Fugitive poet faces families in court hearing

DEDHAM -- Hoping one day to resume his assumed life as a Chicago slam poet, escaped double-murderer Norman A. Porter Jr. apologized yesterday to the families of his victims, who vowed to battle any attempt to free him from prison.

''I will never be able to say I'm sorry enough to the Pigott family and the Robinson family," Porter said softly, as he stood manacled between his two defense lawyers. ''The Pigott family has suffered much anguish over the past 45 years, as has the Robinson family. People would be alive today if it wasn't for my behavior."

In a court proceeding yesterday, Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein heard testimony and said he will set the sentence for Porter's 1985 prison escape before the convicted murderer decides whether to enter a guilty plea or go to trial.

Borenstein said he would announce Oct. 14 what his sentence would be if Porter admits to walking away from a minimum-security prerelease center in Norfolk in December 1985 and assuming the identity of J.J. Jameson, a church-going handyman who became a highly regarded fixture on the Chicago poetry circuit before his March 22 capture by the Massachusetts State Police and the Department of Correction.

Porter pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the September 1960 shotgun killing of John ''Jack" Pigott, 22, in a Saugus clothing store robbery and for the Mother's Day 1961 killing of jail master David Robinson Sr., who was shot to death by Edgar W. Cook, Porter's accomplice during a breakout from the former East Cambridge Jail. Governor Michael S. Dukakis commuted Porter's murder sentence in the Robinson killing in 1975, but was blocked 10 years later by the Governor's Council in commuting Porter's sentence for Pigott's murder.

Porter's lawyers, Thomas Herman and Gordon Walker, argued that Norfolk County prosecutor Mark Fabiano's recommended sentence of nine to 10 years for the escape, to begin upon completion of Porter's second murder sentence, if he is paroled, would amount to a death sentence. At 65 and in failing health, Porter has nearly four years to serve before he is eligible for parole on his existing murder sentence. A memorandum filed by his lawyers recommends that his escape sentence be concurrent with his murder sentence.

Members of the Robinson and Pigott families said yesterday they would testify against his parole for the Pigott murder even if Borenstein hands down a stiff punishment for the escape.

''He never did say he was the gunman who shot Jackie; he said he would take responsibility," said Dottie Johnson, Pigott's cousin. ''He is a very smart individual, who can manipulate the words."

David Robinson's daughter, Joan Robinson, his grandson David Robinson, and nephew Peter Robinson said that Robinson's death at age 53 still brings the family pain 44 years later and that Porter has already been rewarded with nearly 20 years of freedom he didn't deserve. ''Now that he is again behind bars, that is where he should stay for the rest of his life," said Joan Robinson.

Porter's lawyers presented several witnesses who traveled from Chicago, including 88-year-old Ruth Johnson, who told the judge about the good man they knew as J.J. Jameson who they could never imagine as an escaped murderer named Norman Porter. Three former Department of Corrections officials, including former commissioner Frank Hall, testified that although they did not condone his escape, Porter was a rehabilitated prisoner who took advantage of every educational and occupational opportunity while developing a reputation as a talented poet behind bars. His leadership defused several near prison riots in the turbulent 1970s following the Attica prison uprising in New York, former Department of Correction administrator David Haley testified.