:37):
to keep it secret. So I'm brave, but I'm not
very tough. But anyhow, I was with Paul at first
because I was a beginning investigator. You know, we saw
Mike Longtree, right, the alleged witness from the Brady violation.
The statement from or Bursh said that Mike long Tree
had told her that he had been there. He did
(10:59):
said he did do anything, but he was present. There
was three four cars for us than a lot of
people president, but he would never We talk to him
many many times, and he always denied. I never said that,
even though or bur she wasn't the only one that
he allegedly admitted this to. And in these alleged statements
to name Sissy Atkinson came up repeatedly. And Sissy's brother
(11:22):
was the chief of police, right, Bobby Atkinson was chief
of police for the Popular Police. Yes, but Bobby was
pretty good. And when Cissy came in from Grate Falls
to visit, he told us and we came over and
interviewed her, and how did that go? What did you say, Cissy,
there are people here who think you had something to
do with that. Good, they'll leave me the funk alone. Yeah,
(11:44):
she was very defiant and then she walked out. Did
you come across anyone else willing to name names and
go on the record. No, they aren't going to do
that out there. They're not going to say, boy, Cissy
Atkinson did it, knowing full well that nothing's ever going
to happen to Cissy. But if she gets in some
trouble because of what I said, I'm going to end
(12:05):
up in the river. You know, when we were out there,
there was someone had nothing to do with our case,
but a person was found in the river with bruises
all over the head. That was an accidental drowning. That's
a depressing place. Yeah, it sounds like it, but it
seems there were a few people who were courageous enough
to talk. What about Carl for Star, who had been
(12:27):
a coworker of Cissy Atkinson's back in n at the
Tribal Industry's plant, Karl Force, there's a big witness. Yes,
call for said Cissy was across the room, you know,
in another group. But she said got away with the
perfect murder. And she repeated a couple of times, and
Karl heard her, and and he came forth. And when
(12:47):
we ea didn't come forth. But I happened to be
interviewing his mother, and he came up from the cellar
and told me what Cissy said at the Tribal Industry's place.
And he ended up as a witness. And then Ciscy
Atkinson's nephew, Denver Atkinson's kid beat him up at a
Fourth of July parade in wolf Point and he was
(13:08):
afraid to come to the Lewiston here anybody came. The
judge sent two cops to get him and bring him. So, yeah,
the Lewiston hearings happened in two thousand eleven, where another
witness also bravely came forward as a result of your investigation.
She was just a little girl at the time, right,
Steffie Eagle Boy, How did you find her? During your
initial investigation? We had a notice in the maybe it
(13:31):
was the wolf Point because THATTT with people for information
called its number. Well, she called Peter Camille, our lawyer,
and it was his number, crying that she had some
information Sefi Ego boy. She was a young girl, like
eight or ten at the time. I forget these these kids,
their parents would all go to the bar on Friday
(13:53):
and Saturday night and they sat out on the hill. Well,
she was there and heard the scream of Kimberly not
only screaming, but she also saw and our audience will
remember this name. She saw Stevie Grayhawks police cruiser approached
the scene around that time. He drove down without his
lights on Cornish Stephie Biggle boy. I talked to him
(14:16):
several times and nothing happened that night that he's aware of.
He wasn't aware. He didn't go down there. He didn't.
The word was he shined his light down. He pulled
over and shined his light down, then drove down and
came back. And I think, you know, he's a policeman.
He's either got to do something about it or get
the hell out there. So he he got out of there,
(14:38):
but he would never own to that. Now. The last
name Greyhawk came up in other contacts in your investigation
because he had a daughter about kimneys Age. Did you
ask him about her? You know, Steve gray Hawk just
wouldn't hear of Maud being involved in anything. So so
the same guy that found nothing to report from the
(14:58):
scene around two I am even though ten year old
Stephie Eagle Boy could hear female voices screaming, not only
of Kim Knees her voice, but she also later testified
that she heard the other girls screaming get the bitch
and kill the bitch. Steve gray Hawk turned around with
nothing to report and just wouldn't hear of Maud being
involved in anything. The same guy who broke down the
(15:22):
evidence room door the following night to allegedly go to
the bathroom. I have to laugh because it's so ridiculous,
thus breaking the chain of custody and contaminating the crime
scene evidence. He just hadn't seen what stephy Eagle Boy heard.
My impression is if he was there, he lied. He
(15:43):
lied through a scene. A lot of people were willing
to do a lot of things to keep this secret.
You know, when Maud Greyhawk was getting a divorce from
her ex husband Dana Kern, her boyfriend Tracy McGowan stabbed
the ex husband to death on the eve of a
heated custody hearing, and the spec relation is that the
ex husband had admitted to others that Maud had confessed
(16:04):
to him in the past and was poised to air
that dirty laundry at the custody hearing. Now that's just speculation,
but it is just also another finger pointed at Maud Greyhawks.
So during your investigation, it might have gotten back to
Maud that you were on to her, and you found
that out through her sister in law, Judy Grayhawk. Maud
(16:25):
called her when I crying because she toilt. We were
onto her, and she said, you know, I didn't kill
that girl. I might have checked her once or twice,
but I didn't kill that girl. I went to see
Judy and she admitted that Maud said that, but she
she was married to Maud's brother. She was afraid to
come forward. So I wade up a statement exactly what
(16:47):
she told man. She would wouldn't sign it, obviously, and
so I said, you know, sticking in the drawer somewhere
you might change your mind. Well, very near that the
time we had the hearing for the roll bo she
cord Man says she's willing to appear of shocked. We'll
(17:18):
be right back after this. This episode is underwritten by
a i G, a leading global insurance company. A i
G is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of a i g s commitment to criminal
(17:39):
and social justice reform, the A i G pro Bono
program provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented
communities and individuals. So we took some of those statements
that some of those interviews, and the first thing that
(18:01):
Centuri Ministries did with these facts that we uncovered is
we actually filed an application before the Montana Board of
Partisan prole for an executive clemency hearing. We were granted
a full three day hearing before the pro Board to
present all of these witnesses that we had uncovered. At
the start of that hearing, before the pro Board, I
(18:24):
had already started to generate just a little small amount
of media coverage into this hearing, so there were several
reporters there and Centurer Ministries brought forth all the witnesses
stating that certain females had confessed to numerous numerous people
that they in fact committed the murder of Kimneys. We
(18:45):
also brought Dr Richard Leo, who is the nation leading
expert in false confessions and how they happened. He did
a full interview with me and a full review of
the confession in the facts of the case, and came
to the conclusion that absolutely the confession was false, inaccurate,
and unsupported by the physical evidence of the crime scene.
(19:08):
So the coverage of this two thousand seven clemency hearing
was really powerful. In fact, one journalism student named Jesse
McQuillan did such a great job that he garnered the
attention of former Montana State Center Dan Weinberg, and the
two of them joined forces to begin the found the
Montana Innocence Project, all because of you in your case. Wow.
(19:30):
But what did the board ultimately decide? The pro board
went on to determine that none of the witnesses brought
forth by Century Ministries had any credibility in light of
the confession, and that the confession alone stood as forensic
evidence to maintain my conviction, and they denied me any
type of clemency. Again, I don't know what confession they're
(19:53):
referring to you just had Dr Leo in there ripping
it apart. Not that you even need a giant in
the field like him to see through their bullshit. But
now the media attention had people starting to get piste off.
I understand your supporters formed an advocacy group called Montana's
for Justice, and then more groups began to form across
(20:15):
the state, all to spread the word about your case,
and they did. Meanwhile, Center In Ministries filed the post
conviction relief motion on your behalf in two thousand eight,
including everything from the clemency hearing, but this time they
could include the Brady violation about or Burrshey, Mike Longtree
and finding the clawhammer in the river. And somehow after
(20:38):
that and hearing Stephie Eagle Boy courageously testify a Roosevelt
County judge somehow soft fit to deny this as well, saying,
quote the prosecutor's brief shows the prosecution has thoroughly reviewed
the evidence. Had this shown that Beach was truly innocent,
(20:59):
the prosecutor would be morally and ethically bound to see
that justice was done end quote. So the judge just
exclusively relied on his belief that if you, Barry, were innocent,
the state of Montana, who went to these extraordinary lanes
to frame you in the first place, would have somehow
(21:20):
grown magically grown a conscience and right did that wrong.
It's it's unbelievable, but unfortunately true. So they appealed the
decision to the Montana Supreme Court, who overturned that decision
and granted Barry and evidentially hearing in August of two
thousand eleven in front of a district court judge. Meanwhile,
(21:41):
your grassroots organizations were getting the word out there and
more witnesses were coming forward, and in two thousand eleven
we actually had an evidence You're hearing before Judge E.
Wayne Phillips of Fergus County because they also moved the
case out of Roosevelt County and had that district judge
recusing him self. Centurion Ministries brought forth twenty two witnesses
(22:05):
at that time. But by that time, Dateline NBC had
done a national program in April fourth of two thousand
and eight called the Killing at Poplar River, and that
even generated more witnesses and more attention. So by the
time we got to this evidence You're hearing in two
thousand eleven. The facts of the case were so well
(22:26):
known throughout the state of Montana, and yet the State
of Montana's Attorney general office and law enforcement continue to
insist that they had the right person and that the
conviction based on the confession was valid. Judge Phillips actually
made a ruling to the contrary. Judge Phillips ruled that
(22:49):
had the jury heard the testimony of Stephie Eagle Boy
and some of the other witnesses, that there was no
way they could have found me guilty, and he ordered
a new trial. This State of Montana's Attorney General's office
went ballistic. They appealed his decision. So Barry, at this point,
December seventh, two thousand eleven, pending your next trial, you
(23:12):
were finally released for the first time in twenty nine
years on your own recognaissance. I mean, what was that like?
That release on December seventh, two thousand eleven was an
absolute miracle because when I was released in Lewistown, the
media from Germany were there, the CBC from Canada was there,
(23:34):
Dateline NBC was there. There wasn't a news affiliation in
Montana that wasn't there. So I walk out of this
courtroom to this crowd, this huge, huge crowd of people
were there supporting me, and it just undescribable. And I
go home to Billings, Montana to stay with Ziggy Ziggler,
(23:54):
some really good friends of mine of Ziggy and Stella Ziggler.
Here in Billings, Montana, I go for m a prison cell,
to this beautiful, gorgeous house on the side of a
mountain overlooking this valley and move forward with life. And
you did, but for only eighteen months. For eighteen months, yes,
(24:16):
I started a small company. I went to work for
a local motel as a chief engineer, where I was
second in command over the motel. And that's where I
was working when I received eighteen months later, received an
absolutely devastating phone call from a media reporter asking me
(24:40):
what my opinion was about the Montana Supreme Court decision
to send me back to prison. And when he asked
me that I had no clue what he was talking about,
so I had to put him off, call my attorney,
and I was notified in May of two thousand thirteen
from my attorney, Peter Camille, that I had twenty four
(25:01):
hours to turn myself into law enforcement on a life
without parole for a crime I did not commit and
go back to prison for the second time. When they
(25:29):
sent me back to prison, there were very few legal
options at that point just to get me free. The
battle was still focused on exonerating me, but the importance
had shifted to freeing me. I filed an executive clemency
again back before the pro Board, and they denied it
within a couple of days, saying there were no grounds
(25:51):
for clemency. It hit the media that I had been
denied once again. The citizens organizations in the state of
Montana banded together. We're together. They all started writing letters
and petitioning the Montana legislature to change the law in
the state of Montana, because when the pro Board at
(26:11):
that time denied my executive clemency, that was it. I
had no further recourse, and more importantly, the chief executive,
the governor of the state of Montana, had absolutely no
say so. So these groups formed together and they petitioned
the state legislature to change the laws in the state
of Montana allowing the governor of the state to have
(26:35):
final say so when an executive clemency application had been filed.
And we actually filed five legislative bills, and all five
passed with unanimous vote, changing the entire structure and decision
making process of executive clemency in the state of Montana.
(26:55):
Governor Steve Bullock then has the final responsibility and making
a decision on the executive clemency that had already been
denied by the pro board at that point in time.
My case has always been a politically influenced case, being
that the person who prosecuted my case in nineteen four,
(27:16):
Mark Roscoe went on to become the governor of the
State of Montana. He went on to become George W.
Bush's right hand man during his campaign for presidency, and
then stayed in contact and influence with the Montana Attorney
General's office. So Mark Roscoe made this political climb based
on my conviction that was followed up by a guy
(27:37):
by the name of Mike McGrath. Mike mcgraff became the
Attorney journal after Mark Roscoe became governor and Mike McGrath
took up the battle against me. Mike McGrath went from
being the Attorney General of the State of Montana to
sitting as the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.
So when I was filing all these things before the
(27:59):
Montena Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Mike McGrath was the
attorney general who fought my appeal process successfully. After Mark Roscoe,
Mike McGrath was succeeded by a guy by the name
of Steve Bullock, who became the Attorney General for the
state of Montana. It was Steve Bullock who successfully reversed
(28:22):
Judge Phillips decision to release me and send me back
to prison. After he successfully sent me back to prison
winning that appeal, he became the governor of the state
of Montana. And here sits Governor Bullock, now with the
sole responsibility, knowing that he's the one who just sent
(28:42):
me back to prison, now has to make a decision
as to whether to grant me clemency. Prior to the
governor making the decision on my executive clemency, we had
century ministries had successfully filed a writ of searcherry before
the United States Supreme Court, and that rit of searcher
(29:03):
roy had been accepted by the United States Supreme Court.
That writ was based on the fact that I was
only seventeen years old when Kimneice was murdered, and I
had been given a life without parole sentence, And if
you remember correctly, there was a big swing in the
United States of America at that time going on that
(29:26):
it was inhumane and unconstitutional to give a juvenile offender
a life without parole, no matter the circumstances of the crime.
So the United States Supreme Court accepted that rit of Searcherroy,
and we actually had oral arguments set based on that
and some other cases that had been filed on the
(29:48):
same issue. What Governor Bullock decided to do with the
executive clemency is he granted the executive clemency in the
form of a sentence commutation, stating that I was guilty
of the crime, but had served enough time at thirty
two years or whatever it was, released me put me
(30:11):
on ten years of probation. And as I sit here
with you today, Jason, I am still convicted of the
murder of Kim Neice. I am still on probation with
the State of Montana, and I have the stigma and
the cloud and the public judgment of being a convicted murderer.
So I have a quote here from Jim McCloskey. He
(30:33):
isn't exonerated officially, but he is free, so he doesn't
have to worry about the wolf coming back to his door.
The thing is that that's really good, and that's you know,
obviously the good stuff. But look, it's still hanging over you,
and you definitely want your name cleared. Can people in
our audience help you right now put that in any way?
You know absolutely, I want to be fully exonerated, and
(30:54):
I think that the evidence from the crime scene of
kim Nice and the witnesses who have testified warrant justice
for Kimney's first and foremost, the state of Montana should
take responsibility for testing and pursuing the fingerprints, the palm prints,
and anything else that possibly could be in existence to
(31:15):
this day that could link the actual murderers to this crime,
which would result in me being exonerated. Unfortunately, when I
was released from prison in two thousand and fifteen, along
with that, Centurion Ministries no longer represents me. So I
am without an attorney, I am without an investigator, and
(31:38):
I am without the funds to fight my battle any further.
But I do still maintain contact with the organization of
Montana's for Justice and hopes that someday somewhere there will
be somebody out there willing once again to take on
the State of Montana and the blatant facts of this case.
(32:03):
I'm always hoping and praying. I've reached out to many
many organizations since my release, hoping to find some help.
I believe, I honestly believe that there will be justice
for Kimneys before I pass away. I honestly believe I
will be exonerated by the State of Montana before I die.
(32:25):
And if there's anybody out there who can contribute to that,
my website is montanas for Justice dot com. I also
have a Facebook page out there I can be found.
I am all over social media. My case is all over.
You can research me on dateline NBC. I'm always looking
for help. Well, we're gonna have action steps linked in
(32:46):
the bio as well as you know, links to your website,
Montana's for Justice linked to your Facebook page so people
can reach out to you if they have information they
want to offer. And please fear in Montana and someone
who lived in the area at that time, please do
I mean it seems like the the no brainer of
(33:09):
the century is testing that you know any of the
physical evidence, any of the fingerprints. I'm sure there's still
blood evidence around. There's all kinds of physical evidence. In
this case, it should be tested against a group of
women who everyone seems to have known from the very beginning.
Where the obvious suspects in this case. And by the way,
(33:31):
these women are all still very much alive. If they
have nothing to hide, then the testing would clear them.
So what are we waiting for, so Barry, Now we
go to the part of the show that I always
look forward to, which is called closing arguments. And closing
arguments works like this. I'm going to turn my microphone off,
kick back in my chair and leave my headphones on
(33:53):
with my eyes closed, and just listen to anything else
you want to share with me and are incredib al, audience,
So thank you again. The microphone is yours. When a
person is innocent, sitting in prison, telling their story and
talking to everybody that they possibly can about being innocent
(34:14):
and trying to show people from the evidence that they
are innocent and telling people and talking about their story,
that's what they do. I call it the fire inside.
I have yet to ever meet an innocent person on
a prison yard and I helped four people while I
(34:34):
was incarcerated. I helped exonerate four people from the inside
of prison by helping them put together their bio and
helping them reach out to media sources. They were all
exonerated before I was ever released. They all had what
I call the fire. You talk to people you cannot
stop talking about the fact I am innocent of the
(34:57):
murder of Kim Nice. I did not kill Kim East.
I was not there when Kimneice was killed. I had
no knowledge of the death of Kim Needs until after
the fact. So being able to tell my story on
a podcast all these years later is a continuation of
that fire, but also a continuation of the healing process
(35:17):
and the hope and the hope. It's a it's another
seed of hope that someday somebody listening to this podcast
is going to be the trigger that leads to my exoneration.
(35:38):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to
thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff Clyburne, and Kevin Wardis.
With research by Lila Robinson. The music in this production
was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph
be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
(35:59):
wrong convict Action, as well as at Lava for Good.
On all three platforms, you can also follow me on
both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason flom Ralevul Conviction
is the production of Lava for Good podcasts in association
with Signal Company Number one
On part one of our coverage of Barry Beach, a
nonsensical false confession to a crime for which he had
already been cleared as a suspect by the physical evidence
sent him away for one hundred years without the possibility
of pearl. Now, Barry and investigator Richard Hepburn tell us
about his journey to freedom in lieu of the death penalty.
(00:29):
I was sentenced to one years dangerous with no parole,
no furlough in the state of Montana, which meant that
I would never ever see the outside of prison. I
remember waking up one day and making a promise to
myself that no matter what it took, and I was
(00:51):
going to make the very best of my life by
time I ended up in that cell. God had promised
me on numerous occasions that he was going to or
former miracle to set me free. So I wanted to
live my life as normal as I possibly could. I
started educating myself every chance I got. I took every
(01:11):
course they had in prison. I signed up for correspondence courses.
I became involved in every single prison self help group
I could find, and more important than anything else, my
entire life consisted around fighting my case, I taught myself
how to do freedom of information acts. I started researching
(01:34):
the law. I was constantly in the library. I was
constantly talking to other inmates about the law, about habeas
corpus is, about this, about that, And I actually spent
seventeen years on my own piecing together documentation that proved
my innocence. Somehow or other, your conviction was upheld in
(01:55):
spite of your best efforts by the Montana Supreme Court.
On July, the Montena Supreme Court ruled that the confession
was voluntarily given and forensically accurate, and therefore they upheld
the conviction. Amazing, forensically accurate. Literally, nothing you said was
(02:16):
accurate other than that somebody died, right, somebody's murdered. It
must have felt like some kind of cruel, sick joke.
But you were not giving up. You're not going to quit.
I had been shot down by every court in the
United States of America at least once. I had not
only been shot down by the Montena Supreme Court, but
I appealed it to the Federal District Court, got shot down,
(02:37):
appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco,
got shot down, took it to the United States Supreme Court,
got dismissed, went all the way back to the Montena
Supreme Court, and started that process again, only to get
shut down again. So at that point I had actually
started filing executive clemency applications before the Montana Border pardons
(02:59):
in parole. I think I filed two of those. But
throughout all of that, I wrote letters to anybody and
everybody in the world that I could see on sixty
minutes on forty eight hours on dateline. I became an
absolute junkie of these programs simply because every time there
(03:20):
was a story, they would interview the attorney, and I'd
write those attorneys. There would be an investigative reporter, I'd
write those reporters. And I had actually, on my own
and through my own investigation of my own freedom of
information acts, developed a portfolio that I could mail out
of the prison. Two people I was reaching out to,
(03:42):
and one of the earth shattering discoveries you had made
through the Freedom of Information Act, also known as a
Foyer request, was an egregious Brady violation. So I'm going
to back up a little bit. Two September nineteen of
nineteen seventy nine, three months after Kim Nice was murdered,
a girl gives a statement to the Roosevelt County Sheriff,
(04:04):
a guy by the name of Don Carpenter. She claimed
that she was at a movie theater with a really
good friend of hers who was a classmate of ours
in high school. This individual told her that he was
at the crime scene when Kim Nice was killed at
this party, and that he saw certain females hold Kim
(04:25):
Nice down and beat her repeatedly with a hammer. He
also claimed that that hammer was then thrown into the
Poplar River and all the females dispersed in different directions.
That statement led to the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Department sending
divers into the Poplar River, who did, in fact find
(04:48):
a claw hammer right where this witness said that it
was going to be. They sent that hammer off and
low and behold. Law enforcement determines that is the murder weapon.
That statement by that girl gets brushed aside and hidden
and was never disclosed until I started filing freedom of
(05:10):
information acts and I was able to enclose it into
my documentation proving that I was innocent. I'm not sure
how the hell they could determine that a hammer was
not the murder weapon, considering that the gouge marks in
the truck's cab corroborate that it was likely a claw hammer.
We already know what kind of bullshit they were ready
to pull with that pubic hair, and I'm sure an
(05:31):
independent lab would probably have some interesting findings. But again,
I think the machinations of the law enforcement community will
become clearer as we dig deeper. Now, this girl's name
was or Burrshey, and she was reiterating an alleged statement
from a guy named Mike Longtree. So you were able
to include this Brady material in the package that you
had developed to try to get some support. And one
(05:53):
of the people you had reached out to was a
professor at the University of Chicago, the author of the
book Convicted but Innocent, a man named ce Ronald Huff,
who agreed to help you by sending you two letters
of recommendation to send along with your own letter to
the producers of sixty Minutes and to Jim McCloskey, the
legendary founder of Centurion Ministries, an innocence organization that has
(06:16):
spoken of in Reverend tones throughout the wrongful conviction community.
And at that time the letter I sent to Century
Ministries ended up on the desk of an investigator for
Century Ministries who was a volunteer, and he read that
letter from c Ronald Huff along with some other things,
and he's the one who began to advocate all my
(06:36):
behalf and his name is Richard Hepburn. So Richard Hepburn
began to advocate with Century Ministries that they take a
look at my case. Fast forward to the year two thousand,
and I had a lot of hope. So in October
of two thousand, Century Ministries committed to fully reinvestigating my case.
One of the very first things that Century Ministry is discovered, though,
(07:00):
is that all of the forensic evidence that had been
gathered at the crime scene had disappeared and been lost
at the end of my trial in nine four. So
when we started doing their investigation and thinking about DNA,
which had now come in to play, there were no
(07:20):
hair samples, no blood samples. There was a bloody towel
found that night with hair from Kimney's on that bloody towel.
The hair from that towel had been lost and it
took us many, many years to even find the towel
because it too had been lost, even though we later
did find the towel and do DNA testing on some
(07:42):
of the blood spatters there, which is not my blood
or DNA. So in two thousand century ministries they assigned
to investigators to my case. One was Paul Henderson out
of Seattle, Washington, who was a Pulitzer Prize winning author
for investigating wrongful convey actions, and then also a guy
by name of Richard Hepburn out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They
(08:06):
began a very intense and in depth investigation into the
death of Kim nie Since your ministries went out and
interviewed two hundred and eighty six people from Paper Montana
who were out and about in Paper Montana the night
that Kim Nice was killed. Not one single person saw
(08:29):
me anywhere in Paper Montana on the night that Kim
Niee was killed. What they did discover from those two
hundred and eighty six people is repeatedly some of these
people had been told firsthand from different females who live
in the popular area to this day that they in
(08:49):
fact were responsible for the death of Kim Nice and
that they got away with the perfect murder. My name
was Richard Hepburn. I was for years a high school
(09:11):
math teacher and coach. I read about Centurion ministries in
a magazine article about so when I retired, I thought,
I'm going to go over there and volunteer. Well, most
volunteers communicate with prisoners, they gather flowers, they right back
and forth. And I saw this case, this horrible crime.
(09:32):
The seventeen year old kid is that one shed of
evidence that he was even there. And I persuaded the boss,
Jim McClusky, to take the case, and he had a
staff investigator in Seattle. But I said, Jim, I'd like
to do this. You you know what here at all
high school teacher, I could do this. Well, he let
(09:53):
me go out there, and before long Paul moved onto
other cases, and I was the lead investigator. Know I
talked to a lot of people, and everyone in that
bloody town New let those four or five girls jumped
her and Barry didn't everyone right, And the prevailing knowledge
(10:15):
was that this group of girls had lured Kimneys down
to the river for a party where they planned to
confront her about being romantically involved with the same guy
as one of the girls in the group. Now, would
you just go out to bars and talk to people.
I didn't go there much after dark. You know, everyone
knows what happens, and some people are willing to fight
(10:37):
to keep it secret. So I'm brave, but I'm not
very tough. But anyhow, I was with Paul at first
because I was a beginning investigator. You know, we saw
Mike Longtree, right, the alleged witness from the Brady violation.
The statement from or Bursh said that Mike long Tree
had told her that he had been there. He did
(10:59):
said he did do anything, but he was present. There
was three four cars for us than a lot of
people president, but he would never We talk to him
many many times, and he always denied. I never said that,
even though or bur she wasn't the only one that
he allegedly admitted this to. And in these alleged statements
to name Sissy Atkinson came up repeatedly. And Sissy's brother
(11:22):
was the chief of police, right, Bobby Atkinson was chief
of police for the Popular Police. Yes, but Bobby was
pretty good. And when Cissy came in from Grate Falls
to visit, he told us and we came over and
interviewed her, and how did that go? What did you say, Cissy,
there are people here who think you had something to
do with that. Good, they'll leave me the funk alone. Yeah,
(11:44):
she was very defiant and then she walked out. Did
you come across anyone else willing to name names and
go on the record. No, they aren't going to do
that out there. They're not going to say, boy, Cissy
Atkinson did it, knowing full well that nothing's ever going
to happen to Cissy. But if she gets in some
trouble because of what I said, I'm going to end
(12:05):
up in the river. You know, when we were out there,
there was someone had nothing to do with our case,
but a person was found in the river with bruises
all over the head. That was an accidental drowning. That's
a depressing place. Yeah, it sounds like it, but it
seems there were a few people who were courageous enough
to talk. What about Carl for Star, who had been
(12:27):
a coworker of Cissy Atkinson's back in n at the
Tribal Industry's plant, Karl Force, there's a big witness. Yes,
call for said Cissy was across the room, you know,
in another group. But she said got away with the
perfect murder. And she repeated a couple of times, and
Karl heard her, and and he came forth. And when
(12:47):
we ea didn't come forth. But I happened to be
interviewing his mother, and he came up from the cellar
and told me what Cissy said at the Tribal Industry's place.
And he ended up as a witness. And then Ciscy
Atkinson's nephew, Denver Atkinson's kid beat him up at a
Fourth of July parade in wolf Point and he was
(13:08):
afraid to come to the Lewiston here anybody came. The
judge sent two cops to get him and bring him. So, yeah,
the Lewiston hearings happened in two thousand eleven, where another
witness also bravely came forward as a result of your investigation.
She was just a little girl at the time, right,
Steffie Eagle Boy, How did you find her? During your
initial investigation? We had a notice in the maybe it
(13:31):
was the wolf Point because THATTT with people for information
called its number. Well, she called Peter Camille, our lawyer,
and it was his number, crying that she had some
information Sefi Ego boy. She was a young girl, like
eight or ten at the time. I forget these these kids,
their parents would all go to the bar on Friday
(13:53):
and Saturday night and they sat out on the hill. Well,
she was there and heard the scream of Kimberly not
only screaming, but she also saw and our audience will
remember this name. She saw Stevie Grayhawks police cruiser approached
the scene around that time. He drove down without his
lights on Cornish Stephie Biggle boy. I talked to him
(14:16):
several times and nothing happened that night that he's aware of.
He wasn't aware. He didn't go down there. He didn't.
The word was he shined his light down. He pulled
over and shined his light down, then drove down and
came back. And I think, you know, he's a policeman.
He's either got to do something about it or get
the hell out there. So he he got out of there,
(14:38):
but he would never own to that. Now. The last
name Greyhawk came up in other contacts in your investigation
because he had a daughter about kimneys Age. Did you
ask him about her? You know, Steve gray Hawk just
wouldn't hear of Maud being involved in anything. So so
the same guy that found nothing to report from the
(14:58):
scene around two I am even though ten year old
Stephie Eagle Boy could hear female voices screaming, not only
of Kim Knees her voice, but she also later testified
that she heard the other girls screaming get the bitch
and kill the bitch. Steve gray Hawk turned around with
nothing to report and just wouldn't hear of Maud being
involved in anything. The same guy who broke down the
(15:22):
evidence room door the following night to allegedly go to
the bathroom. I have to laugh because it's so ridiculous,
thus breaking the chain of custody and contaminating the crime
scene evidence. He just hadn't seen what stephy Eagle Boy heard.
My impression is if he was there, he lied. He
(15:43):
lied through a scene. A lot of people were willing
to do a lot of things to keep this secret.
You know, when Maud Greyhawk was getting a divorce from
her ex husband Dana Kern, her boyfriend Tracy McGowan stabbed
the ex husband to death on the eve of a
heated custody hearing, and the spec relation is that the
ex husband had admitted to others that Maud had confessed
(16:04):
to him in the past and was poised to air
that dirty laundry at the custody hearing. Now that's just speculation,
but it is just also another finger pointed at Maud Greyhawks.
So during your investigation, it might have gotten back to
Maud that you were on to her, and you found
that out through her sister in law, Judy Grayhawk. Maud
(16:25):
called her when I crying because she toilt. We were
onto her, and she said, you know, I didn't kill
that girl. I might have checked her once or twice,
but I didn't kill that girl. I went to see
Judy and she admitted that Maud said that, but she
she was married to Maud's brother. She was afraid to
come forward. So I wade up a statement exactly what
(16:47):
she told man. She would wouldn't sign it, obviously, and
so I said, you know, sticking in the drawer somewhere
you might change your mind. Well, very near that the
time we had the hearing for the roll bo she
cord Man says she's willing to appear of shocked. We'll
(17:18):
be right back after this. This episode is underwritten by
a i G, a leading global insurance company. A i
G is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of a i g s commitment to criminal
(17:39):
and social justice reform, the A i G pro Bono
program provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented
communities and individuals. So we took some of those statements
that some of those interviews, and the first thing that
(18:01):
Centuri Ministries did with these facts that we uncovered is
we actually filed an application before the Montana Board of
Partisan prole for an executive clemency hearing. We were granted
a full three day hearing before the pro Board to
present all of these witnesses that we had uncovered. At
the start of that hearing, before the pro Board, I
(18:24):
had already started to generate just a little small amount
of media coverage into this hearing, so there were several
reporters there and Centurer Ministries brought forth all the witnesses
stating that certain females had confessed to numerous numerous people
that they in fact committed the murder of Kimneys. We
(18:45):
also brought Dr Richard Leo, who is the nation leading
expert in false confessions and how they happened. He did
a full interview with me and a full review of
the confession in the facts of the case, and came
to the conclusion that absolutely the confession was false, inaccurate,
and unsupported by the physical evidence of the crime scene.
(19:08):
So the coverage of this two thousand seven clemency hearing
was really powerful. In fact, one journalism student named Jesse
McQuillan did such a great job that he garnered the
attention of former Montana State Center Dan Weinberg, and the
two of them joined forces to begin the found the
Montana Innocence Project, all because of you in your case. Wow.
(19:30):
But what did the board ultimately decide? The pro board
went on to determine that none of the witnesses brought
forth by Century Ministries had any credibility in light of
the confession, and that the confession alone stood as forensic
evidence to maintain my conviction, and they denied me any
type of clemency. Again, I don't know what confession they're
(19:53):
referring to you just had Dr Leo in there ripping
it apart. Not that you even need a giant in
the field like him to see through their bullshit. But
now the media attention had people starting to get piste off.
I understand your supporters formed an advocacy group called Montana's
for Justice, and then more groups began to form across
(20:15):
the state, all to spread the word about your case,
and they did. Meanwhile, Center In Ministries filed the post
conviction relief motion on your behalf in two thousand eight,
including everything from the clemency hearing, but this time they
could include the Brady violation about or Burrshey, Mike Longtree
and finding the clawhammer in the river. And somehow after
(20:38):
that and hearing Stephie Eagle Boy courageously testify a Roosevelt
County judge somehow soft fit to deny this as well, saying,
quote the prosecutor's brief shows the prosecution has thoroughly reviewed
the evidence. Had this shown that Beach was truly innocent,
(20:59):
the prosecutor would be morally and ethically bound to see
that justice was done end quote. So the judge just
exclusively relied on his belief that if you, Barry, were innocent,
the state of Montana, who went to these extraordinary lanes
to frame you in the first place, would have somehow
(21:20):
grown magically grown a conscience and right did that wrong.
It's it's unbelievable, but unfortunately true. So they appealed the
decision to the Montana Supreme Court, who overturned that decision
and granted Barry and evidentially hearing in August of two
thousand eleven in front of a district court judge. Meanwhile,
(21:41):
your grassroots organizations were getting the word out there and
more witnesses were coming forward, and in two thousand eleven
we actually had an evidence You're hearing before Judge E.
Wayne Phillips of Fergus County because they also moved the
case out of Roosevelt County and had that district judge
recusing him self. Centurion Ministries brought forth twenty two witnesses
(22:05):
at that time. But by that time, Dateline NBC had
done a national program in April fourth of two thousand
and eight called the Killing at Poplar River, and that
even generated more witnesses and more attention. So by the
time we got to this evidence You're hearing in two
thousand eleven. The facts of the case were so well
(22:26):
known throughout the state of Montana, and yet the State
of Montana's Attorney general office and law enforcement continue to
insist that they had the right person and that the
conviction based on the confession was valid. Judge Phillips actually
made a ruling to the contrary. Judge Phillips ruled that
(22:49):
had the jury heard the testimony of Stephie Eagle Boy
and some of the other witnesses, that there was no
way they could have found me guilty, and he ordered
a new trial. This State of Montana's Attorney General's office
went ballistic. They appealed his decision. So Barry, at this point,
December seventh, two thousand eleven, pending your next trial, you
(23:12):
were finally released for the first time in twenty nine
years on your own recognaissance. I mean, what was that like?
That release on December seventh, two thousand eleven was an
absolute miracle because when I was released in Lewistown, the
media from Germany were there, the CBC from Canada was there,
(23:34):
Dateline NBC was there. There wasn't a news affiliation in
Montana that wasn't there. So I walk out of this
courtroom to this crowd, this huge, huge crowd of people
were there supporting me, and it just undescribable. And I
go home to Billings, Montana to stay with Ziggy Ziggler,
(23:54):
some really good friends of mine of Ziggy and Stella Ziggler.
Here in Billings, Montana, I go for m a prison cell,
to this beautiful, gorgeous house on the side of a
mountain overlooking this valley and move forward with life. And
you did, but for only eighteen months. For eighteen months, yes,
(24:16):
I started a small company. I went to work for
a local motel as a chief engineer, where I was
second in command over the motel. And that's where I
was working when I received eighteen months later, received an
absolutely devastating phone call from a media reporter asking me
(24:40):
what my opinion was about the Montana Supreme Court decision
to send me back to prison. And when he asked
me that I had no clue what he was talking about,
so I had to put him off, call my attorney,
and I was notified in May of two thousand thirteen
from my attorney, Peter Camille, that I had twenty four
(25:01):
hours to turn myself into law enforcement on a life
without parole for a crime I did not commit and
go back to prison for the second time. When they
(25:29):
sent me back to prison, there were very few legal
options at that point just to get me free. The
battle was still focused on exonerating me, but the importance
had shifted to freeing me. I filed an executive clemency
again back before the pro Board, and they denied it
within a couple of days, saying there were no grounds
(25:51):
for clemency. It hit the media that I had been
denied once again. The citizens organizations in the state of
Montana banded together. We're together. They all started writing letters
and petitioning the Montana legislature to change the law in
the state of Montana, because when the pro Board at
(26:11):
that time denied my executive clemency, that was it. I
had no further recourse, and more importantly, the chief executive,
the governor of the state of Montana, had absolutely no
say so. So these groups formed together and they petitioned
the state legislature to change the laws in the state
of Montana allowing the governor of the state to have
(26:35):
final say so when an executive clemency application had been filed.
And we actually filed five legislative bills, and all five
passed with unanimous vote, changing the entire structure and decision
making process of executive clemency in the state of Montana.
(26:55):
Governor Steve Bullock then has the final responsibility and making
a decision on the executive clemency that had already been
denied by the pro board at that point in time.
My case has always been a politically influenced case, being
that the person who prosecuted my case in nineteen four,
(27:16):
Mark Roscoe went on to become the governor of the
State of Montana. He went on to become George W.
Bush's right hand man during his campaign for presidency, and
then stayed in contact and influence with the Montana Attorney
General's office. So Mark Roscoe made this political climb based
on my conviction that was followed up by a guy
(27:37):
by the name of Mike McGrath. Mike mcgraff became the
Attorney journal after Mark Roscoe became governor and Mike McGrath
took up the battle against me. Mike McGrath went from
being the Attorney General of the State of Montana to
sitting as the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.
So when I was filing all these things before the
(27:59):
Montena Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Mike McGrath was the
attorney general who fought my appeal process successfully. After Mark Roscoe,
Mike McGrath was succeeded by a guy by the name
of Steve Bullock, who became the Attorney General for the
state of Montana. It was Steve Bullock who successfully reversed
(28:22):
Judge Phillips decision to release me and send me back
to prison. After he successfully sent me back to prison
winning that appeal, he became the governor of the state
of Montana. And here sits Governor Bullock, now with the
sole responsibility, knowing that he's the one who just sent
(28:42):
me back to prison, now has to make a decision
as to whether to grant me clemency. Prior to the
governor making the decision on my executive clemency, we had
century ministries had successfully filed a writ of searcherry before
the United States Supreme Court, and that rit of searcher
(29:03):
roy had been accepted by the United States Supreme Court.
That writ was based on the fact that I was
only seventeen years old when Kimneice was murdered, and I
had been given a life without parole sentence, And if
you remember correctly, there was a big swing in the
United States of America at that time going on that
(29:26):
it was inhumane and unconstitutional to give a juvenile offender
a life without parole, no matter the circumstances of the crime.
So the United States Supreme Court accepted that rit of Searcherroy,
and we actually had oral arguments set based on that
and some other cases that had been filed on the
(29:48):
same issue. What Governor Bullock decided to do with the
executive clemency is he granted the executive clemency in the
form of a sentence commutation, stating that I was guilty
of the crime, but had served enough time at thirty
two years or whatever it was, released me put me
(30:11):
on ten years of probation. And as I sit here
with you today, Jason, I am still convicted of the
murder of Kim Neice. I am still on probation with
the State of Montana, and I have the stigma and
the cloud and the public judgment of being a convicted murderer.
So I have a quote here from Jim McCloskey. He
(30:33):
isn't exonerated officially, but he is free, so he doesn't
have to worry about the wolf coming back to his door.
The thing is that that's really good, and that's you know,
obviously the good stuff. But look, it's still hanging over you,
and you definitely want your name cleared. Can people in
our audience help you right now put that in any way?
You know absolutely, I want to be fully exonerated, and
(30:54):
I think that the evidence from the crime scene of
kim Nice and the witnesses who have testified warrant justice
for Kimney's first and foremost, the state of Montana should
take responsibility for testing and pursuing the fingerprints, the palm prints,
and anything else that possibly could be in existence to
(31:15):
this day that could link the actual murderers to this crime,
which would result in me being exonerated. Unfortunately, when I
was released from prison in two thousand and fifteen, along
with that, Centurion Ministries no longer represents me. So I
am without an attorney, I am without an investigator, and
(31:38):
I am without the funds to fight my battle any further.
But I do still maintain contact with the organization of
Montana's for Justice and hopes that someday somewhere there will
be somebody out there willing once again to take on
the State of Montana and the blatant facts of this case.
(32:03):
I'm always hoping and praying. I've reached out to many
many organizations since my release, hoping to find some help.
I believe, I honestly believe that there will be justice
for Kimneys before I pass away. I honestly believe I
will be exonerated by the State of Montana before I die.
(32:25):
And if there's anybody out there who can contribute to that,
my website is montanas for Justice dot com. I also
have a Facebook page out there I can be found.
I am all over social media. My case is all over.
You can research me on dateline NBC. I'm always looking
for help. Well, we're gonna have action steps linked in
(32:46):
the bio as well as you know, links to your website,
Montana's for Justice linked to your Facebook page so people
can reach out to you if they have information they
want to offer. And please fear in Montana and someone
who lived in the area at that time, please do
I mean it seems like the the no brainer of
(33:09):
the century is testing that you know any of the
physical evidence, any of the fingerprints. I'm sure there's still
blood evidence around. There's all kinds of physical evidence. In
this case, it should be tested against a group of
women who everyone seems to have known from the very beginning.
Where the obvious suspects in this case. And by the way,
(33:31):
these women are all still very much alive. If they
have nothing to hide, then the testing would clear them.
So what are we waiting for, so Barry, Now we
go to the part of the show that I always
look forward to, which is called closing arguments. And closing
arguments works like this. I'm going to turn my microphone off,
kick back in my chair and leave my headphones on
(33:53):
with my eyes closed, and just listen to anything else
you want to share with me and are incredib al, audience,
So thank you again. The microphone is yours. When a
person is innocent, sitting in prison, telling their story and
talking to everybody that they possibly can about being innocent
(34:14):
and trying to show people from the evidence that they
are innocent and telling people and talking about their story,
that's what they do. I call it the fire inside.
I have yet to ever meet an innocent person on
a prison yard and I helped four people while I
(34:34):
was incarcerated. I helped exonerate four people from the inside
of prison by helping them put together their bio and
helping them reach out to media sources. They were all
exonerated before I was ever released. They all had what
I call the fire. You talk to people you cannot
stop talking about the fact I am innocent of the
(34:57):
murder of Kim Nice. I did not kill Kim East.
I was not there when Kimneice was killed. I had
no knowledge of the death of Kim Needs until after
the fact. So being able to tell my story on
a podcast all these years later is a continuation of
that fire, but also a continuation of the healing process
(35:17):
and the hope and the hope. It's a it's another
seed of hope that someday somebody listening to this podcast
is going to be the trigger that leads to my exoneration.
(35:38):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to
thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff Clyburne, and Kevin Wardis.
With research by Lila Robinson. The music in this production
was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph
be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
(35:59):
wrong convict Action, as well as at Lava for Good.
On all three platforms, you can also follow me on
both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason flom Ralevul Conviction
is the production of Lava for Good podcasts in association
with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.