Tucson, AZ: City man guilty of murder in '08 strangling Could get life term for killing girlfriend

By Kim Smith
ARIZONA DAILY STAR


A Tucson man accused of strangling his girlfriend in August 2008 was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday and faces a potential life sentence.
Paul Michael Beam, 36, called his father at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2008, and asked him to come to his apartment, in the 8800 block of North Oracle Road.
When Beam's father arrived, he found Lisa Berrie, 25, unresponsive and bloodied on the floor of the master bathroom. Beam's father called 911, and police and paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Berrie was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m. at University Medical Center. An autopsy revealed Berrie had been strangled.
Darlene Edminson-O'Brien, assistant Pima County public defender, asked jurors to convict Beam of manslaughter, saying Beam acted in the heat of passion after Berrie told him that she was leaving him and taking their 2-year-old daughter.
Although prosecutor Nicol Green argued that Beam had time to reflect on his actions while strangling Berrie — thus making him guilty of first-degree murder — Edminson-O'Brien reminded jurors the medical examiner testified that no one can say just how long it takes to strangle someone.
"This is a case of snapping, of anger and of losing control," Edminson-O'Brien said during closing arguments Tuesday.
Green told the jurors the case didn't even come close to being a manslaughter case.
Someone guilty of committing manslaughter during the heat of passion has to prove he were provoked enough to lose control, and he has to prove that any "reasonable" person would have been provoked under the same circumstances, Green said.
Berrie telling Beam she was leaving him didn't give Beam adequate provocation, Green said.
The prosecutor said she found it convenient that Beam said he doesn't remember beating and strangling Berrie. He knew that if he remembered it and testified about it, he'd be convicted of first-degree murder, Green said.
Beam said he remembers a struggle, but there was no physical evidence of such a struggle in the apartment, Green said. Also, Beam had no injuries.
Green pointed to Beam's actions after the incident as further evidence of his guilt.
Instead of calling 911, he called his father, Green said.
When he saw the police arrive, he went back inside and turned off all the lights, Green said. When officers knocked on the door, Beam told them everything was OK and they could leave.
The officers testified they heard a toilet flush while standing outside the apartment, and when they got inside they found a plastic grocery sack inside the master bathroom's toilet and the floor flooded, Green said.
The evidence indicates Beam used the sack to try to wipe down blood in the bathroom, Green said.
Berrie, who also was survived by an 8-year-old son, was a manager at the Starbucks inside a Bashas' supermarket where Beam was a produce manager.
Beam will be sentenced in January by Pima County Superior Court Judge Clark Munger.