Joan Porco’s neurologist after surgery testified that her nonverbal yes and `no` answers to a Bethlehem police detective the day she was attacked tell nothing about her state of mind.
Dr. Mary Dumbovy, chair of neurosurgery and rehab at Unity Health System in Rochester, said it is impossible to tell what Mrs. Porco understood after detective Christopher Bowdish asked if her son Christopher committed the terrible crimes against her and her husband on Nov. 15, 2004.
`Mrs. Porco was gravely injured, and there was not a question asked to allow me to determine if her answers were reliable responses,` said Dumbovy.
Christopher Porco is charged with killing his father, Peter Porco, and attempting to murder his mother, Joan Porco, as they were sleeping in their bedroom.
Because Joan Porco was so severely injured when paramedics arrived on the scene at 36 Brockley Drive, a mental status exam to determine her memory after the attacks was never administered.
`Could her memory be accurately assessed at that point when she was found?` asked defense attorney Laurie Shanks.
`It would not be possible to do a complete cognitive assessment because she was critically injured,` said Dumbovy.
Under cross-examination by chief prosecutor Michael McDermott, Dumbovy conceded that even though Joan Porco could not speak because of broken bones in her jaw, it is possible she heard what paramedics and police were asking her.
`Did you review the paramedics report?` asked McDermott.
`Yes,` answered Dumbovy.
`Did you know Mrs. Porco pulled down her nightshirt when police and paramedics arrived demonstrating she was aware her nightgown was up above her underwear?` McDermott said.
`Yes,` answered the doctor.
McDermott asked the neurologist if it was possible for Mrs. Porco to understand that she was not alone and that four other people were in the room at the time she was injured.
`Potentially, yes,` answered Dumbovy.
McDermott reminded jurors that although Dumbovy was Joan Porco’s neurologist in Rochester, she was being paid to testify as an expert witness for the defense.
`I am not being paid for this directly,` said Dumbovy. `This goes to the organization.`
`You were flown on a private plane here for your testimony,` stated McDermott.
Dumbovy said she was but only because of time constraints due to work.
Shanks added that there is no information to show Mrs. Porco has any recollection of the attacks.
Also on Monday, Stephan Meyers, of Meyers Funeral Home in Delmar, told jurors he spotted two cars traveling very fast near the vicinity of 36 Brockley Drive when he drove home from work early Monday morning on Nov. 15, 2004, after finishing his part-time job at Albany Airport.
`I saw two cars coming at me near the corner of Charles Boulevard and Orchard,` said Meyers. `One was a light blue silver Sedan, and if I didn’t get out of his way I would be hit.`
Authorities believe the attacks on Peter and Joan Porco occurred between the hours of 2:14 a.m. and 4:54 a.m. that same morning. Meyers said he saw the cars around 2 a.m. leaving that area and told Bethlehem police about it the next day, but they did not follow the potential lead.
`These two cars were coming at you,` asked defense attorney Terence Kindlon.
`Right on my bumper,` stated Meyers. Meyers said he went to bed and didn’t think anything of the situation until he heard all the sirens near Brockley Drive the next morning and walked over to see what had happened.
`I went down to the police station to tell them what I saw,` Meyers said.
`They marked it down, and that was the last I heard.`
Assistant district attorney David Rossi asked if Meyers saw a yellow Jeep racing down that same road around 2 a.m.
`I did not,` Meyers answered.
`Did you get a license plate of the light blue Sedan,` Rossi asked.
`I did not,` said Meyers.
Rossi reminded jurors under objection that Meyers’ testimony was the first time the district attorney’s office had ever heard of the incident.
`It was just somebody speeding through the neighborhood,` said McDermott. `Nothing more.`
McDermott said Meyer’s testimony does not fit the timeline of the murder of Peter Porco and the attack on Joan.
`It’s a desperate attempt to throw something unusual in that area,` McDermott said during a break.
Fifteen minutes of dispatch calls into the Bethlehem Police Department on Nov. 15, 2004 were also played for the jury. The messages recorded were after the attacks and indicate a state of heightened anxiety and confusion, with calls streaming in to the police department from other officers and people from the area.
`What the heck is going on?` asked an Albany police officer calling in to the department.
`Peter Porco the lawyer has been murdered,` answered the female dispatcher.
`Holy Christ,` said the officer.
`It looks like the son killed him, and the mother is hanging on,` said the dispatcher.
A `bolo,` or be on the lookout bulletin, was also dispatched during this time looking for murder suspect Christopher Porco.
`Be on the lookout for a white male driving a Jeep Wrangler. He is wanted for questioning in regard to a homicide,` said the dispatch. `The subject attends the University of Rochester and may be armed.`
Police arrived the night of Nov. 15, 2004 at Albany Medical Center to bring Christopher in for questioning. A six-and-a-half-hour videotaped interrogation of Porco by Bethlehem police has been ruled inadmissible and is not being shown to jurors.
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