State v. Beach
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial in 1984, Defendant was convicted of deliberate homicide and sentenced to 100 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In 2008, Defendant filed a second petition for postconviction relief, alleging that newly discovered evidence proved his actual innocence. The district court held a three-day hearing and took testimony from witnesses that suggested a group of teenage girls had killed the victim. The district court subsequently concluded that Defendant had presented sufficient evidence of his "actual innocence" to warrant a new trial. The Supreme Court reversed and dismissed Defendant's petition for postconviction relief, holding that the district court erred by concluding that Defendant was entitled to a new trial, as, applying the proper standard of review to the new evidence offered by Defendant, Defendant failed to sustain his burden of demonstrating either a freestanding claim or a gateway claim of "actual innocence."
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.