Monday, December 01, 2008

He says rancher was suspicious of pastor months before death

By SUSAN HERENDEEN
sherendeen@modbee.com

last updated: June 12, 2008 06:48:09 AM

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 men and women who have been tapped to sit in judgment in Porter's case were told that Ashlock had been granted immunity for his testimony, but they did not hear that Ashlock and a partner were sentenced to one year in jail for their roles in a scheme that cost 20 families their homes.

And while a former church leader previously told the jury that Porter tapped Ashlock and three others to help build an agricultural museum with money donated by elderly rancher Frank Craig, Ashlock seemed uncertain about his role in the Central Valley Museum of Agriculture, which never came to pass.

"We just got together every seven days and we talked about what we'd done to the last day," recalled Ashlock, who said he suffered brain damage a few years ago and had a hard time keeping up with a prosecutor's questions.

The middle-aged man recalled owning a dozen real estate corporations, which he ran from a mobile building on the grounds of Hickman Community Church, where Porter was pastor for nearly two decades. But Ashlock insisted that Porter knew nothing about his businesses.

Porter, 57, of La Grange, is accused of embezzling at least $1.1 million of the money Craig wanted to spend on the museum, then staging two truck crashes to cover his tracks.

Porter has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder, theft or embezzlement from an elder by a caretaker and elder abuse causing death. He faces life in prison if convicted and his trial is expected to stretch into late July.

Craig and Porter struck up a business relationship in 1999, when Craig inherited $2 million from a brother, which he dreamed of using to build a museum to showcase farm equipment he'd collected over decades.

Craig, who had no children, couldn't build the museum himself, so he enlisted Porter's help, making the church his beneficiary and its preacher the executor of his estate. Later, Craig gave Porter power over his finances and health care decisions as well.

Craig was crippled in a 2002 collision, in which Porter's Toyota Tundra veered off Lake Road and slammed into a tree. Craig drowned in a 2004 wreck after his GMC truck, driven by Porter, ended up in the Ceres Main Canal, near Hickman.

Tim Pittman of Ceres, a friend who cared for Craig after the first wreck, said Craig had grown suspicious of Porter in the months before his death because he was not receiving financial statements in the mail and understood that little work had been done on the museum.

"He was going to pull the plug on Porter and hire a contractor to do the job," said Pittman, who is expected to return to the witness stand today.

Much of Wednesday revolved around Ashlock, even though he took the witness stand for only 10 minutes. Prior to his testimony, Judge Thomas Zeff advised Ashlock that he had the right to consult with an attorney before he answered questions. A long delay ensued as a public defender was summoned.

When he finally testified, Ashlock gestured in the air as he tried to answer questions, frequently apologizing for his inability to keep up.

The scene was made even stranger because defense attorney Kirk McAllister, who has been at Porter's side throughout the trial, had to take a back seat, leaving the cross examination to defense attorney Stephen Foley, who has no other role in the trial.

McAllister had a conflict of interest because he represented Ashlock before Porter was arrested, then lined up another attorney to take over Ashlock's defense so he could defend the pastor against murder charges.

None of this was explained to the jury.

Then Ashlock was excused.

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at sherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.

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