We got a little nervous there for a while, but the Chronicle didn’t disappoint.
The paper came through today with the latest installment of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Now, they did something unusual, in that they ran AP copy rather than putting one of their own reporters on it.
However, the AP reporter (inadvertently) did such a fine job adhering to the Chron Eye formula that apparently a Chron writeup wasn’t necessary.
There’s the attempt to highlight some redeeming quality of the killer:
[James Scott] Porter said while he had no regrets at the time, he now believes he was “wrong to judge” his victim.
“It wasn’t my place to re-punish him for something he was already punished for,” Porter said. “I’m sorry it happened. That’s all I can say.”
That’s not exactly poetry, but one has to work with the subject matter one is given, we suppose.
Then there’s the obligatory reference to the childhood:
Norris said Porter long suffered depression resulting from an abusive childhood that included being raped by one of his stepfathers. He eventually ran away from his home in Lake Dallas, where he dropped out of school in the eighth grade. A burglary conviction in Denton County got him a five-year prison term. He was on parole from that conviction when he and a brother were arrested and convicted for killing the transient and dumping the man’s body down a water well.
There is no reference to the HPD crime lab, of course, since he wasn’t tried in Harris County. Again, one has to work with the subject matter one is given. But two out of three isn’t bad, as the Chron Eye formula goes.
This AP reporter better watch out. He’s sure to catch the Chron eye of Jeff Cohen if he keeps this up. He might be a candidate to head the Huntsville bureau.
