Former Fugitive, ‘Killer Poet,’ Denied Parole

By Jess Bidgood
Jan 11, 2010, 10:20 PM
4 Comments

Norman Porter, second from left, listens to his lawyer during his arraignment in Dedham Superior Court in Dedham in March 2005. Porter's whereabouts had been a mystery to police since he walked away from a pre-release center in December 1985. He was arrested in Chicago after a tipster told police that Porter was living there. (AP)

BOSTON — Norman Porter, a convicted murderer from Woburn who became a fugitive poet in Chicago and then won wide support as a model for personal reformation, will remain behind bars.

The state denied Porter’s request for parole Monday, WBUR has learned.

Porter is serving a life sentence for the 1960 murder of John Piggot, a 22-year-old store clerk, during an armed robbery in Saugus.

“Now we have five years that we don’t have to worry about Norman Porter,” said Nancy Bray, whose mother was engaged to Piggot when he was killed.

Porter also was convicted in the 1961 murder of a prison guard during an attempted jailbreak in East Cambridge. Gov. Michael Dukakis commuted that sentence in 1975, based on testimony that it was Porter’s accomplice, not Porter, who shot and killed the guard.

After spending 25 years in prison, Porter escaped from a pre-release center in 1985 and lived as a fugitive in Chicago for 20 years, where he assumed the name J. J. Jameson.

“It went from fighting to find him, to now we’ve caught him but now we’ve got to fight to get his parole denied,” Bray said. “He’s finally going to serve the time that he should have been serving all along for the 20 years he was in Chicago.”

The board’s decision follows a hearing in October, which brought friends and families of Porter’s victims up against his large group of backers.

The Friends of Norman Porter, a group that includes ministers, attorneys and a psychologist, says Porter used his time as a fugitive to reform himself. He became a well-known poet and church leader who engaged in local politics and worked as a handyman.

Rev. Steve M. Wilson, of Braintree’s All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, met Porter when he worked at the same Chicago church where Porter was a regular lecturer.

“I count (Porter) as a friend and trust him,” Wilson said. “I’ve seen him do so many kind acts that it feels very distant from a person who seemingly committed those crimes back when he was 18 or 19 years old.”

Police re-captured Porter in Chicago in 2005 on a tip from someone in Massachusetts. He remains imprisoned in Shirley.

Wilson contends Porter has earned his way out.

“Short of walking out of prison when he felt he could never be released, he’s lived an exemplary life for the last 40 years,” Wilson said. “If prison is designed to reform people, he would be a classic example of what reform looks like.”

From WBUR’s Archives:

The Double Life Of A ‘Killer Poet’

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Jackson Gill

Rev. Wilson, prison is also meant to punish the guilty and Porter must serve his time, there is no self-rehabilitation.
Bruce Weinstock

A Man who has totaly proven to all who know him that the young man who committed the murder back in 1960 is no longer the man he is today is denied parol. Oh! did I mention all the rapists and child molesters who DO get released? Explain the logic to me. I must be missing something.
http://chicagopoetry.com CJ Laity

I am glad that Norman Porter’s parole was denied. To the few who Porter was close to in Chicago, he would seem to be the rehabilitated person who has proved himself. But the “friends of Norman Porter” completely ignore all the other people in “J. J. Jameson’s” life, those who Porter affected in a negative way. Those who support Porter are so gung-ho on hero worshiping this man that they refuse to recognize the negativity of the twenty years he spent on the lam. I was one of the ones affected in a negative way by Porter. I was one of the people who “knew him” and all he proved to me is that he has a keen ability to cause heartache and trouble and to avoid responsibility for it. This man has been the cause of so much turmoil in my life I can’t even explain it. He broke up so many friendships and destroyed so many relationships in his attempt to keep his dirty little secret while on the lam that the city I live in is a bit more unhappy because of him. He was a selfish, manipulative, dishonest drunk who partied for twenty years when he was suppose to be behind bars. And for that they even made a movie about him. How many poets who actually have talent and who haven’t killed anyone get a movie made about them? It is a sad statement about society.
Walter Plumer

I served time with Norman Porter. I was responsible for taking a life as was Norman. In the documentary ‘Killer Poet’ the manager of the store partially pulls the mask off the robber holding a pistol and sees blond hair. Norman has blond hair. Johnny Piggot was killed with a shotgun. Under pressure the police acquire a confession, which later is thrown out of court. Thinking he’s facing the death penalty he takes the opportunity to escape with an older man, who tells him to should a guard who stands in his way. Instead Porter throws the gun down. He’s not a killer! Witnesses said the other man shot the guard. The documentary should be called “Accomplice Poet” but that’s not as sexy. Having benefitted from programs and policies Norman helped bring into being at Norfolk Prison, I came to Chicago and joined the Unitarian Church where he established a day-care-center that no one else could, serving 60-70 children on Chicago’s west side.
Now I fully understand Oscar Wilde when he said, “Society will often forgive a criminal, but it will never forgive a dreamer” The crucifix is a warning