Deschutes County DA, lawyer react to Justin Link of ‘Redmond 5’ winning parole, imminent release from prison

(Update: Adding video, comments by DA, former defense attorney)

Due for release from prison late next month; 'Justice has not been served,' victim's niece says

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – The teen considered by some as the leader in one of the most notorious murder cases in Central Oregon history, the March 2001 beating and fatal shooting of Barbara Thomas at her home along the Old Bend-Redmond Highway, has been granted parole and an April 28 release date by the Oregon Board of Parole.

Justin Alan Link, who will turn 40 shortly after his release, was 17 when he and four other teens – including Thomas’s son, Adam Thomas, then 18 – conspired to assault the woman upon her return home. Seth Koch, then 15, shot and killed her, and the five then tried to flee to Canada in the woman’s car, but were stopped and arrested at the border.

“I did not support Justin Link’s release. I believe that he should have been held, but the Parole Board made a different decision," Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday. Gunnels and the victim's niece, Sara Jones, took part in last week's Parole Board hearing by video.

Defense attorney Thaddeus Betz, who represented Link in previous circuit court proceedings, said, “I think it was the correct legal decision, because the parole board was tasked with assessing whether or not Mr. Link has been rehabilitated, and I think there’s no real question that he has been."

The Oregon Board of Parole assessed a number of factors, including a mental health diagnosis, age and immaturity of the person at the time of the offense, and focused heavily on Link’s emotional growth and increased maturity during the his imprisonment.

Betz said the ruling on Link's rehabilitation was based in part on his conduct in prison and level of accountability.

“He doesn’t fight, he doesn’t cause trouble," Betz said. "He has maintained an exemplary discipline record. He knows that but for his participation, Barbara Thomas would still be alive.”

When asked about the motive behind Link's involvement in the killing, Gunnels, who was involved in prosecuting the case over the years, said, “Justin Link had a personal dislike for Barbara Thomas because she was trying to get her son Adam Thomas to not hang out with Justin Link."

Betz said there wasn't a specific motive in play that fateful day.

“To put it in context, it was a person who had only a ninth-grade education, who had a broken home, was essentially homeless as some would describe today, running around with peer adolescents that also had no real direction in life," Betz said.

Both Gunnels and Bentz said they believe Link was an integral piece of the homicide, despite him not being the one to pull the trigger 20 plus years ago. However Betz doesn’t believe Link was the primary orchestrator of the killing.

“I can only speculate about what goes on in a group of children’s heads," the attorney said. "And I think the judge that sentenced him originally put it appropriately, that it was case of group think gone wrong." 

The specifics of the crimes, as many still recall, were horrendous, from trashing the house and plotting to electrocute Thomas in the bathtub with an electric fan, beating her on the head with wine bottles and eventually the fatal shot, fired at point-blank range.

Prosecutors called Link the mastermind of the plot, though he was outside the home when that shot was fired, talking to those inside by phone. Circuit Judge Alta Brady said at sentencing that Link had the other boys “do the dirty work” for him, telling them to end the beaten woman’s suffering and finish what they started.

In 2021, Gov. Kate Brown’s commutation plan made four of the five teens eligible to seek parole, the others being Lucretia Karle, 16 at the time, Ashley Summers, then 15, and Koch.

Brown commuted Karle’s sentence, citing her “extraordinary rehabilitation.” Thomas was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but Brown shortly before leaving office commuted his “true life” sentence, so he instead is serving life with possible parole after 25 years, which would be in 2026.

Link, originally convicted 20 years ago on 22 counts, has had his case again wind through the courts several times. In 2009, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled three of his murder convictions would be dropped. It set a precedent that in some cases, aggravated murder charges could only be imposed upon those who physically committed the crime.

Link was resentenced in 2016 to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2012 that a life sentence without parole for juveniles convicted of aggravated murder was unconstitutional as "cruel and unusual" punishment; a later ruling made that retroactive.

In its "action form," signed Tuesday, the Parole Board said it had received a psychological evaluation of Link and concluded "that upon consideration of the age and immaturity of the AIC (adult in custody) at the time of the offense, and the behavior of the AIC thereafter, the AIC has demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation."

A Parole Board hearing for Koch is set for April 20 and for Summers on May 3.

Thomas’s niece, Sara Jones, who has moved away from Redmond and Central Oregon, gave a statement at Link’s March 1 parole hearing about the very difficult years for the family since the brutal slaying, arguing against his release. While some family members have supported their release, to end the lingering pain of further court rulings and hearings, Jones does not.

And she had one on-the-record comment Tuesday for NewsChannel 21 after learning of Link’s imminent release from prison:

“Justice has not been served.”

Betz said Link requested to be paroled to Arkansas, where some of his family live, and also told the Parole Board that moving out of state would be less traumatic for the family of Barbara Thomas.

When first contacted Tuesday, Betz, who represented Justin Link for several years in his circuit court case, said while he understands how hard and emotional it is for Thomas’s family, he added, “I think the Parole Board absolutely made the right decision.”

“There’s no better candidate for release in the Department of Corrections – but that’s been true for over a decade,” Betz said.

“Justin, I think has zero incidents of discipline the entire time” behind bars, he said. “He went in a very young man, very vulnerable to influence, scared,” at an age when many would join a prison gang or otherwise “likely have to show off, show bravado, join a gang. Justin Link avoided all that.”

Betz said Link was very well-regarded at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, where he first served, and at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he’s been held since 2016.

“He’s done everything from hospice work at the state prison, denim shop at OSCI, a steamfitter, plumber – gained all these trades, doesn’t cause trouble, is respectful to everybody,” the attorney said.

Former Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan had a measured reaction to the news regarding Link.

“It may be possible he’s aged out of criminality – I don’t know,” he said. “The one thing about prison that’s good: If you’re able to be paroled, for the 30 or 20 years you’re in, you have hope you can get out. The people who are in for ‘true life’ have no hope.”

But Dugan added, “The crime he participated in was absolutely horrible. I will never forget the wonderful woman who was killed, Barbara Thomas.”

If Link indeed got into no trouble over the 20-plus years behind bars, “that speaks volumes for him, for his ability to conform, behave and learn,” Dugan said. “I wish him the best. I also wish he’d never participated in that horrible crime.”

“In a sense, for the victims, justice has not been served,” he said. “But in the sense of rehabilitation – isn’t that we want from our prisons?"