PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Parole Board has granted early release to an inmate involved in a murder that made national headlines when he was a teenager.
The board decided Justin Link will get out of prison on April 28, which is about 8 years early on a sentence of 30 years to life.
Link went before the Parole Board on March 1 to ask for early parole.
“I take absolute responsibility for my participation in this terrible and unjustifiable crime and there is absolutely no excuse for my role in the murder or what occurred that day,” he said.
In 2001, Link was 17 when he was one of five teenagers known as the Redmond Five. They were convicted of brutally killing Barbara Thomas in her home. The teens included her 18-year-old son.
Link is one of the first inmates to get a chance at early parole after a commutation order from former Oregon Governor Kate Brown.
Brown gave dozens of inmates convicted as violent juveniles the chance to ask the Parole Board for early release.
“I understand I am not entitled to this hearing today,” Link said. “I am here today because Governor Kate Brown has commuted my sentence to come before the Board early. I am blessed to receive such grace, otherwise, I would not receive this opportunity for several years to come.
At the parole hearing, Thomas’ niece asked that he be kept locked up.
“Most of my family believes Mr. Link deserves a chance of having hope for the future,” Jones wrote in a letter to the board. “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 at life were gone the minute Mr. Link decided to stand by idly and do nothing instead of calling the police. Although I do forgive Mr. Link, I do not feel he deserves to be released from prison.”
Parole Board records show Link did multiple things to improve himself in prison, such as completing his GED, he was a hospice volunteer and contributed to fundraisers for charity.
He also described how his childhood was filled with abuse and neglect.
KOIN 6 learned two other juvenile killers were given early release hearings in December, though the Parole Board said the hearings would not begin until this month. The Parole Board said Timothy Espinoza was granted release and Shayne Jacobs was deferred for four years.