State board grants parole to third Redmond 5 murderer

Published 5:00 pm Friday, April 28, 2023

Seth Koch, who beat a woman with empty wine bottles before fatally shooting her with a hunting rifle in Redmond in 2001, will be released from prison in June, the state parole board decided this week.

One of the Redmond 5 killers, Koch was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Barbara Thomas, a crime he committed with four other teens.

Oregon’s parole board granted Koch’s release on Tuesday, following a state law that makes defendants convicted as juveniles of aggravated murder eligible for parole. The board said Koch had “demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation” since he committed the murder at 15. His release date is scheduled for June 19.

From the archives

The story behind the ‘Redmond 5’ murder of Barbara Thomas

“Obviously, I am very thankful for the board’s decision,” Mieke de Vrind, Koch’s attorney, said Friday. Koch’s “commitment to his own growth is incredibly exceptional,” she said.

Koch, now 38, became eligible due to Gov. Kate Brown’s mass commutation order in 2021, which allowed more than half of Oregon’s most serious juvenile offenders to seek parole or early release. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012 made it unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile who committed aggravated murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He’s the third of the Redmond 5 murderers who has been granted release since September 2021.

“I’m disappointed that he will be released before serving the sentence that the court imposed, but the law has changed and the parole board was following the law,”

Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels said Friday.

Last week, Koch appeared before the state parole board, arguing that he had been rehabilitated during his time in prison.

He repeatedly acknowledged the trauma the murder caused but said he had changed over the past two decades.

Seth Koch parole hearing

‘There’s no excuse for what I did’; Redmond 5 murderer seeks release from prison

He had no disciplinary record in prison and made an active effort to avoid inmates who were prone to acts of violence while incarcerated, he and his supporters noted during the previous hearing. He also took programs for violent offenders and mentored other violent offenders, including youths.

A psychological evaluation of Koch showed that his risk of future violence and recidivism was low.

And de Vrind noted that recidivism rates are low among juvenile offenders who are released from prison and believes he will succeed in the community upon release.

She declined to say where Koch will go after prison, but said he does not wish to return to Deschutes County because he wants to avoid retraumatizing the victim’s family.

“I have no doubt that he will be successful and that he will live a beautiful life,” de Vrind said.

Sara Jones, Thomas’ niece, asked during last week’s hearing for the board not to release Koch, saying that the crime he committed was still felt today by some family members.

Jones said during the April 21 hearing that Koch had not apologized to the family for the crime. But de Vrind said state law barred her client from reaching out to the family.

Gunnels said his office had argued against Koch’s release because they did not believe he had adequately expressed remorse prior to appearing before the board.

“The nature of the crime and the efforts at rehabilitation did not give us comfort that Seth Koch was truly rehabilitated to the point where he” should be released, Gunnels said.

But de Vrind disagreed.

“I absolutely understand why folks would be concerned, but people are more than one act,” she said, adding: “We all are.”

The hearing for Ashley Summers, another of the Redmond 5, is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 a.m.