Seth Koch sat in the witness stand at the Deschutes County Circuit Court on Wednesday and stared into the tear-streaked faces of Barbara Thomas’ friends and relatives.

Since soon after March 26, 2001, the day Thomas was murdered by Koch and four other Redmond teenagers, they had been waiting to hear what Koch would say next.

”I am sorry for what I did,” he said, his face pale and sullen looking. ”While I know everything I say will never be enough … words can’t express how I feel about it.”

Judge Alta Brady’s courtroom was quiet during Koch’s one-day sentencing trial, except for the low hum of the air conditioner.

Koch, 18, of Redmond, is being sentenced on aggravated murder and conspiracy convictions.

Two and a half years ago, he beat Thomas with wine bottles and then shot her once in the head from about 10 feet away with a .308-caliber rifle, said Kandy Gies, a Deschutes County deputy district attorney.

Koch had pleaded guilty to the charges and asked for a sentencing hearing before a judge without a jury.

Two of the codefendants in the case, Lucretia Karle, 18, and Ashley Summers, 17, have each pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 25 years in prison for their roles in the murder.

Justin Link, 20, was found guilty by Brady, and is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 19.

Adam Thomas, 20, the son of Barbara Thomas, pleaded guilty and is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 3. Now Brady will decide Koch’s fate.

Gies argued in court that Koch should receive the ”presumptive sentence” for aggravated murder, which is ”true life,” or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jacques DeKalb, Koch’s defense attorney, pushed for a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Brady has taken the case under advisement. She said she will make a decision by Aug. 19, the date on which Link’s sentencing trial is scheduled to begin, DeKalb said, after meeting with Brady in her chambers.

The seating area in Brady’s courtroom was nearly full of friends and family of both Koch and Thomas.

Two-and-a-half years of investigations, court dates, media coverage and emotional anguish had led up to this day: an apology from the teenager who fired the bullet; forgiveness from the family who lost a loved one.

Rod Jones’ voice quivered as he forgave the 18-year-old Redmond teenager for beating and shooting to death his only sister.

”I would like to say, Mr. Koch, I accept your apologies,” he said, choking back tears. ”I believe they were sincere.”

But Jones and his wife, Linda, want justice served. They talked about Barbara Thomas, 52, and the void left in their lives following her murder.

They want Koch behind bars for the rest of his life.

”Your honor, today is one of the last days of reckoning for Barbara Thomas,” said Linda Jones. ”Today is when justice is supposed to happen.”

Thomas’ family, and Gies, the prosecutor, said Thomas touched many lives before her death. The Redmond woman, who worked at The Prime Outlets in Bend, cared for her dying mother in the final stages of cancer.

She faced the same struggle again when her husband, Tom, died of cancer in 1999. Since her death, two of her grandchildren have been born.

”What’s important now is not to forget who Barbara Thomas was,” Gies said.

Defense attorney DeKalb pointed to the teenagers’ ”pack mentality” as one of the reasons the crime occurred. The teenagers’ plan began as a scheme to steal Thomas’ car and head north to Canada, where they thought marijuana was legal.

”How it got from that plan to killing Mrs. Thomas to get her car is beyond anyone’s comprehension,” he said. ” … None of the children, excuse me, young people, put the breaks on this plan … if anyone would have said, no, this isn’t a good idea,’ it would have ended.”

Koch testified that he still struggles to understand what happened the day he shot Thomas.

”I haven’t figured out yet all of the events and situations that led to that,” he said.

It’s a question that even puzzles Gies, who generally agreed with the defense that what happened on March 26, 2001, was out of character for Koch.

Still, the prosecuting attorney argued, the way Thomas died was particularly heinous. Koch should spend his life in prison, she said.

The teenager isn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 15 years old when he committed the crime, Gies told the court.

”Barbara Thomas wasn’t killed in an instant,” Gies said. ”A trigger wasn’t pulled and she was dead. This went on.”

Defense attorney DeKalb called six witnesses to the stand, among them Koch’s mother, Vicki; a Redmond High School teacher and two of Koch’s childhood friends.

Their testimony painted a picture of a typical teenager: a 15-year-old, involved in activities like Boy Scouts, water polo and swimming, who had average grades in school and a troupe of buddies to hang out with.

Vicki Koch said her son was easy to raise. He was bright, though not fond of doing homework, and got A’s and B’s in school until the eighth grade.

He was respectful toward his parents and other adults, she said.

”There wasn’t anything I couldn’t talk to him about,” she said. ” … He was such an easy child.”

The month before Thomas’ murder, Vicki Koch noticed a change in her son’s behavior. Seth Koch began to sleep late into the mornings. It became more difficult for him to go to school, and he complained of not feeling well.

”He seemed more unhealthy,” she said. ”He just seemed tired, more inept, his grades were dropping.”

Seth Koch would later in the day attribute his apathy to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana – something his mother and stepfather were unaware of at the time, Vicki Koch told the court.

It was also at this time that Seth Koch befriended a new crowd of teens, including Adam Thomas and Justin Link, she said. She recalled the first time she met the two teenagers at her home.

Adam Thomas wouldn’t look her in the face, she said.

But Link did.

”Justin looked at me,” she said. ”The hairs stood straight up on my arm … it’s the kind of fear … you just know this person is capable of hurting you or someone else and not even thinking about it.”

Vicki Koch left the witness stand.

DeKalb, the defense lawyer, called Darwin Crabtree on a speaker telephone. Crabtree is a treatment coordinator at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, where Seth Koch has been incarcerated for the last 10 months.

Crabtree testified that Koch has been well behaved at the facility, and has indicated a willingness to be enrolled in a violent offender treatment program there.

After defense witnesses took the stand, Gies invited friends and family of Thomas to stand before the judge and make statements.

The Jones – including their daughter, 16-year-old Sara Jones, who was Thomas’ niece – read statements to Judge Brady.

So did Cathy McDaniel, a friend of Thomas’ for seven years.

”Words (escape) me as I sit here facing you, knowing that you are one in five who helped carry out the murder of Barbara Thomas,” she said. ” … Barbara is a sister of my soul. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t want to pick up the phone and call her.”

Linda Jones said, as a Christian, she will try to not let her sister-in-law’s murder make her bitter.

”A true Christian shows love and compassion … even when it is difficult to do so,” she told the judge.

Lisa Rosetta can be reached at 541-617-7812 or lrosetta@bendbulletin.com.