Link

Parole is now within the realm of possibility for Justin Link, one of the Redmond 5 convicted in the 2001 murder of Barbara Thomas.

Deschutes County Circuit Presiding Judge Alta Brady issued a written opinion Friday finding Link, who was 17 at the time of the murder, should not face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Although the opinion represents a milestone in the 15-year-old case, which is back in Deschutes County for sentencing on appeal, parole is by no means guaranteed for Link. Friday’s decision means Link, once he serves 17 more years in prison, will merely be eligible for consideration for parole.

He has been serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton for aggravated murder since 2003.

Link, now 33, first appealed the case after his conviction in 2003. The Oregon Court of Appeals found that the circuit court failed to merge certain convictions. The case was then reviewed by the Oregon Supreme Court, which partially affirmed and partially reversed the Court of Appeals’ decision, sending the case back to the circuit court.

When Link’s case returned to Deschutes County, the circuit court denied Link’s request for a resentencing. It was this decision that caused him to file another appeal with the Oregon Court of Appeals, which found in 2013 that Link was entitled to a resentencing proceeding.

Over the past year, attorneys have been preparing for resentencing, but a matter of law needed to be addressed first. The question settled by Friday’s decision was whether, because he was a juvenile when the crime was committed, Link should be imprisoned for life without a chance to evaluate whether he could be eligible for release.

Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have reflected the evolving scientific understanding of adolescence, Brady wrote in the Friday opinion.

Under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, life without the possibility of a parole for a juvenile is prohibited for non-homicide convictions.

In 2012, the Supreme Court determined in Miller v. Alabama that sentencing policies that mandate life without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of aggravated murder violated the Eighth Amendment. Earlier this year, Montgomery v. Louisiana determined that the decision in Miller applied retroactively.

Oregon law doesn’t mandate life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile aggravated murderers, but Brady determined she should decide whether it would violate the Eighth Amendment for Link to face the option of life without the possibility of parole.

Brady wrote that Miller and Montgomery noted how a court must consider a juvenile’s “diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change” and whether the crime “reflects unfortunate, yet transient immaturity.”

Link “played an integral role in the murder,” Brady wrote in Friday’s opinion, writing that after the teenagers ransacked Thomas’ home, Link suggested to the other teens that they steal Thomas’ car to get to Canada and that they kill her to avoid having her call the police.

Seth Koch and Adam Thomas — Thomas’ son — struck her over the head with wine bottles. Link told Koch that Barbara Thomas was “suffering and should be put out of her misery,” Brady wrote in the opinion.

Then Koch shot Thomas in the head with a rifle. Link then drove Barbara Thomas’ car to an area between Sisters and Salem where some evidence was burned, and told Koch and Adam Thomas he was proud of them, according to Brady’s opinion. All of the other four are serving prison terms for their roles in the murder.

But, citing Link’s troubled childhood, “model” prison service and the testimony of three different psychologists, Brady wrote in the opinion that there was insufficient evidence demonstrating he was incapable of being rehabilitated.

There’s now only one option for Link, who, although he neither struck blows nor fired the rifle, was repeatedly described as the “ringleader” of the plot to kill Barbara Thomas.

As someone who was younger than 18 when the crime was committed, Link is not eligible for the death penalty. Because he will not face life without the possibility of parole, that leaves only a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Deschutes County Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Anderson declined comment on Brady’s opinion late Friday. Link’s attorney, Thaddeus Betz, also declined to comment on the opinion via email Friday.

—Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com