One of five defendants convicted in the 2001 murder of Redmond resident Barbara Thomas is awaiting a resentencing hearing in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

The hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, follows an Oregon Supreme Court decision in December 2013 that determined Justin Alan Link, 31, is eligible for formal resentencing. Link was transferred earlier this week to the Deschutes County jail from the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton. He has been serving time there since 2003.

The murder of Barbara Thomas shocked the state for both the cruelty of the killing and the age of the conspirators, who were teenagers at the time. On March 26, 2001, Lucretia Karle, then 16, of Redmond, Ashley Summers, then 15, of Bend, Seth Koch, also then 15, of Redmond, and Adam Thomas, of Redmond, then 18 and the son of Barbara Thomas, plotted with Link, then 17, of Terrebonne, to kill Thomas in an attempt to conceal their robbery of her car.

Koch pulled the trigger on the gun, while Adam Thomas had hit Barbara Thomas over the head with wine bottles. Link stood outside the Thomas home, encouraging the teens inside by cellphone. The group also considered electrocution and injecting Thomas with bleach before resorting to brute force. They abandoned her body in the house and stole her car with the intent of escaping to Canada.

On March 27, 2001, the teenagers, who came to be known as the “Redmond Five,” were stopped by a Canadian border inspector as they attempted to cross into Canada from Washington state. They were brought back to Deschutes County, where they were charged for their roles in Thomas’ murder.

All five teens were convicted. In 2003, Summers and Karle finalized a plea deal for 25 years each for their part in the murder, while Thomas and Koch pleaded guilty to aggravated murder.

Link, the only suspect who sought a trial, was convicted on 22 counts. His charges included multiple for aggravated murder, second-degree assault and kidnapping. He was subsequently sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.

This is not the first time Link has sought and won an appeal. Link’s most recent appeal contests how a 2009 Oregon Supreme Court decision was handled by Deschutes County Circuit Court.

According to the most recent appeal, Link is seeking resentencing to argue that his original sentence of true life imprisonment was a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The appeal states that in a resentencing hearing, the defense would cite Miller v. Alabama, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined mandatory true life sentences for juvenile defendants are cruel and unusual. A mandatory true life sentence does not include the possibility of parole.

However, the Eighth Amendment does not forbid presumptive true life sentences for juveniles, which Link received, according to the appeal. A presumptive true life sentence does include the possibility of parole.

Although Link did receive a life sentence without parole, he had other options during initial sentencing, according to Mike Dugan, who was Deschutes County district attorney from 1987 to 2010.

Link could have been found guilty of first-degree murder, which could have resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years, or guilty of aggravated murder and given a sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years. Both convictions would have allowed parole. “In Link’s case, it’s not mandatory,” said Dugan.Dugan said that he felt Link was unlikely to receive a more lenient sentence in the upcoming hearing.

“(Link) was kind of like the ringleader, the guy saying, ‘Go, go, go,’” said Dugan. “I just don’t see where it was going to be in the cards (for Link) to have a sentence lighter than Adam Thomas or Seth Koch.”

Thomas and Koch were both sentenced to life in prison without parole. Karle and Summers were each sentenced to 25 years in prison. Two attorneys who have represented Link over the course of his case, Thomas Hill and Peter Gartlan, could not be reached for comment.

The Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.

— Reporter: 541-383-0367, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com