An attorney for convicted school shooter Kip Kinkel has petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court, saying Kinkel is legally entitled to a hearing to determine if he’s capable of rehabilitation.
The filing comes almost 25 years after Kinkel’s shooting spree at Thurston High School in Springfield, which left two students dead and more than two dozen injured. Kinkel was sentenced to more than a century behind bars for the attack.
Thaddeus Betz is head of the Youth Justice Project at the Oregon Justice Resource Center, and counsel for Kip Kinkel. He told KLCC that the state parole board denied having the authority to conduct what’s commonly called a murder-review hearing.
The Memorial Fence at Thurston High School, where student Kip Kinkel opened fire in 1998. The victims who died were students Ben Walker and Mikael Nicholauson, and Kinkel's parents, William and Faith Kinkel.
Brian Bull / KLCC / KLCC
Betz has now appealed to Oregon’s highest court, arguing that the justice system is obligated to hold a hearing.
“When (Kinkel) committed his crimes, he was a 15-year-old child who was undiagnosed and untreated schizophrenic,” said Betz.
“The focus of the hearing is on the rehabilitation of the offender. That can trigger other things and have effects on one sentence. We’re simply asking for this process that any other person convicted of that crime is entitled to,” he said.
In a March 6, 2023 letter from Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision to Betz, chair Greta Lowry cited a 1999 Oregon law and said that in a murder-review hearing, the only relief someone can request from the board is to convert a life sentence for murder into to life imprisonment with the chance of parole, release to post-prison supervision, or work release.
“However, in Mr. Kinkel’s case,” continues Lowry, “the Board cannot grant any relief from any ‘life sentences’ because he is not serving any ‘life sentences’ for murder — he is serving 25-year concurrent sentences on (the four murder counts).”
The remaining 87 years of Kinkel’s effective life sentence are for attempted murder charges, stemming from the nonfatal victims in his shooting. Lowry’s letter to Betz said the parole board has “no parole authority” over the sentences that led to the 87 years in Kinkel’s sentence for the attempted murder charges.
“Accordingly,” wrote Lowry, “the Board will not set a murder-review hearing for Mr. Kinkel.”
Betz said it’s now a matter up to the Oregon Supreme Court. The justices may decide whether or not they review the petition, take up the matter with the parole board, order a response, or deny the request altogether.
The Thurston school shooting happened on May 21, 1998. Kinkel killed two classmates and wounded 25 others after murdering his parents the night before.
Nearly 25 years after the incident, it remains a painful memory for many local residents. It’s regarded as one of the earliest modern school shooting incidents, preceding Columbine by almost a year. In the time since, mass shootings have become more frequent, with debate not only focused on gun control and making schools safer, but also how juvenile offenders are sentenced.