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OREGON CITY, Or. -- Chad Michael Westover was sentenced Feb. 23 to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years, for killing a man during a physical altercation in 2024.
A Clackamas County jury found Westover guilty in October of Murder in the Second Degree and Unlawful Use of a Weapon. Westover, 53, repeatedly stabbed Tristan Thomas following a confrontation at an apartment complex on Southeast Sunnyside Road.
Westover apologized to Thomas’ family. “I’m sorry for your pain,” he told them. “If I could go back in time, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Westover was to have been sentenced in November, but his attorneys requested a delay to investigate some new, unspecified information that might affect the case.
During the November hearing, Thomas’ family and friends spoke about how his violent murder affected them.
“The trauma of his death has changed every part of our lives,” sad his brother, Paul Kostelnik said at the time.
Westover occasionally interrupted or disputed comments made by Westover’s relatives during their November victim impact statements.
One of Thomas’ aunts chastised Westover for showing no remorse. “It’s like a joke to you.”
Thomas had quarreled with a neighbor, Christopher Stewart, on Sept. 21, 2024. Thomas pepper-sprayed Stewart who pushed Thomas to the ground. That night, Thomas encountered Stewart’s teenage daughter who was alarmed and called Stewart.
Stewart, Westover and Westover’s cousin, Samantha Christensen then confronted Thomas, who had armed himself with a large kitchen knife. Thomas called 911 and returned to the stairwell of the apartment that he shared with his mother.
Stewart and Christensen filmed the verbal confrontation. Westover told them to put their phones away so that he could "handle it." Another neighbor, however, continued filming.
Westover went to the stairwell of Thomas’ apartment. There was a scuffle outside the apartment followed by a three-minute attack which was captured on video and recorded on Thomas’ 911 call.
Several neighbors and Thomas’ mother yelled at Westover, who was on top of Thomas and stabbing him with the kitchen knife, to halt the assault. Westover was also injured during the altercation.
Thomas was stabbed several times and suffered a 4-inch slash to his left vertebral artery. He died at a hospital on Oct. 3, 2024.
Westover fled the scene and was arrested on Sept. 26, 2024 at an Oregon City post office. He told others that he sustained his injuries in a motorcycle accident.
Westover’s attorneys claimed Thomas was the aggressor and pointed to stab wounds inflicted on Westover by Thomas. They portrayed Thomas as an unreasonable and unstable man bent on pursuing his grievance against Stewart. They said Thomas was intoxicated on the night of the stabbing.
Deputy District Attorneys Torrey McConnell and Chelsea Jones prosecuted the case.
Clackamas County Circuit Court case 24CR50697
