Norman Porter, "killer poet" and former fugitive, dies on medical parole
BOSTON - Norman Porter, the two-time murderer in Massachusetts known as the "killer poet," has died.
In 1960, Porter shot and killed 22-year-old John Pigott, a clerk at a store in Saugus. A year later, while he was in a Cambridge jail waiting for his trial, Porter escaped with another prisoner. They were later charged in the shooting death of Middlesex Jail Master David Robinson.
Porter wasn't accused of shooting Robinson, but he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in both cases and was sentenced to consecutive life sentences. In 1975, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis commuted one of those sentences.
After serving 26 years, Porter escaped from a minimum security prison in Walpole in December 1985. He was on the run for 20 years.
Porter changed his name to J.J. Jameson and spent most of his time as a fugitive living in Chicago as a well-known poet. He was captured in 2005 and sent back to prison in Massachusetts.
The state parole board said he died while "under Parole supervision as a medical parolee." The cause of death was not released.
Porter was 83 years old.