Just a note about George Porter.  I have cleaned up George's letter, because he is a simple, uneducated man and I was afraid you'd get caught up in looking at the punctuation and spelling and miss the story.  It is possible all he says is true.  It is certainly worth a thorough investigation to find out how they lost a 60 pound box of evidence precious and costly to George, or why he has had over 10 public pretenders*, and why, after two years, he's still being led on to believe anything is being done.  I really hope one of you readers get real curious about George Porter's Date with Death.
Kay Lee

Kay Lee you  wrote into your introduction that George is uneducated. We wrote about 800 pages about his life and in the foreword he thanks his longest friend James Dailey who is also on Florida´s Death Row, because James educated George to read and write better than he has learnt this in school before. That´s a part of his life too. Keep on your great work Kay Lee. Britta

Postmarked May 3, 2001

Dear Kay,

First I'll introduce myself.  I am George Porter and I am on Death Row here at Raiford, Florida.

I have read some of the things you wrote up about the prisons in Florida, plus about some of the guards and what they have done to inmates.  Well, things have started to get real bad here after what happened in Stark prison when the guards killed an inmate.

The reason I am writing to you is to see if I can get some help by having someone look into my case.  It happened there in Melbourne and you might have heard about it.  This took place on October 9th, 1986 there on Breeze Lane.  I was charged with (2) counts of murder and I tried to defend myself after my P.D. withdrew from my case because of conflict of interest. Before he left, he told me that I was being set up.  The court assigned another attorney and that one told me that he was not interested in taking my case as he didn't have the experience, and now after I have been on Death Row, I see he is no longer an attorney.

Then the court signed another Attorney as a standby.  His name is Sam Baxter Bradwell in Titusville, and this attorney did nothing to help me to prove my innocence, as I could have.  I didn't do this crime as the prosecutor and the Melbourne Police Department says I did.

Now, what you read from here on is going to be hard to believe but it is the truth and everything I write in here can be proved. I don't blame you if you have doubts on this.

To start off, my trial was held in Titusville, Florida on November 30, 1987.  I stopped the trial on the 5th of November as I was threatened that if I try to put on the evidence that was going to be introduced into evidence, something would happen to me and my son, who was just 10 years old at the time.  I was then sentenced to death on March 6th, 1988.

On February or March of 1991, I filed a pro se motion for the transcripts of my trial, and it was mailed to me at Stark Prison on May 28th, 1991.  Then in 1992, I was assigned an attorney and an investigator from C.C.R. to handle my appeal.  I had the investigator, Donna Harris, send me a copy of the transcript that the court sent to the Florida Supreme Court on my appeal.  They denial came on June 14, 1990.

From C.C.R. I have had over (10) attorneys assigned to my case.  Most of them have quit C.C.R. and one was fired for what he said in court at a hearing, that he believes Porter did not do this crime!  The other lady was removed from my case for a reason I can't find out, but am sure it is what she wrote up in the brief that was filed on August 28th, 1998.  This lady has seen the transcripts that I have that were sent to me by the clerk of courts in Titusville, Florida.  It shows there are (2) different transcripts to my trial and it seems the other attorney doesn't want to do anything about this or bring this out to show what the prosecutor, Mr. Christopher White, and the Melbourne Police Department did. 

I have found out that the detective, Robert Carrasquillo(sp) was suspended from the sheriff's department, but what for they won't tell me.

Plus, a Leutenant Darrell Parsons, who was on the Melbourne PD at the time this all took place, has moved up to a higher office and he filed a false and fabricated affidavit and had it forged in my case.  Plus, (3) other police have done the same thing and all these statements that I have are forged.

Plus, the state Star Witness, one Amber Williams, had fabricated this story (that she saw me do this), but in court she said, no, she didn't see me do this.  Later, she became a Police Officer, but I have found out she was suspended from the Police Department and can't get her job back.  Maybe they found out she can fabricate a story on someone else.  I can't find out what she was suspended for.

Now, these things are hard to believe, but they are true.

1. They did a reproduction of the transcript with a lot of altering.  I have (2) different transcripts.
2. The 911 tape and the Video Crime Scene Tape they showed in court are not the real one taken the first time.  I have (2) each of these, the 911 and the video scene tape.
3. Police officers filed false and fabricated statements of fact and affidavit and had them forged.
4. Det. Carrasquille filed false and fabricated statements and submitted a forged statement.
5. The pistol they say was found at the scene, a 25 Raven was lost at the police station along with the 5 shell casings.
6. The Jenning pistol they say was used in this crime has a 10 hand groove and Jenning doesn't make a pistol with 10 land groove.  It is a 6 and 7 land groove.  Plus, not only this, but the Jenning pistol could not have fired the bullet they removed from the body.
7. They took the shorts off the body and put blue jeans on and moved the body 3 feet to butter up Amber Williams story.
8. They moved the body beside the tree in the front yard to the sidewalk.

Kay, there is a lot more to this.  I just wanted to let you know about the police officers that you have there in the Corruption Police Department in Melbourne.

To show how this justice system works, as I had all these copies here at this institution in 1997 and they charged me $2,776.15 for both transcripts, plus the deposition, statement, and filed a supplement motion of record to the Florida Supreme Court with the transcripts that the court sent in 1998 under Case 72-301.  But this 60 pound box was lost and never got to the Supreme Court, so I had to do the copying all over again and they charged me again, and now they keep any money I have sent in.  So, I've stopped having money sent to me.

On May 12th, 1999, they held my Oral Argument in the Florida Supreme Court and usually they make a ruling within 3 to 9 months, but here it has been (2) years the 12th of this month and no ruling in my case.  They say this is good, that they are really looking into my case and it can also be bad.

As you can see, there is something wrong that they haven't made a ruling on it.  Maybe they are trying to cover up what the prosecutor and police department did in my case.

I don't know if you will answer this, but I sure like to read the things you write about the prisons.

Take care and my best regards,

Sincerely,
George Porter
110825  P 6215
Union Correctional Institution
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, Florida  32026-4000

WHO WAS GEORGE PORTER BEFORE HE WAS #110825

 

Thursday, August 08, 2002 8:34 PM

Dear Ms Lee,

I found your website tonight while trying to get info about George Porter, Jr. I am researching information to write a book about a battle during the Korean War at a place called Chipong-ni. I found Porter's name while doing a Google search and read his case in the Florida Supreme court records.

His old commander, Colonel Sherman Pratt testified at his hearing and in the transcript, he testifies about the ferocity of the battle and the effects it had on all his men. Porter has typical symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome.

I tried contacting his two lawyers and they ignored me. Those are the two he alluded to in his letter you published. The court transcript says the Supreme Court stayed the execution but I haven't been able to find out why or what happened subsequent to the hearing that restored his sentence.

Quite frankly, my interest in George Porter is hearing his narrative about the Chipyong-ni fight. It was a heroic struggle between about 20,000 Chinese who had surrounded some 4,800 Americans. His role was as a rifleman. He had been with the unit during other desperate times at an earlier battle in November 1950 in unbelievable conditions. And later at a horrible hill battle called Heartbreak Ridge. He was about 17 at the time, having enlisted in 1949 with a forged birth certificate. Can you imagine some of our spoiled 17 year old kids today undergoing what he endured?

He deserves to live in my estimation. Anyone who did what he did and suffered for his country deserves consideration. As I said, I am primarily interested in his service at Chipyong-ni as a combat rifleman. I hesitate to contact him blindly and ask you to help me. I don't know if he can write me or can he fill out a questionaire? Is it possible to call him directly?

I found his picture and other info on with a link from your website. Will you contact him in my regard?

I would be willing to do anything reasonable within my means to help spare George Porter. He deserves better from the Florida judicial system than what he has gotten. I suggest you do a Google search and type, "Porter, florida supreme court" and it will return the 91 pages of his court transcript. Much of what is in his letter to you is buried in legalese within the 91 pages.

I would be willing to get his narrative about Chipyong-ni and use a pseudonym or just use his information anonymously to ensure he keeps his privacy.

I appreciate any help you can give me. Of course you have my permission to use my letter on Mr. Porter's webpage.

I plan to ask Governor Jeb Bush to investigate George's situation and look into his claims. Much of what he said was substantiated in the official Supreme court document. It would be a travesty of justice to kill George Porter without looking into the situation.

I am not an opponent of capital punishment and feel some crimes almost cry out for the death penalty such as the recent cases of child abduction, rape and killing. The Army taught George to kill at an early age, sent him into a situation to use and develop these survival skills in a primitive environment and when he was in a certain situation many years later, clicked into the kill mode. If nothing else, I think his case bears further investigation. As a Vietnam veteran, I sympathize with him.

I will write Mr Porter and pass along your greetings.

All the best,
Richard Bridges---
richardbridges@hotmail.com