1 of "Oregon's Five" will go free after killing as a teen
SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Parole Board decided Wednesday that a man who is part of the so-called "Oregon Five" will get out of prison 33 days from now.
Shane Sopher and four other convicted killers were supposed to spend life in prison. On Wednesday four tried to convince the parole board they should get out years earlier than expected.
The four are of a group called the "Oregon Five." All of them were under 17 when they killed. But in the early 1990s the state didn't know how to handle them. The punishments they got were harsher than for adults, and the Oregon Supreme Court said that wasn't fair.
Sopher had to tell the parole board about that night in 1992 when as a 16-year-old he helped a friend plan the beating of his girlfriend's mother, Donna Barrow.
"I saw Donna on the floor," Sopher told board members. "She had blood on her face, and she looked at me and told me, 'Shane, help.'"
Barrow at first survived the attack with a baseball bat but died 10 days later.
Sopher told the parole board how he was devoid of empathy as a teenager and had severe anger management problems. Now 37, he said he’s a changed man.
"This is something I can't make right. There is no way to fix it," he said.
The parole board agreed. Sopher will be a free man next month after 20 years, 4 months in prison.
The parole board also considered the cases of twin brothers, Laycelle and Lydell White.
In 1993 they killed an elderly couple in their Salem home when they were just 15. Now they say they'd be good citizens.
"I just want to apologize ... for all the pain and things I've caused their family, my family and everybody else involved," Laycelle White told the parole board.
The parole board gave the twins tentative release dates of 2018, but it's a moot point. Because of their other charges in the case, they can't get out of prison for nearly four more decades.
The board also considered the case of Sterling Cunio who kidnapped and killed a Salem couple. But the parole board decided he won't be eligible to get out until 2066.
The fifth member of the "Oregon Five," Conrad Engweiler, had his hearing earlier this year. The parole board gave him a tentative release date in 2018.
 I am the daughter of Donna Barrow, everyone is forgetting about my mother, she lost her life and her children and grandchildren have had to grow up with out her and she left this world way to soon. Im so tired of hearing about the murderer,  my mother has been over shadowed by this. I am my mothers voice. I miss and love her evey single day.
"Oregon Supreme Court said that wasn't fair".......Did the Supreme Court even ask Donna Barrows family if it was fair that they killed her? These "Boys" deserve nothing but death. Liberal bleeding hearts can thumb me down, but I wish nothing but a death in their family for every thumbs down I get.
Perhaps ORYGUN's governor pulls the strings of this current 'gaggle' of The Oregon Parole Board would be my guess, but I could be wrong. 'Daniel' is absolutely correct in his summation - even if one these kids manages to get a job they will never be able to do the things that their peers are doing. A very sad statement of our kids that make poor choices believing there are no repercussions for their actions - I do not have have the answer(s) for this dilemma...
Even as a free man he, like other convicted felons, stands virtually no chance of leading a normal life.  He will be weeded out of opportunities from employment to housing.  When people with a clean criminal record can't get a job to save their life, what chance do convicts have?
 @Daniel C They don't deserve that chance when they didn't even give their victim a chance to live.
It's the parole board who belongs in jail. Donna Barrow is dead and her murderer gets to live the rest of his life outside prison at the age of 37? Fire these idiots! And ... they need to be held financially responsible for any felony that Shane Soper commits in the future. He was supposed to be in for life!
"...in the early 1990s the state didn't know how to handle them."Â The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Â
Here is my criteria for early release of a murderer:Â Just as soon as your victim is released from the sentence you imposed on him or her, you will be released from your sentence.
 @HenryBowman Yup.. These Criminals will find sympathy in the Dictionary between Sheeit and Syphilis...
Of course he's a 'changed man'. Behavior in prison is NOT the same as behavior in the general population -Â and I don't understand why parole boards keep listening to that crap and letting these murderers out of prison after such short periods of time.
I remember this case very well and it disgusts me that this 'man' is going to be released. Donna Barrow deserved better than this.Â
I like how they claim the sentences were too harsh because we didn't know how to handle killers in the 90's. Hmmm... we've known how to handle them since the 1800's or earlier. Hang by the neck until dead.
intense debate gone...well im keeping my same old name!
Â
what are they going to do when he gets out and goes around commiting crimes again? the state needs fire morons running parole boards....you think after being locked up essentially his whole adult life he is going to go around and become a civilized functioning member of society? Lets do some thinking here before someone else gets killed or hurt. What is the state going to say when he is out and has to go back to corrections? " oh we thought we was sorry....i mean he did say that right?"
Â
he should be locked up for many more years....this is a slap in the face to the family of the victim.Â
Â
this is similar bull#@$% that occurred recently when a judge decided to give a lenient sentence to that guy ( some russian name i forget) who killed Mr. Vu near clackamas while he was riding his bike......the guy was drunk and left the scence and came back and then got a slap on the face for killing someone!
Â
Â
Interesting how none of the parole board panel can look at the killer sitting in front of them. Why? Are they afraid of making eye contact?
The parole board members should have to have this guy live right next door to them. Wonder how willing they would be to parole someone if they had to have them as their neighbor? Would they feel their spouse, children or grandchildren are safe? Do you want to live right next door to someone like this? I don't. Scumbag should stay locked up.
If he gets out, he's just going to do it again! Leave him in jail to rot.
Oh geee - so this cruel monstrous murderer is as bad, as evil, as cruel as all of the others - but he gets his freedom this month. And he gets to thumb his nose at the justice system that assured all of Oregon ALL FIVE OF THESE MONSTERS would be imprisoned for life?Â
Â
Yikes, Parole Board - disgusting decision. Simple and purely rwong. And scary. You don't care one bit about JUSTICE for a woman who was ganged up on and cruelly tortured and cruelly KILLED - all that matters is freeing up the jails - so OEA next year - can have more and more MONEY. Yup,Â
they should NEVER be released. If a person kills another they need to pay with their life or for the rest of their life. 20 years is not enough
 @LostSoul Certainly the way they did close and personal is way different the DUI or even just a fair fight that went to far in the heat of the moment. It's why there should be a DP that requires it to be carried out within 10 years.
 @LostSoul It's doubly monstrous - because she knew him. He was supposed to be someone who she could count on - to not harm her. And instead he knowingly traded in on all of that - just so he could sit back and enjoy her ganged up, cruel and horrendous SLAUGHTER.Â
Â
He will always be a monster. Capable of doing this - all over again. And again. And Again. To the next person on the "outside" who trusts him. And asks him to save her life, too.Â
Â
Oregon Prison System - this is a sick and cruel deal with the devil. THIS decision is Disgusting. And WRONG.Â
 @englishdaisy  @LostSoul I too see this release as stupid -crazy-irresponsible and any other term there is. This was a planned murder, by beating with a baseball bat, of a person known to these "boys". They give harsher sentences to drunk drivers (and I am not excusing drunk drivers) who make an error in judgement.
Â
He says he is "a changed man", that is because he was not a man when he was capable of such a horrendous deed. Now he won't need a baseball bat, he is bigger and stronger.
 @LostSoul Yup...
When these scumbags reoffend The Politicians,Judges and Parole bords should finish their original sentence...
This is what happens when you don't have an effective capital punishment system with a death penalty. Â You house the murderers for a few years and turn them loose. Â The death penalty is final even if it isn't carried out for decades, they never see the light of day again.
Â
 @negativerep " they never see the light of day again"
Â
Even if they didn't commit the crime.
 @Festivus If a guy is on death row and he gets proven innocent via DNA testing or witnesses coming forward or whatever, he will be released.  So what's your point?  You think he'll be executed before that happens?  Fat chance... but he'll never be paroled as long as he is believed to be guilty.
Â
 @Festivus Well then, I'd support a law that states that if somebody comes forward with legitimate and reasonable proof that the person isn't guilty, the sentence be commuted to life until that proof is found to be invalid but I would never support the complete repeal of the death penalty.  At any rate, that doesn't apply here.  We have proven murders walking free.
 @negativerep I have no problem with life in prison.  If you think no one ever gets capital or lifetime sentences based on faulty justice, go spend some time at the Innocence project. Â
Â
DNA isn't always available. Â The only sentence we can't at least partially correct is the one that kills.
 @negativerep Unfortunately the US Supreme Court ruled in March 2005 that it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence anyone under the age of 18 to death.Â
 @Marie De Clue Bickerdyke  @negativerep Why is that exactly - when teens can and do know the difference between right and wrong. They know killing is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Why NOT kill them - if they choose to make the intentional decision to kill someone else?Â
Â
Explain to me how it is a teenager does not know that planning and plotting and ganging up on an innocent woman - and watching while she was tortured right in front of you - and doing nothing to stop any of it - earns you your freedom  - ever?  Ah, you can't. Explain to me how it is he did not earn the death penalty - for his knowing intentional ACTIONS of choice?Â
Are you really equating murder and statutory rape? That's some twisted logic!
 @Marie De Clue Bickerdyke  @englishdaisy @ englishdaisy. So how do you feel about statutory rape? Is it ok for an older man to have sex with a 15 year old girl? After all, if a 15 year old is able to fully understand the consequences of murdering someone, then they are certainly able to understand the consequences of having a sexual relationship with an older person. Let's not be hypocritical. If you support death penalty for minors, you cannot also support statutory rape.
 @englishdaisy I'm sure you're not aware of this fact, but I am not sitting on the Supreme Court.  Check my comment again. I said "Unfortunately" it was ruled by the US Supreme court. I didn't make this ruling nor do I agree with it. I support the death penalty.Â
Â
I suggest you make your displeasure known to the Justices who made this ruling and get the hell off of my back.
They murdered,and should remain in prison forever.They were teenagers,and knew what they were doing. I do care what their excuse was- they took someone elses life. Unless they were defending themselves-which they were not- they do not deserve to be let out!
I have no problem letting some of them out...on condition...they have to live at least one year with each of the parole board members and the judge, and those same people will be responsible for his actions...should he reoffend, the parole board member and judge should stand trial right alongside him. Had they not released him, he could not reoffend, so they are totally responsible the new crime!
I would suggest housing these vermin with judges, lawmakers and the parole board! Friggin' losers every last one right down to those who keep releasing this filth back into the public.
For a case with a signature like "Oregon's Five," you'd sure think there'd be information on the crime itself somewhere on the internet, but I sure can't find it o.O
 @brautigan There is information on the internet on every one of them.  You just have to dig. Â
 @brautiganÂ
Â
It's not one case, it's 5 separate murders committed by 6 unrelated juveniles. They are only connected because they were juveniles at the time of the crime and are all seeking parole.
20 years for beating a woman to death with a baseball bat.
Â
Who would want to knowingly employ such a person once he is out?
He won't need to be employed, the Government will take care of him, house him, food stamps, you name it, he will be ENTITLED to all the same benefits as any welfare recipient that chooses not to work... hell the administration we have in office now encourages this behavior. Just ask Obama. He will qualify for a free Obama cell phone for sure!! They dont check criminal background, just hand them out..
 @MrAchilles Give me a break.  This is an extreme exaggerating.  He might qualify for a few hundred dollars a month in food stamps, and after jumping through enough hoops get a small welfare stipend.  It won't be enough to get by, or even have any disposable income whatsoever.  Obama hasn't changed ANYTHING in entitlement programs.  The only reason there are more people enrolled in them today is because the economy is wrecked, too many people, not enough jobs.  And yet people continue to have babies.  Clearly the irony is lost on this generation...
 @Dirtman Ever meet my mother-in-law?
The Oregon Parole Board is part of the problem, and no better than the killers they release.
Why are they being let out? Â I don't understand how that improves anything for anyone except a murderer. Â They are going to release this guy and keep people in jail on drug charges.Â
The article is incorrect in regards to Conrad Engweilers "tentative release date"...The KATU article referenced above states he will go in front of the parole board in 2018, NOT that he has a "tentative release date"....this is a fairly significant error if your a friend or family member of the victim........
 @Ryan Mitchell Thank you!Yes - he will go before the board in 2018 and they will discuss his parole.  It is not set that he will get parole at that time.  And - as his victims sister - I really hope he has to stay behind bars.  Where he belongs. Â
Is this Liberal Justice ? I do not understand , but the Parol board and Judicial system needs to take some lessons in common sense and from Texas. I'm afraid more people will become victims from this decision.
YES, this is Liberal justice all the way.
@Glenn Pierce Texas rocks as far as keeping the public safe from recidivists. Then again Texas is not a blue state....
My thoughts and condolences go out to the loved one's of Donna Barrow. Â
@Beth I am not a close family member- rather distant, in fact, being my mom is her ex step sister...if anyone remembers how it happened- she was beaten with a bat and televised from a hospital bed and thats how my mom reconnected- went and saw her in the hospital, made plans, and heard her autopsy was planned before she ever found out she had passed from a blood clot in the hospital.....I sw you are the sister of one of the victims- I'm so very sorry for your loss, I cannot even imagine.