Rod and Lois Houser (Submitted photo)

The Oregon parole board on Thursday signaled support for the eventual release of one of the men convicted in the double murder of a Terrebonne couple during a home invasion robbery 32 years ago.

The Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision concluded Mark Wilson, 50, is “likely to be rehabilitated” and scheduled an April 16 hearing to determine his projected parole date.

The final step involves a separate exit interview when the board will determine whether Wilson will be released.

In its rehabilitation finding, the board noted Wilson’s efforts to take part in an extensive array of prison programs, his solid work record and his effort to stay out of trouble.

“At this time, the board, based on the totality of the evidence, is compelled to find that Mr. Wilson has satisfied his burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he is likely to be rehabilitated within a reasonable period of time,” the board wrote.

Wilson was 18 when he shot Rod Houser, 53, 20 times with a .22-caliber rifle on the front porch of the couple’s house in the middle of the night. Co-defendant Randy Guzek shot Lois Houser, 49, with a .32-caliber revolver in the head, heart and stomach after finding her inside the home screaming at the top of a staircase.

Wilson and Guzek then looted the house. They left the family’s Bible on Houser’s chest and cut his neck to make it look like a cult killing before fleeing.

Wilson confessed to the killing soon afterward and pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and felony murder. He was sentenced in 1988 to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole.

Guzek was convicted of aggravated murder and is on death row.

The Housers’ daughter, Sue Shirley, said the parole board’s decision left her “sickened and saddened.”

Shirley said the board gave weight to Wilson’s “achievements” in prison over the gravity of his crime.

Shirley and other members of the Houser family want the board to keep Wilson locked up for at least 40 years. They argued that was part of the plea agreement: life with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 30 years for aggravated murder to run consecutively with a minimum of 10 years for felony murder.

Under state law, Wilson has the right to seek parole after 20 years in prison.

“I feel betrayed by the parole board,” Shirley said, “and I feel betrayed by my state.”

Wilson’s lawyer, Jason Thompson, welcomed the parole board’s decision, saying his client has made every effort to rehabilitate himself.

“The message this is sending to especially juvenile offenders or people that have quite frankly been judged by society based on the worst mistake they have ever made is that you can change, and we will recognize that,” Thompson said.

Wilson provided the board with an extensive record of his time in prison. He graduated from the University of Oregon in June, having taken college courses in prison and serving as a teaching assistant for the program.

He volunteered in the prison hospice and served as a jailhouse lawyer for other inmates and a mentor to juvenile offenders transitioning into the prison system. He raised money for the children of a murdered woman he had read about.

He’s had only one discipline write-up during his time in prison.

“If you believe in redemption, if you believe in forgiveness and you believe in change and it’s possible to change for the positive, then he is the poster child for that,” Thompson said.

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel told the parole board at a hearing last month that he believed Wilson was capable of rehabilitation — a position that upset the Houser family.

On Thursday, Hummel issued a statement saying the board “reviewed the facts, considered the law, and rendered the verdict that was required by the facts and the law. The staff at the Oregon Department of Corrections is to be commended for working with Mark Wilson to help him get this this point in his rehabilitation.”

“I respect and understand the reasons why Rod and Lois Houser’s family do not want Wilson released at this time and my thoughts are with them as they process this news,” he wrote.

Bobbin Singh, executive director of the nonprofit Oregon Justice Resource Center, advocated on Wilson’s behalf at the parole hearing.

He singled out Hummel for acknowledging Wilson’s progress.

He said the prosecutor’s voice was a particularly powerful one in a process that should recognize an individual’s growth and transformation.

“It’s important for us to have district attorneys who are showing leadership that way and recognizing the parole process, that people can change and be rehabilitated,” he said.

— Oregonian staff writer Maxine Bernstein contributed to this report.