John Gray On Why Delmar Convicted Murderer Might Get a Retrial
The morning after John Gray's exclusive one-on-one with convicted axe murderer Chris Proco revealed the possibility of a retrial, Gray joined Brian and Chrissy on 1077 GNA for a deeper dive into the latest developments. The interview is posted below.
Back in 2006, Chris Porco from Delmar, NY was convicted of the grisly murder of his father and bludgeoning of his mother with an axe. But did he get a fair trial?
In November of 2004, Christopher Porco drove from the University of Rochester in his yellow Jeep Wrangler to his parent's home in Delmar, NY and murdered his father Peter, and severely disfigured his mother Joan with an axe.
Years later, the grisly discovery in Upstate NY would become the subject of an hourlong episode on CBS's 48 Hours and even a movie entitled Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story that aired on Lifetime.
Christopher Porco, along with his mother Joan, maintains his innocence after all these years.
It's been a little over eighteen years since the horrific incident took place, and Porco's been in prison for the last sixteen of them, the whole time maintaining his innocence. And his mother Joan, who jurors say he attacked with an axe, has been by his side the whole time - his biggest supporter.
Why is Chris Porco's name back in the news?
Gray starts the piece by revealing how he was at a red light several years ago when a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler pulled up alongside him.
The sight of it, he would explain, elicited a response from the veteran local news anchor that many from the Capital Region can relate to. "I sat a moment thinking about the murder case that shook the area nearly twenty years ago and remembered two things," Gray said.
"First, that the jury convicted Porco in just a few hours for the murder of his father Peter, and the attempted murder of his mother Joan. I also remembered that Porco never took the stand in his own defense, so none of us ever heard his side of the story," he would explain.
That night, after seeing the yellow Jeep, Gray wrote a letter to Chris Porco, currently in the midst of a 50-year to life sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.
Veteran news anchor gets a letter back from Chris Porco while in prison.
"He told me all those years ago, that he was innocent and had a new legal team that was going to help him prove it. He also promised me that if and when he filed a new legal argument with the court, he would sit down with me for an interview."
It took a few years, but that time arrived.
Gray explained that back on December 27th, he drove the three hours to Dannemora to have a face-to-face sit-down interview with Porco which viewers saw on Thursday for the first time.
Was Chris Porco wrongly accused? Was the evidence mishandled? Should Porco be entitled to a new trial?
The interview aired on News 10 ABC Thursday and quickly became the number trending story in the area. Porco, despised by many in the area, is like a car wreck that you can't turn away from, and any news about him is sure to pique some interest.
According to Gray, Porco’s new attorney, "Danielle Muscatello of Barket Epstein in New York City...is filing what is known as a 440 Motion, a legal argument that asks the criminal court to set aside the verdict all those years ago and give the Porco case another hard look."
On Friday morning, Brian and Chrissy from the 1077 GNA Morning show talked to John Gray at length to get more of his insight after the compelling sit-down.
- In it, we asked what it was like to be in the same space as the convicted killer, and whether or not he showed any emotion.
- We also asked Gray about the people that may or may not remain in his life after all these years, including his mother and brother.
- We questioned the motives of the new lawyers, and why they were doing this. In the process learned something about Porco's new legal team that could bode well for him long-term if everything goes his way.
- We asked Gray what he thought the future holds for this convicted killer who maintains his innocence.
- Does Porco's new legal team have a shot at getting a retrial?
Some of Gray's answers may surprise you, as they did us and Gray promised to be back for further developments.
Listen to the entire interview here: