MONROE — A Monroe inmate serving time for a triple murder in 1980 has been denied parole.
Timothy Pauley, 56, was convicted in the deaths of three people during a robbery at the Barn Door Tavern in King County. He admitted to killing two of the victims, but in a recent parole hearing claimed he had been manipulated by his accomplice and fired his gun out of panic.
Pauley was hoping for release as early as 2018. Instead, he can expect to spend many more years behind bars.
The decision to deny his parole was made by the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board, an arm of the state Department of Corrections. It was announced late Tuesday. Pauley’s next parole hearing is scheduled for 2031. He will be 73.
The decision “takes into account sentencing parity of what sentence Pauley would receive if sentenced today as well as accounting for the egregious nature of his crimes,” corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said.
In recent months, an Everett family who had owned the Barn Door at the time of the killings joined other victims and their loved ones at hearings to oppose Pauley’s potential release. The experience of the former tavern owner, Sidney Oie, 73, of Everett, was featured in a Feb. 7 story in The Daily Herald.
Oie learned of the parole board’s decision Tuesday. She felt like a weight was lifted from her, she said in an interview Wednesday.
“I couldn’t be any happier,” she said “I’m relieved.”
Pauley was sent to prison in 1981, before legal reforms went into effect that simplified how prison sentences were administered. Instead of a specific number of years, Pauley’s sentence was flexible, with his ultimate release up to the parole board.
His mandatory minimum was a little more than 33 years, which he has served.
The parole board previously had reduced his mandatory minimum, citing his successes in prison.
Tuesday’s decision adds two decades to his minimum sentence. The board has jurisdiction to add or reduce remaining prison time. His possible maximum remains life.
To release Pauley now “would create an unfairly lenient sentence when contrasted with the sentence of a (post-reforms) defendant who committed identical acts,” the decision says.
The board recognized Pauley’s efforts to rehabilitate himself with good behavior and lots of classes and self-help work in prison.
“However in order to be consistent with (sentencing reform) guidelines and to account for the egregious nature of his crimes, these additional terms are appropriate,” the decision says.
The board also noted that it may have been mistaken in an earlier decision in describing Pauley as having a previous robbery conviction from 1976. The board could find no court record of such a conviction, although Pauley himself reportedly spoke of that history, according to the documents.
On Wednesday, Oie, the former tavern owner, said she was thinking about the families hurt by Pauley’s actions more than 35 years ago. She has been writing the state for decades, asking that he never be released.
Oie was glad that before the board’s decision, she had the opportunity to be in the same room as the killer and to make sure he knew what she thinks of him, she said.
He caused so much pain and trouble, she said. She is grateful she was heard in her campaign to hold him accountable, now and in the future.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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