PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Justin Link was 17 when he was involved in the murder of Barbara Thomas. Link was one of the Redmond 5, convicted for the brutal beating and death of Thomas in her central Oregon home on March 26, 2001.
Now 39, Link is the first inmate convicted as a violent juvenile offender to get a chance to try and convince the parole board he should get his life sentence reduced under former Gov. Kate Brown’s commutation order.
That order covers dozens of inmates convicted as juveniles, giving them the opportunity to appeal to the parole board for an early release hearing.
Link and 3 others — Lucretia Karle, 16; Ashley Summers, 15; and Seth Koch, 15 — were juveniles at the time Barbara Thomas was killed. The fifth person, Barbara Thomas’ son Adam, was 18 at the time of the killing.
Brown released Karle in 2021 under a direct commutation order “in recognition of extraordinary rehabilitation.”
Link, Summers and Koch applied for early release hearings. Link’s hearing was initially set for June 15, 2022. But it didn’t happen until March 1.
At that parole board hearing, Sara Jones read a letter about the pain her family has been through since the brutal murder of her aunt.
“Most of my family believes Mr. Link deserves a chance of having hope for the future,” Jones said. “I ask you to think about this before you make your decision: My aunt, Barbara Ann Thomas, would have been turning 74 in 4 days. Where was her hope? Where was her chance for life on March 26? Her hope and chance of a life were gone the minute Mr. Link decided to standby idly and do nothing instead of call the police. Although I do forgive Mr. Link, I do not feel he deserves to be released from prison.”
Through Jones, her father, Rodney, provided a statement to KOIN 6 News: “Out of the 5, he is the instigator and should be the one who is in prison for life.”
But an email from Jones’ family to then-Gov. Brown in July 2022 reveals the contradictory emotions they’ve experienced: “It is my family’s position that clemency be granted to all four. It is the only way this nightmare will ever come to an end.”
Sara Jones explained her family is exhausted by the parole process and possible releases hanging over their heads.
KOIN 6 News reached out to Justin Link’s lawyer, who did not agree to an interview.
But in 2021, KOIN 6 News spoke with Lucretia Karle’s lawyer, Aliza Kaplan, arguably the leading clemency advocate in Oregon.
“I see people transform and change all the time and believe in the ability for youth, especially, to make those changes because I’ve seen it, you know, directly so many times,” Kaplan said then.
At this time, the parole board has not announced a decision about Link’s petition for a sentence reduction.