Man Convicted in Triple Murder, Rape Asks for an Early Release — He Likely Didn’t Anticipate This Result

A convicted murderer and rapist serving three life sentences made a strange request to the Department of Corrections and got a brutal response in return.

In 1980, Timothy Pauley, 57, killed three people with an accomplice at a tavern near Seatac, Washington.

Pauley put in a request for parole last year after after learning of state legislation that allows inmates who committed crimes before 1984 to seek earlier release.

Image source: KING-TV

Instead of reducing Pauley's sentence, the Department of Corrections' Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board determined that the original sentence wasn’t long enough. So they slapped on another 20 years.

Had Pauley's request been approved, the earliest he could have been released would have been 2018.

According to the Seattle Times, members of the review board deemed Pauley's “egregious” role in the triple murder merited the extra time in jail, according to today’s standards for similar crimes.

The Seattle Times reported that Pauley claimed during a hearing earlier this year that he panicked as he and his accomplice, Scott Smith, attempted to rob the Barn Door Tavern near Seatac.

Smith and Pauley killed the tavern’s night manager, Loran Dowell, the bartender, Robert Pierre and Linda Burford, a former waitress who was dating Pierre, according to the Seattle Times.

Dowell and Pierre were both shot in the head after they were tied up in a walk-in cooler. Burford was raped and hanged from a railing by her neck.

Two more women were left for dead in a restroom but survived after being choked with electrical cords.

Smith faced the same convictions as Pauley for the murders and wasn't considered for early release either.

“Mr. Pauley’s role in the murders was egregious,” the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board said in a statement reported by the Seattle Times.

“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,” the statement continued.

Earlier this year, Pauley apologized for the murders and told members of the board he struggles with depression, alcohol and drugs and said Smith committed the third murder, KING-TV reported.

“I could have put a stop to it right then. I could have walked out but I didn’t,” Pauley said.

“I walked past the cooler door, I panicked, I opened the door and I shot these two men. Then I went running out to the car,” he continued. “I realize I've done these people some irreparable harm and I'm terribly sorry.”

One of Dowell’s two daughters, who was present at the hearing, told KING-TV, “I realize that 35 years is a long time, but it's not long enough.”

Following the review board's decision, Pauley will not be eligible to seek parole until 2031.

(H/T: Daily Mail)