Posted on 03/23/2005 9:26:14 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BOSTON - In Massachusetts, he is a twice-convicted murderer who vanished after escaping from prison. In Illinois, he is a poet and anti-war protester devoted to his local Unitarian church.
The two lives of Norman Porter crumbled in Chicago on Tuesday, when undercover police investigators arrested the man who 20 years ago fled from justice here and built a new life in Chicago.
"He had us all fooled," said C.J. Laity, who knew Porter from poetry readings. "I've known him for many, many years. Obviously, I didn't know him as well as I thought."
Porter waived extradition at a hearing Wednesday morning in Cook County Circuit Court and was returned to Massachusetts Wednesday night.
Porter's whereabouts have been a mystery to police since he walked away from a prerelease center in Walpole in December 1985. Ever since his escape, he has been at the top of the Massachusetts State Police's "Most Wanted" list.
In 1960, at age 21, Porter shot and killed John Pigott, a 22-year-old store clerk, during a robbery of a clothing store.
While he was awaiting trial, Porter and another inmate escaped from jail. They overpowered the jail master, David S. Robinson, then shot and killed him with a smuggled gun.
Porter, who wasn't accused of pulling the trigger in Robinson's killing, eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in both cases and was sentenced to consecutive life terms. However, in 1975, then-Gov. Michael Dukakis commuted one of those sentences.
During his 26 years behind bars, Porter earned his high school diploma and was working toward a college degree. He escaped in 1985 after he was transferred to a minimum security prison.
Porter's friends in Chicago said Jacob "J.J." Jameson — as they know him — has been living in the city for the past 20 years. Porter, 65, was arrested in the Third Unitarian Church.
"I've always known him to be a perfect gentleman, quite active in the community," said Charles Paidock, who met Porter more than a decade ago at a forum on free speech and other social issues.
Paidock, who was working on a play with Porter, said he never saw anything in his friend to suggest a violent past. "This is absolutely a complete and total shock," he said.
About a month ago, a tipster reportedly told Massachusetts police that Porter was living in the Chicago area. Investigators matched Porter's fingerprints to his 1993 arrest on theft charges in Chicago, in which he used the Jameson alias.
Porter acknowledged his real identity when police arrested him, saying, "I had a good 20 years," according to Detective Lt. Kevin Horton of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension unit.
Yup , a real fine upstanding citizen.
Norman Porter, who has been at the top of the Massachusetts State Polices 'Most Wanted,' list is escorted to a car Wednesday, March 23, 2005, in Chicago. Porter was arrested Tuesday in Chicago 20 years after a Massachusetts prison escape. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Am I starting to imagine that the "brains" of all the anti-war or idiotnik movements are the ageing hippies who are anyway going to be out of public prominence in a few years' time?
And will we witness the 20s and 30s neo-hippies today, far less intellectually gifted and facing an active and ideologically robust opposition from their contemporaries like the Bush conservatives or 9/11 conservatives, economic libertarians, and young religious, routed as a historical force?
While he was awaiting trial, Porter...overpowered the jail master, David S. Robinson, then shot and killed him with a smuggled gun.
Porter...pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in both cases, and was sentenced to consecutive life terms.
However, in 1975, then-Gov. Michael Dukakis commuted one of those sentences.]
So I wonder, which murder did DEMOCRAT Governor Dukakis consider eligible for pardon? Was it the innocent store clerk or the innocent jail keeper?
Democrats in charge is like having insane asylum inmates run the country.
Ah, a murderer with poetic style! Perhaps NPR & PBS can feature his work. /sarc
Ah, a murderer with poetic style! Perhaps NPR & PBS can feature his work. /sarc
Remember Willie Horton?
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