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Timothy Pauley: Triple Murderer Asks For Parole, Gets Sentenced To 20 More Years Behind Bars Instead

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 00:56 PST, Mar 14, 2016

Timothy Pauley, a convict triple murderer, asked the parole board to release him at a recent hearing. Instead, he was ordered to spend another 20 years behind bars. The Washington parole board decided the trial judge had been too lenient in his sentencing of Pauley and, in a nearly unprecedented move, extended his prison sentence.

The triple murders occurred at a bar near Seatac, Washington, in 1980. Timothy Pauley, now 57, and an accomplice were charged with the violent crime.

After spending 35 years in prison, Pauley requested the parole board members to release him three years earlier than the full length of his sentence. The state statute allows all convicts who were tried for their crimes prior to 1984 to ask for parole, a Daily Mail report notes.

The parole board members stated that the triple murders at the Barn Door Tavern were so “egregious” that the sentence originally entered does not fit the crime. Current sentencing standards in the state require a far more lengthy stay inside a prison cell, the Seattle Times reports.

Timothy Pauley and his accomplice, Scott Smith, walked into the Washington tavern and killed the bartender, Robert Pierre, the night manager, Loran Dowell, and Pierre’s girlfriend and former waitress, Linda Burford. The two men reportedly tied Pierre and Dowell up inside a walk-in cooler and ultimately shot them in the head. Burford was hung from a railing inside the Barn Door Taven by her neck after being raped.

Two other women were choked with power cords and left inside a rest room at the bar because they were presumed dead.

The Washington State Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board had this to say about the decision to keep Timothy Pauley behind bars for another two decades.

“Mr. Pauley’s role in the murders was egregious. He had the gun and was responsible for shooting the male victims to death despite the fact that they were already tied up in the cooler and posed no threat to Mr. Pauley or his co-defendant.”

Pauley previously claimed that he shot and killed the two men because he was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and depression. The convicted triple murderer further alleged that it was Scott Smith who killed the former waitress.

According to a King5 report, Timothy Pauley also said that he could have “put a stop” to the violence but claimed he panicked when he walked past the walk-in cooler and opted to kill the two men. He said that after the murders, he ran outside to his vehicle.

One of Loren Dowell’s two daughters told the local media outlet that she understands that 35 years spent behind bars is a long time, “but it’s not long enough.”

“I realize I’ve done these people some irreparable harm and I’m terribly sorry,” Timothy Pauley added.

The convicted killer had been hopeful that his “good behavior” during his 35 years in prison would sway the parole board to let him out early. If the board had agreed with the inmate’s self-assessment, he would have been sent back into the community in February 2018. Pauley will not be eligible to plead his case in front of the Washington parole board again until 2023.

What do you think about the parole board’s decision to sentence Timothy Pauley to another 20 years behind bars when he asked for an early release?

[Image by Shutterstock.com]

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