Christopher Porco was released from Albany County Jail Friday afternoon on $250,000 bail, nearly one month after he was indicted for the murder of his father, law clerk Peter Porco, and the severe beating of his mother, Joan Porco, a former speech therapist at Schalmont Central School District.
`I feel pretty good, and I just want to let everyone know that I am innocent and I am looking forward to the trial,` said Porco after being released from the jail.
`Anyone who has ever spent a month in jail knows it’s a difficult experience,` said Porco’s lawyer, Terence L. Kindlon of Delmar. `I know he felt really good to be released from custody, and he’s grateful to all the people who have put up the money for his bail. Right now, he’s eager to focus on the defense.`
His mother, Joan, spent the weekend in town visiting with her son, Kindlon said. She is currently living in Rochester with family. Porco is back living with Elaine LaForte and John Kearny, his longtime employers at the Bethlehem Veterinary Hospital, where he will continue to work until his trial. Kindlon expects the trial to be in the spring.
Peter Porco was honored by the Albany County Bar Association Monday morning, along with 10 other lawyers who died in the last year. Joan Porco attended the service, and although Kindlon said Chris Porco wished to attend, he was advised not to be there.
`I advised him not to because it had the potential to be awkward, not just for him but for some of the people there,` said Kindlon. `But he did want to go.`
Kindlon said in the last week, his office has received two more boxes of evidence that they will have to sort out, and it will be time consuming.
`There is a lot of hard work to do now,` he said. `It’s hard to determine what’s significant and what’s not,` he said. `We will have to go through all of it.“
