Victim families pushing to keep 'killer poet' locked up as he fights for freedom

NATICK, Mass. — Norman Porter, one of the state's most notorious inmates sat before a parole board Thursday for hours trying to convince them why they should release him.

"I'm standing here before you, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do, whatever you wish me to do," said Norman Porter.

For the third time, Norman Porter appeared before the parole board in Natick. The career criminal - now 79 years old - was convicted of two murders in the early 1960s.

"This will never go away for her. She still cries over it," said Nancy Biay, victim's family.

In 1960, John Piggot was just 22 years old when he was shot and killed in a botched robbery. Porter was convicted of second-degree murder.

>> 'Killer poet' Norman Porter fighting for his release after decades behind bars

Porter, known as the "Killer Poet", told the board his health is declining, but the victim's relatives weren't buying his story.

"He's still crying the same old song. We were told he was sick and dying when they caught him in 2005," said Biay.

Porter was not only convicted of Piggot's murder but that of David Robinson, who was 53 years old.

"That's the picture of my uncle Dave. He was a correction officer for the Middlesex Corrections Dept. He was a master and keeper of the jail. He was murdered on Mother's Day 1961 by Norman Porter and Cook," said Peter Robinson, victim's nephew.

Authorities say Porter and another inmate broke out of the Cambridge jail in 1985 and was finally captured in March 2005 in Chicago, where he was found living under the alias of Jacob "JJ" Jameson and had become known for his poetry.

"I didn't take the name JJ Jameson, take a gun, and go rob a bank in downtown Chicago. I didn't use that name for illegal purposes," Porter told the parole board.

"I would like to keep him in prison. He's not rehabilitated," said Robinson.

Family members told the parole board while Porter was out on the run for 20 years, he was free. They say they can't even get 20 minutes with their loved one.

It might take weeks or even months before the parole board makes a decision.

Cox Media Group