Friday, Aug. 01, 2008

Prosecutor calls Porter a con man, murderer

Closing statements made, defense attorney up next

As he delivered his closing argument in a high-profile murder trial Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, a prosecutor showed three photos of elderly rancher Frank Craig and warned jurors to discount anything former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter said when he testified.

The first photo showed a smiling man in a straw hat who had entrusted his fortune to Porter, because Porter promised his church would help build a museum to commemorate the way things used to be in Hickman.

The second showed a crippled man who barely survived a March 5, 2002, wreck, when Porter's truck veered off Lake Road and slammed into a tree, yet lived long enough to start questioning the trust he placed in Porter.

The third showed a man with bruises on his face and a puffed-up chest who drowned when a truck driven by Porter plunged into the Ceres main canal on April 22, 2004.

Soon, 12 jurors will decide whether those wrecks were accidents or crimes. First, they must listen as lawyers sum up the evidence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Doug Porter is a murderer," Deputy District Attorney John R. Mayne said as he began a daylong speech. Defense attorney Kirk McAllister is expected to address the jury today.

Porter, 57, of La Grange has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder, theft from an elder by a caretaker and elder abuse causing death. He has been held without bail since his arrest Nov. 27, 2006.

Mayne said the preacher who led Hickman Community Church for nearly two decades only teamed up with Craig so he could get his hands on Craig's money, which was gone before the first wreck.

The prosecutor dismissed Porter's explanation that the museum was stalled because of permitting problems and a water pressure problem on land purchased with Craig's money, and urged jurors to do the same.

He said money Craig wanted to spend on a museum went toward a four-home family compound around a pond in La Grange, dubbed Rivendell, where Porter lived with his wife, her parents and their adult children.

He reminded jurors that Craig's financial statements were sent to P.O. Box 373 in Hickman, which was rented by Porter and the father of a young man who lived in Waterford but needed a local residence so he could wrestle for Hughson High School, where Porter was a coach.

He showed jurors a copy of paperwork Porter signed to incorporate the Central Valley Museum of Agriculture, in which Porter promised Craig's money would be used for a public purpose.

He argued that letters signed by Craig, and presented by Porter's lawyer, must be fraudulent. One gave Porter $80,000 to purchase a house in Hickman and the other said Porter's parents could live rent-free in a home purchased with Craig's money as long as they made needed repairs.

Who's telling the truth?

And he said the jury's decision will come down to believing Porter, even though he couldn't recall myriad transactions made with Craig's money, or believing a host of witnesses who testified against Porter in the past two months.

"Is it everyone else who is not telling the truth," Mayne asked, "or is it Mr. Porter?"

Porter is suspected of embezzling $1.1 million from Craig, then staging both wrecks to cover his tracks.

Investigators found no signs of braking at either collision, so Mayne argued Porter veered right and intentionally drove into the tree, and two years later veered left so he could land in the canal.

The prosecutor used photos and diagrams to reinforce his argument, but he dwelled on the money because Porter left a paper trail.