Christopher Porco

Christopher Porco (born July 9, 1983) is a convicted murderer; he was convicted of killing his father and attempting to murder his mother on November 15, 2004. He was tried in Goshen, Orange County, New York, on charges of second degree murder in the murder of his father, Peter Porco, and second degree attempted murder in the severe wounding and disfigurement of his mother, Joan Porco, in Delmar, New York .

The trial was moved to Orange County after a New York State appeals court ruled that a change of venue was necessary to ensure Porco received a fair trial because of the intense media pre-trial coverage in the Albany area. Orange County criminal court justice Judge Jeffrey G. Berry, who presided over the trial, allowed still cameras (no sound or video) in the court during the proceedings, a rarity in New York State, which gives judges great discretion over the electronic recording of cases. The Judge did allow video taping of the summations of both defense and prosecution lawyers. The announcement of that verdict was also video taped.

The case against Porco received extensive coverage in local newspapers including the Times Union and The Spotlight as well as in local television outlets. The case was also the subject of a one-hour documentary on 48 Hours Mystery entitled "Memory of Murder," broadcast by CBS on November 4, 2006, as well as an episode of the TruTV series Forensic Files that originally aired on July 17, 2009. This attention may be due to the grisly nature of the murder as well as emails between Porco and his parents in the months leading up to the attack, which have been made public. The emails detail tension caused by Porco's academic problems and careless spending. Perhaps most interesting to those following the case is the fact that a badly scarred Joan Porco maintained her son's innocence throughout the trial and accompanied him to many of his criminal proceedings.