By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer

First published: Friday, August 11, 2006

GOSHEN -- The swift verdicts resonated softly through the small courtroom. Christopher Porco was standing, dressed in his suit and facing the jury forewoman as she looked down at the paper clutched in her hand.

"Guilty," she said, of the murder of Peter Porco.

"Guilty," she repeated, for the attempted murder of Joan Porco.

It was over.

Christopher Porco, as he has done since the Nov. 15, 2004, ax attack of his parents, showed no outward emotion. But his neck and face flushed sharply as he turned to his attorneys and thanked them.

Seated in the front row behind him, two young women, both his supporters, hugged and cried. A court officer slid behind Porco, motioning him to put his wrists back, and the women's sobs grew louder as the clicks of the tightening handcuffs echoed across the nearly silent courtroom.

Peter Porco's sister, Patty Szostak, who sat quietly through every moment of the seven-week trial, embraced her husband and Julia Cannizzaro, who was Peter Porco's former colleague. Szostak cried softly in their arms as her hands trembled.

Moments before the verdicts were read, Bethlehem's lead detective in the case, Christopher W. Bowdish, had reached across a courtroom bench and put his hand on Szostak's. She appeared to be near tears and, like most of those in the courtroom, unsettled and stunned by the jury's quick decision.

"It's all right," Bowdish said softly. "It's all right." The Orange County jury of eight women and four men took less than six hours to reach their verdicts. They emerged stone-faced from their deliberations, refusing to look at Porco as they filed silently into the courtroom just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Defense attorneys Terence L. Kindlon and Laurie Shanks had raced back to the courtroom, along with Porco, when for the third time that afternoon the jury had handed a note to the judge. Twice earlier they had asked for some evidence, photographs of the murder scene and records showing the activity logs on Peter and Joan Porco's alarm at their Brockley Drive home.

Only this time there was no call for more evidence, and the jury reached its decision without looking further at the trial's more than 4,000 pages of transcripts and nearly 700 pieces of evidence.

"I was surprised," Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael P. McDermott said. "I think it's the timeline. ... That put it over the top for the jury."

One of the jurors, Heather Martin, who is a middle school history teacher, said the jury placed much of its decision on that timeline, adding that the way it was presented was most convincing.

Martin had taken copious notes throughout the trial -- 140 pages -- and she said the jury cross-referenced her notes against the evidence, keeping the timeline in mind.

"There were several who were undecided, but we took our time to go through all the points," she said, adding that it also was pivotal to the panel that no eyewitnesses could testify they saw Christopher Porco sleeping in a dormitory lounge.

The jury largely dismissed the testimony of Joan Porco, who was on the stand for more than a day defending her son and characterizing their relationship as loving. Martin said jurors felt that Joan Porco's recollections were clouded by her devastating injuries, including brain damage, which jurors concluded she had suffered at the hands of her younger son.

Kindlon said the case will not end without more of a fight. "We do expect to take full advantage of the appellate process," he said outside court.

Assistant District Attorney David M. Rossi, who was devoted solely to the Porco case since shortly after the murder, said he was not surprised by Porco's lack of remorse and emotion upon hearing the verdict.

"He didn't blink," Rossi said. "I think that speaks to what's going on in that kid's head. I think he's totally consumed with himself."

Bowdish said he felt great relief after being attacked personally and repeatedly by Porco's defense attorneys, who had cast him in court as a bumbling and inexperienced cop.

"I think this verdict has told everyone that it was just words," he said. "There was a lot of things that were said that were totally unnecessary."

This weekend, Bowdish said he intends to visit the graves of his former colleagues, Sgt. John Cox and Detective Anthony Arduini, who both died during the investigation but had been integral to the case. Bowdish said the men are buried in the same Bethlehem cemetery only steps apart, and that he will go there and "tell them" about the verdict.

The investigation had consumed the 44-member department, which has dealt with only three homicides in the 25 years that Bowdish has been on the force.

"Believe me, I feel vindicated, I really do," Bowdish said.

At 7:10 p.m. Thursday, Porco shuffled out a steel door of the Orange County Courthouse. He was shackled and had changed into a yellow jumpsuit provided by two Albany County sheriff's deputies who came to retrieve their prisoner. He arrived back at Albany County jail at 9:15 p.m. and was booked into the facility.

As the sun set back in Orange County, Porco's yellow Jeep Wrangler remained parked in the empty courthouse parking lot. The vehicle had played a pivotal role in the case: It was identified by witnesses, and shown on surveillance tapes when he drove it to Delmar from Rochester to attack his parents.

Judge Jeffrey G. Berry scheduled Porco's sentencing for Oct. 25. He faces 50 years to life in prison.

Joan Porco, 55, who has defended her son and accused police of railroading him, was not in the courthouse when the verdicts were read. Porco's attorneys said they had not expected a verdict so quickly and that she was at a nearby motel resting.

Her husband, Peter, was 52 at the time of his death.

Szostak's relationship with her brother, who had been a law clerk for an appellate judge, had grown more soulful in the years before his murder. She said the verdict had left her with "very mixed feelings" but that she hopes her entire family can begin healing.

"I had to trust the process, which is what my brother would have wanted," she said.

Staff writer Rick Karlin contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a blow to drivers already struggling with high gasoline prices, BP was forced to shut off about 8 percent of the nation's oil supply after discovering "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in the Alaskan pipeline.

BP announced early Monday that the pipeline problems had caused it to begin the first shutdown ever in the biggest oilfield in the United States, Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.

Here in upstate NY gas prices are around $3.05/gal for regular unleaded.  That's what I paid yesterday.  I will check gas prices at lunch time and report back.  My guess is that there will be an increase of at least .05 cents.

Update:

Indeed the price has increased to $3.09 (and 9/10).  Any guesses on tomorrows price?

Catskill Game Farm closing down
Updated: 8/4/2006 9:54 AM
By: Web Staff

The Catskill Game Farm has been in business since 1933. But at the end of this season, it will be closing for good.