Former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter watched prosecutors call 63 witnesses to question his character, including several friends who testified during his murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court because subpoenas left them with no choice.

The Central Valley Museum of Agriculture, a private nonprofit funded with rancher Frank Craig's money, filed articles of incorporation but never had any bylaws or official meetings, according to an accountant who testified Friday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

After a lengthy delay, the cross-examination of a certified public accountant hired to help defend former Hickman pastor Howard "Doug" Porter began Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

A certified public accountant who testified Monday on behalf of murder suspect Howard "Doug" Porter said the former preacher got $167,000 from his relationship with rancher Frank Craig, a far cry from the $1.1 million Porter is accused of embezzling.

A tax accountant who testified Thursday during a murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court said he saw a big red flag when a fellow parishioner from Hickman Community Church told him about $30,000 he received from his employer, the Central Valley Museum of Agriculture.

Howard "Doug" Porter wants to testify in his own defense, but five friends and relatives won't be able to support the former Hickman pastor's claim that he is an inattentive driver, a judge said Tuesday.

The defense of former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter began Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, with attorney Kirk McAllister calling a Baptist minister to question the credibility of a key prosecution witness.

The government's case against former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter drew to a close Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, after a prosecutor showed a video taken this spring on the grounds of Hickman Community Church.

Frank Craig did not want his property to become part of a neighboring nursery, but the executor of his estate, who is on trial charged with murdering Craig, did not have such reservations.

Five days after Frank Craig drowned, former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter sat down with two detectives who had questions about his role in two wrecks involving the elderly rancher, according to an audiotape played during a murder trial Friday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

As Frank Craig lay in the emergency room, a man who had been hired to raise money for an agricultural museum Craig wanted to build broke his promise to former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter, according to testimony Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

A California Highway Patrol officer who investigated the crash that killed rancher Frank Craig testified Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, telling a jury that physical evidence did not match the explanation he got from former Hickman pastor Howard "Doug" Porter.

As a daylong cross-examination drew to a close Friday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, testimony from an accountant who was hired to analyze 20 bank and investment accounts held by former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter and the late Frank Craig ended up about where it started.

Arguments over how the criminal grand jury that indicted Columbus Allen Jr. II was chosen continued Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

A prosecutor who says embezzlement is a motive for murder began to explore the bottom line Wednesday as the case against former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter continued to unroll in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

Two weeks before Frank Craig died, the elderly rancher gave a friend this marching order: "If I die for any reason, except in my bed, you make sure justice is done."

After driving a pickup in a crash that crippled 85-year-old Frank Craig, pastor Howard "Doug" Porter told a friend the elderly rancher's dream of an agricultural museum would not come to fruition.

A Ceres schoolteacher who testified Thursday during a murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court said she and her husband began making daily trips to Hickman to care for an elderly friend because they were not convinced that former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter was getting the job done.

A jittery appearance by convicted home swindler Lonni Ashlock -- at former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter's murder trial Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court -- may have left the jury with more questions than answers.

The day before Frank Craig drowned in a canal near his home, former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter suggested that it would be easier to build a long-awaited agricultural museum if its elderly benefactor were not part of the picture, according to testimony Monday.

According to his friends, elderly rancher Frank Craig had a lot of complaints before he drowned in the Ceres Main Canal, and chief among them was the fact that he was not getting statements for investment accounts worth $2 million.

A preacher charged with killing an old man for his money told apparently contradictory stories about the first of two harrowing crashes, a witness testified Thursday.

The murder trial of former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter resumed Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, with prosecutors calling witnesses to talk about a March 5, 2002, truck crash that may or may not have been an accident.

A juror and an alternate juror called in sick Monday, so the trial of former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter is taking a hiatus in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

A church secretary and bookkeeper who testified Friday during a murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court said she became suspicious of former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter a few months after an elderly rancher made the Hickman Community Church the sole beneficiary of his estate.