Lifetime television network has released the air date of its small screen movie about the Christopher Porco murder case.
The network has announced the movie, called “Romeo Killer: The Christopher Porco Story,” will premier on Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m. The movie will focus on the Delmar native and University of Rochester student who was convicted of killing his father and attempting to kill his mother with an ax in 2004.
According to the network, the movie will show the night of the murder all the way up through the trial, but added some details may not be totally accurate. The credits will state the tale is `inspired by a true story.`
Production of the movie began in late 2012 in Vancouver, according to a Lifetime spokeswoman. Porco will be played by Matt Barr, who was most recently in the History Channel miniseries “Hatfields and McCoys.” Erik McCormick from “Will and Grace” will play Bethlehem police detective Joe Sullivan and actress Lolita Davidovich will play Joan Porco.
Though Porco still maintains his innocence, he was found guilty in August of 2010 of having murdered his father, Peter, and attempting to murder his mother, Joan, as they slept inside their former Brockley Street home. The incident is presumed to have been over forged co-signatures on a student loan and car loan that Christopher Porco took out without his parents’ knowledge.
Joan survived the Nov. 15, 2004, attack, but was badly injuries. She later claimed no memory of the incident and professed her son’s innocence, even though police claimed she indicated with a nod her son had made the attack. That nod was later the basis for a long appeals process by Porco’s legal team. In April of 2012, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition to review the murder conviction.
Porco is now 29, but was 20 at the time of the murder. He is now serving 50 years in prison.
The film is set to portray Porco as a “beloved, handsome college student … who was every girl’s dream in the small town of Delmar, New York.”
Lifetime Network released the first still from the movie on its press website, which depicts Barr (Porco) and McCormick (Detective Sullivan) sitting across from each other at a table, in what appears to be a police station.
The movie’s description says prosecutors believed Porco to be `a devious and cunning sociopath` while `many in the town of Delmar firmly believe the jury wrongfully convicted an innocent young man.`
View The Spotlight’s previous story about the movie here.
