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Police say father planned to use city check to hire hitman
Thursday, February 23, 2006 | No comments posted.
EUGENE (AP) - A man accused of trying to hire someone to kill the police officer who fatally shot his son planned to finance the scheme with a settlement check from the city of Springfield, according to court records.
Charles Porter, 50, was arrested last week on a charge of soliciting aggravated murder. Court documents filed Tuesday say Porter told a police informant, Donald Lynn Davis, that he expected to receive about $35,000 from the city to settle a lawsuit he filed after his son's death.
He allegedly wanted to use some of it to pay the informant to kill Ethan Spencer, the Springfield officer who was cleared of any wrongdoing in last summer's shooting of 15-year-old Jason Porter.
In an affidavit filed Tuesday in Eugene, Oregon State Police detective Robert Edwards revealed that Donald Lynn Davis told Springfield police in January that Porter had tried to hire him to avenge the death. If he couldn't get to Spencer, Davis was to kill the officer's wife, child or other family member.
Spencer shot Porter's son after trying to stop him for driving a stolen pickup truck. The teenager fled but got hung up on a set of railroad tracks.
As Spencer approached the truck and ordered the boy out, he reportedly thought he saw the driver raise a weapon and aim it. the officer fired one shot, fatally striking the boy in the jaw.
The boy had no weapon.
Davis, 43, told investigators that Porter approached him about killing the officer in November or December, saying he would provide the officer's home address, his photograph and information about his work hours before the killing, the affidavit says.
Davis told police he agreed to the killing on Christmas Eve.
Three days later, Davis was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. While in jail, he contacted authorities and a judge issued an order allowing police to wire Davis.
Over the next six weeks, he called and visited Porter more than a dozen times. Most of the conversations were about methamphetamine sales, but some addressed the killing, the affidavit says.
During one meeting, Porter said someone in Junction City would commit the murder. Later, he gave Davis an address for the police officer but said he didn't want the officer killed until he had his settlement check.
Porter remains in the Lane County Jail on more than $1 million bail.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
Charles Porter, 50, was arrested last week on a charge of soliciting aggravated murder. Court documents filed Tuesday say Porter told a police informant, Donald Lynn Davis, that he expected to receive about $35,000 from the city to settle a lawsuit he filed after his son's death.
He allegedly wanted to use some of it to pay the informant to kill Ethan Spencer, the Springfield officer who was cleared of any wrongdoing in last summer's shooting of 15-year-old Jason Porter.
In an affidavit filed Tuesday in Eugene, Oregon State Police detective Robert Edwards revealed that Donald Lynn Davis told Springfield police in January that Porter had tried to hire him to avenge the death. If he couldn't get to Spencer, Davis was to kill the officer's wife, child or other family member.
Spencer shot Porter's son after trying to stop him for driving a stolen pickup truck. The teenager fled but got hung up on a set of railroad tracks.
As Spencer approached the truck and ordered the boy out, he reportedly thought he saw the driver raise a weapon and aim it. the officer fired one shot, fatally striking the boy in the jaw.
The boy had no weapon.
Davis, 43, told investigators that Porter approached him about killing the officer in November or December, saying he would provide the officer's home address, his photograph and information about his work hours before the killing, the affidavit says.
Davis told police he agreed to the killing on Christmas Eve.
Three days later, Davis was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. While in jail, he contacted authorities and a judge issued an order allowing police to wire Davis.
Over the next six weeks, he called and visited Porter more than a dozen times. Most of the conversations were about methamphetamine sales, but some addressed the killing, the affidavit says.
During one meeting, Porter said someone in Junction City would commit the murder. Later, he gave Davis an address for the police officer but said he didn't want the officer killed until he had his settlement check.
Porter remains in the Lane County Jail on more than $1 million bail.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
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