Tuesday, November 18, 2008

By SUSAN HERENDEEN
sherendeen@modbee.com

last updated: September 03, 2008 06:45:25 AM

Former Hickman pastor Howard "Doug" Porter made a brief appearance Tuesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

Instead of flashing a confident smile to family and friends in the audience, as he frequently did during his murder trial this summer, Porter looked straight ahead as he entered the courtroom, not glancing at a handful of supporters who maintain his innocence despite four guilty verdicts.

After Judge Thomas Zeff set an Oct. 28 sentencing, Porter left the courtroom quickly. His family scattered while people who cared for elderly rancher Frank Craig lingered to talk with a prosecutor.

Betty and Dennis Eastman of Sacramento made the trip to Modesto even though they knew the judge would not impose sentence as initially planned.

They were there to honor Craig, Dennis Eastman's uncle, who died in the second of two truck crashes in which Porter was at the wheel, and the dream that never came to pass.

"He wanted the younger generation to see how farm life really was," Betty Eastman said.

Craig enlisted Porter's help in 1999, when he inherited $2 million from a brother and struck a deal with the preacher to build an agricultural museum. Authorities said Porter siphoned $1.1 million from Craig, using the money to supplement his lifestyle and subsidize a family compound in La Grange.

Craig was crippled March 5, 2002, when Porter's truck veered off Lake Road and slammed into a tree. Craig drowned April 22, 2004, after his truck, driven by Porter, veered off an embankment and plunged into the Ceres main canal.

In addition to first-degree murder, the jury found Porter guilty of attempted murder stemming from the initial crash, elder abuse causing death and theft from an elder by a caretaker.

Jurors also said Porter is guilty of two special circumstances that require a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole: murder for financial gain and murder to silence a witness to theft.

Members of Porter's family wrote a daily blog during the trial and maintain his innocence in their final entry on dougporterinfo.com: "This is not the first case where an innocent man has been convicted and it won't be the last where the unjustly convicted is one day vindicated."

If the conviction stands, life in prison is assured for Porter, but the judge said he would delay the imposition of sentence, giving the defense more time to obtain contact information for the jurors and inquire about the fairness of deliberations that ended after only six hours.

Defense attorney Kirk McAllister said he will file a motion seeking a new trial. Any suggestion that jurors had their minds made up before they were given the case, or were influenced by information they received from other sources, could fuel that effort.

Restitution must be ordered whether or not Porter can afford to repay any money. That remains a subject of debate, because Porter is the trustee of Craig's estate and his former parish, Hickman Community Church, is Craig's beneficiary.

Some of Craig's friends have suggested that restitution should go toward an agricultural cause that Craig would have supported. The Eastmans said they will let the legal system sort things out, because it is clear that Craig's agricultural museum never will come to pass.

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

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