Christopher Porco (born July 9, 1983) is an American man convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his father, Peter Porco, and second-degree murder attempts in his severe injuries and disabilities. mother, Joan Porco, in Bethlehem, New York. [1] Joan Porco defends his son's innocence.
Video Christopher Porco
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On November 15, 2004, Peter Porco, a 52-year-old Appellate Division state clerk, was found dead from a massive head injury at his home in Delmar, New York. [2] His wife Joan Porco (nÃÆ' Â © e Balzano), a children's speech pathologist, was found lying in bed bloody couples with severe head trauma; he survived the loss of one eye and part of his skull, and severe facial damage. [3]
The family ax, used in the attack, was found in the couple's bedroom. Bethlehem police immediately focused their investigation on Christopher Porco, who is younger than two sons of a couple, who are students at the University of Rochester 230 miles away. [5] He returned to Delmar that night. [6]
Maps Christopher Porco
Prosecution case
In the months following the attack, Porco's lawyer Terence Kindlon criticized investigators, saying they were narrowly focused on Christopher Porco as a suspect.
In late November 2004, the Albanian District Prosecutor, Paul Clyne, held a grand jury to hear testimony involving Christopher Porco in the murder. Those reported to have testified in closed trials include Porco's friends from college, university campus security officers, and ex-boyfriends. [7] The grand jury will provide more testimony before submitting an indictment against Christopher in November 2005, one year after the attack.
Identify
Christopher Bowdish, a Bethlehem Police detective, stated that, when medical personnel attended Joan Porco at her home, she took the time to ask if she could identify her attacker. Bowdish says that when she asks Joan if a family member has done so, Joan uses her head to show "yes". Bowdish stated that when he asked if his older son Jonathan, a Navy officer stationed in South Carolina during the attack, he shook his head, indicating that it was not. But he is said to have nodded his head up and down, showing "yes", when he asks if Christopher is responsible. The identification of Joan Porco's allegations against her son, Christopher, can explain why the Bethlehem Police chased her son immediately after the incident, instead of conducting an investigation that more broadly against potential suspects. He also responded in a manner similar to another separate question. He was so badly hurt that Bowdish believed his statement might qualify as a dying declaration.
The murder received greater attention in the Capital District when Joan Porco, who emerged from a medical-induced coma, argued that Christopher had nothing to do with the killing of her husband. During the testimony of the recording submitted to the jury in December 2004, Joan testified about her family, but did not identify her son as an attacker. Nine months later, he wrote a letter for publication in Albany Times Union about Christopher: "I am please ask the Police of Bethlehem and the District Attorney's Office to leave my own child, and to look for the real Murderer or killer of Peter, so he can rest in peace and my son and I can live safely. " [10]
Financial issues
Before the attack there was a tension between Christopher Porco and his parents about money, including a loan Christopher had taken to pay tuition and finance a new Jeep Wrangler. After the Fall 2003 semester, University of Rochester officials have forced Christopher Porco to step down for bad grades. When he was accepted back the following year, he issued a $ 31,000 loan to pay for his expenses, forging his father's name as a cosignator. Unbeknownst to his parents, Christopher tried to pay his 2004 Fall school tuition with him. Earlier in the fall, she had told her parents that she had been admitted back to the University of Rochester after school had determined a professor had misjudged her final exam from the fall semester before, and as compensation that their son's education fee would be borne by the college. [11]
Two weeks before his murder, Peter had confronted his son about his dishonesty in an email: "Did you fake my signature as a signer together? ... What are you doing? You should have called me to discuss it ... I called Citibank this morning to find out what you have done and I will tell them that I will not be present as a co-signer. " [12]
The next day, Peter Porco was told that Christopher had also obtained a line of credit from Citibank to finance Jeep Wrangler, again using his father's name as a cosignatorist. Peter once again wrote a letter to his son, who did not answer his parents' phone calls within weeks: "I want you to know that if you abuse my credit again, I will be forced to file false statements of counterfeiting to deny responsibility and it applies to college loans Citibank if you try to reactivate it or use my credit to get another loan. " [13] Email concludes:" We may be disappointed with You, but your mother and I still love you and care about your future. " [14]
Porco Movement
Christopher Porco told investigators that on the night of November 14 he had retired to his dorm room to sleep, and woke up the next morning. [15] The police theory is that he instead drives more than three hours to Albany in the early hours of November 15 to attack his parents. A New York State Thruway toll collector outside Rochester said a yellow Wrangler with large tires passed through his station around 10:45. on November 14, and a collector in Albany recalled the "excessive pace" of the yellow Wrangler approaching the toll plaza shortly before 2 am on November 15th. [16]
Four security cameras at the University of Rochester recorded a yellow Jeep Wrangler as Porco left the campus at 10:30. on November 14 and back at 8:30 am on November 15th, this was the period when prosecutors claimed Porcos was attacked. [17]
Porco character
Sociopathy or psychopathy
Much attention is focused on Christopher Porco's personality. Police argue that the pattern of behavior is consistent with the diagnosis of psychopathy or sociopathy, two similar but not identical disorders characterized by features such as egomania, pathological fraud, cheating and deceiving others, and lack of conscience or regret. For example, Porco lied to get car payments and tuition fees. Michele McKay, a law officer working with Peter Porco, says he has portrayed his youngest son as a sociopath. [19] Some Albany area psychologists and mental health professors have stated The Times Union that Porco's behavior consistent with the behavior of a sociopath. In particular, they focus on the consistent pattern of lies that Porco says to convince acquaintances that he is from a wealthy and influential family.
In addition, Professor Frank Perri argues that police interviews with Christopher Porco are completely defective because the police checking procedure seems to fail to take into account the possibility of Porco psychopathy. Psychopaths have an unusual emotional response and do not feel guilty for their misdeeds, so standard police interview tactics are useless, as in the case of Porco, where police failed to obtain valuable information during interrogation. According to Perri, the police should study Porco's case for more productive interviewing of possible psychopathic suspects by using non-confrontational approaches rather than attracting emotions. For example, Perri suggests that the general goal of seeking confession is misdirected with a possible psychopath and that the police should allow the subject to speak at length to obtain statements that would later contradict external evidence: "... by getting a psychopath to speak the footsteps of the statement as opposed to the undeniable fact coupled with the lack of appropriate emotional influence resulted in a stronger image of fraud and less credibility in court. "
Breaking
During their investigation, the authorities decided that Porco had a history of anti-social behavior that included robbing the home of his parents. In 2005, Bethlehem Police detective traveled to San Diego, California, to retrieve a laptop computer that Christopher Porco had stolen from her parents in a burglary on July 21, 2003, when she returned from college. Porco sells his laptop on eBay. Eight months earlier, on November 28, 2002, police argued that Christopher also held a robbery at his parents' home where he took a Macintosh laptop computer and Dell laptop computer. A camera reported missing from the robbery was found from the front page of the couple. One month before the attack, both Christopher and Jonathan Porco have frozen their eBay account because they share the same Delmar address. Christopher has not sent some customers the items they have paid from his account. During their investigation, the prosecutor found that Christopher was disguised as his own brother, sending an email to a customer explaining that his brother had died and could not deliver the goods. [21]
Counterfeit
While traveling to Britain in March 2004, Christopher received an email from Joan Porco's account that admonished him for failing classes at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. In his message, Joan and Peter complain to their son, "You just left and (we) can not trust our eyes when I see your interim class report.You know what they say, 'Three strikes and you're outside. ' Explain yourself. " The subject title of the email is "Failing Grades-You did it again!" [22] A few days later, Christopher answered in a message to his father. Blame the college enrollment office, he wrote, "[B] ut obvious they are wrong... My lowest score that I get on anything is B on a physics test... Do not jump to conclusions, I '" [24]
Defense case
Defense lawyer Terence Kindlon stressed that the Bethlehem Police Department has no physical evidence linking Christopher Porco with an attack on his parents. No fingerprints were found from the fire ax found at the scene. [25]
In a statement to the press and criminal proceedings, Kindlon points out that the Bethlehem Police Department has made the mistake of Christopher Porco as a prior conclusion. During his opening speech to the jury on June 27, 2006, Kindlon described the Police of Bethlehem as an unknown person with a serious crime investigation, describing them as the department "that drove skateboarders from 7-11... This is not the FBI." [26]
Kindlon counselor and wife Laurie Shanks also argues that the police ignored the possibility that Peter Porco's death was the result of retaliation against his uncle Frank Porco, a captain in the Bonanno crime family in New York City. Frank Porco has served two years in prison for lending and blackmail, though Shanks wrongly informs the jury that he has been indicted for his involvement in the murder. Shanks notes that Frank Porco's nickname with the masses is "The Fireman", which may have something to do with the kind of murder weapon found, a fire ax. He had served in the New York City Fire Department. [27]
Trial and confidence
The trial was moved to Orange County due to intense media coverage in the Albany area. [28]
On August 2, 2006, the prosecutor's office resolved his case against Porco, and a much shorter defense case began.
On the morning of August 10, 2006, the jury began negotiating. Later that day Porco was found guilty of second-degree murder and attempted murder.
On December 12, 2006, Judge Jeffrey Berry sentenced Porco 50 years to live on any count with a minimum of 50 years in prison. Judge Berry was quoted as saying, "I am very afraid of what happened in the early hours of November 15th is something that can happen again." Porco will be eligible for parole in December 2052.
References
External links
- Christopher Porco Assassination Test special report on timesunion.com - Includes transcripts, biographies, photos and experimental related videos.
- Porco Trial Stories, photos, videos, and documents from Spotlight News coverage.
- "Memory of Murder" - A 48 Hours Mystery
- Porco Trial Archive at CBS6Albany.com - Video Archive of CBS 6 coverage of Porco Trial
- Tru Library TV Crime article on the Porco case.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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