Katrina Porter Sentencing Order

7/23/2019 Katrina Porter Sentencing Order

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA

BIRMINGHAM DIVISION

STATE OF ALABAMA ))

V. ) Case No.: CC-2012-001558.00)

PORTER KATRINA SYLVAN )Defendant. )

ORDER ON SENTENCING

On January 4, 2012 this defendant was charged with Capital Murder (Intentional Murder during aBurglary 1) along with co defendants Kevin Porter (CC 2012-1559) and Alex Carter (CC2012-1557). Kevin Porter is her brother and Alex Carter is her husband. This case (along with the co-defendant cases) was assigned to this Court to handle from arrest and charging thru jury verdict.(By Administrative Order of the presiding judge allowing Circuit Judges to act as District Judgesfor Capital Murder cases.) After finding this defendant indigent this Court appointed theHonorable Mike Blalock and Honorable Alaric May to represent her. DDAs Joe Hicks and JulieMcMakin were assigned to prosecute. The courts file will reflect that a preliminary hearing washeld and later the case indicted by the Jefferson County Grand Jury on May 4, 2012. The courtsrecord will further reflect that the defendant was arraigned in open court, with her attorneys

present and motions hearings were held.

This matter was first set for trial on November 18, 2013 when a jury was struck and sworn andtestimony was presented by the state. At the close of the States case the defendant moved for amistrial and a mistrial was declared. The case was reset for trial April 14, 2014. Court ReporterJulie Carter was present and recorded all proceedings for each defendant.

In June of 2013 Defendant Kevin Porter was tried and convicted by a jury of capital murder andwas later sentenced by this court to Life Without the Possibility of Parole.Defendant Alex Carter pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to twenty years splitfive years to serve after making a plea agreement with the State of Alabama on April 17, 2014.

On Monday April 14, 2014 this matter came to be tried. A jury of 14 was selected, empanelledand sworn. Opening statements were made. The State of Alabama presented testimony from thefollowing witnesses:

Niaisha McQueen who testified that the victim, Barbara Freeman was her mother. She had lastseen Ms Freeman just hours before her death on December 21, 2011. Ms Freeman had come tovisit with Ms McQueen and her children. During the visit and shortly before her mother left

ELECTRONICALLY FILED4/24/2014 10:25 AM

01-CC-2012-001558.00CIRCUIT COURT OF

JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMANNE-MARIE ADAMS, CLERK

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McQueen testified that her mother received a telephone call from Larry Whittleslee, her mothersboyfriend. McQueen did not hear the conversation. The next time she saw her mother she wasdeceased. She also was able to identify the keys found in the back door of her mothersapartment as her mothers keys.

Antonio Williams who testified that he was a neighbor of Barbara Freeman. On the night ofDecember 21, 2011 he heard a verbal argument outside his window. He looked out and observedFreeman and this defendant fighting. At some point he heard a gunshot and then heard LarryWhittleslee say to the women: Bs take it in the house! The fight then broke up and thedefendant left going in the direction of a cut between two apartment buildings. He thenobserved Freeman and Whittleslee have an argument and then saw Whittleslee get in his truckand drive away. Within a short time frame he testified that he saw the defendant and two malesreturn and head straight for Freemans apartment. Then he heard a gunshot and saw the samethree people leave Freemans apartment. During this incident he made two 911 calls. The firstwas during the fight and the second was after he heard the gunshot coming from the victimsapartment. He was able to identify the defendant as the person who was involved in the fightwith the victim and one of the three persons who returned to the victims apartment and left afterthe gunshot. Under cross examination he admitted that he had never seen any of the threedefendants before that night. He also testified that the only weapon he saw when the threereturned was being carried by one of the two males. He also acknowledged under crossexamination that he did see the other male, identified as this defendants brother, Kevin Porter,present during the earlier fight between the two women.

Ronald Taylor testified that he, too, was a neighbor of the victims. He was in bed when heheard the first gunshot that night, according to his testimony. He stated that his cousin came andgot him out of bed and then he went to look out a window and was looking straight out at thealtercation. He stated he saw two women fighting on the ground. He identified the defendant incourt and stated she was on top of the victim. He further testified that two dudes broke up the

fight. He then observed Barbara Freeman go inside her apartment and saw this defendant andone of the other defendants leave going in the direction between the cut of the two apartmentbuildings. He also saw Larry Whittleslee get in his truck and drive away. Then he saw thisdefendant and the two co defendants come back from the same direction that two of them hadleft minutes before. He saw all three go inside Freemans apartment and about 5-10 minutes laterhe heard a gunshot and then observed all three run out of the apartment in the same order he sawthem go in. He, also, testified that the only weapon he saw was an assault rifle in co-defendantAlex Carters hands. He testified that while he didnt know these three defendants he wasacquainted with them from the neighborhood. On cross examination he acknowledged that his34 year old cousin, Terrance, also witnessed the entire incident as well. Also, on crossexamination he stated he saw the three defendants knock on the victims door but then pushed it

open and went inside. On cross examination he also acknowledged that he did originally tell thepolice that he did not know the defendants.

Birmingham Police Officer Michael Burnett testified that he and Birmingham Police OfficerHarville were the first officers on the scene. They testified that they first spoke with the lady inthe upstairs apartment (Marsha Jackson) who asked her to check on Freeman downstairs. Firstthey went to the front door and then went around to the back door (which is where the testimonyindicated that the defendants had entered). At the back door they noted that the keys were in the

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lock and the door was slightly open. They were able to push the door open and immediately sawthe victim laying face down in the doorway between the kitchen and the living area of theapartment. Officer Burnett testified that he saw blood on the screen door of the apartment. Undercross examination he testified that he found the apartment to have been in disarray as if a fighthad occurred.

Birmingham Police Detective Talana Brown testified that she was the investigator in charge ofthis case. She testified that she went to the scene that night with a team of other investigatorswho assist each other in the investigation of homicides. She testified that the location of thehomicide was in the Birmingham Division of Jefferson County. She testified that during thecourse of her investigation she was able to rule out Larry Whittleslee as a suspect by forensiccomparison of the weapon possessed by Whittleslee and the projectile fragments taken from thevictims body. She also testified that within hours of beginning her investigation she developedthe three charged defendants as suspects in the death of Barbara Freeman. She also learned thatthe three defendants lived within blocks of the victim. Under cross examination she testified thatshe did put Larry Whittleslee in custody for 48 hours as she sorted through the evidence.Detective Brown testified that she had located Whittleslee at Princeton Hospital where he wasbeing treated for a knife wound to his finger that he stated was caused by the victim as he wastrying to break up the fight between her and the defendant. While at the hospital he had placed a911 call to the Birmingham Police to report his injury. However, he did give a false nameduring that call. A search of his truck revealed a Highpoint .380 caliber pistol and some darkclothing. (The witnesses described the suspects as wearing dark clothing.) Detective Brownacknowledged conducting several photo line ups for witnesses in this case; some involved photosof the suspects and some did not. Contrary to the previous scene witnesses testimony, DetectiveBrown also acknowledged that she did observe the victims pick up truck parked at her back dooron the night of the incident.

Roxanne Murray, Birmingham Police Crime Scene technician testified that she processed the

scene for evidence. She took photographs and collected items some of which were latercompared by forensic scientists. Collected in the area where the witnesses described the initialfight between this defendant and Barbara Freeman were a knife with a purple handle, a strand ofhair, a broken piece of glass and a .380 caliber shell casing. Inside the apartment she found nospent shell casings. On cross examination she testified that she did attempt to locate prints fromthe broken glass but found none. She did not swab the glass for blood typing nor did sheswab the knife.

Marsha Jackson, a friend and upstairs neighbor of the victim, testified that she was told by herdaughter that there was a fight out in the back of their apartment. She testified she looked outand saw two females fighting. She knew Barbara Freeman and knew of Katrina Porter. When

she started watching she saw Porter pulling Freeman by the hair. She testified that then Portersbrother, Kevin Porter, joined in and starting fighting the victim as well. Then she heard LarryWhittleslee tell the women to stop. She did not see or hear Whittleslee fire a weapon. She thensaw the Porters leave through the same cut as described by the other witnesses. At about thesame time she observed the victim being pushed into her apartment by Larry Whittleslee. Shestated that this happened around 11 pm or midnight. She identified Katrina Porter as the otherfemale involved in the fight with Barbara Freeman. She stated she was an acquaintance ofKatrina Porter but was not a close friend. Once inside the apartment she heard the victim

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screaming. She heard Larry Whittleslee scream that he had been cut and she saw him get in histruck and left. The next thing she heard was the victim yelling: Who is this? And then she heardthe defendant Katrina Porter say: Im the bitch that just whooped your ass. She then heardnoises that sounded to her like a fight and then heard a loud pop. She testified she assumed itwas a gunshot. She called 911 for the second time. Per her testimony she also tried to reach the

victim by phone but got no answer. She testified the police came to the front of the apartmentsand she directed them to come around to the back. When she went to meet the police at the frontof the building she did not see Larry Whittleslee or his truck. On cross examination she admittedthat her first statement to the police on the night/early morning of the incident was mostly lies asshe was fearful of the defendants. She stated she eventually told the truth to a police officer thatshe knew because she was a snitch for him-provided him information concerning drug activityin her neighborhood. Under cross examination she also acknowledged that after the fight in theback of the apartments she heard Barbara say to Larry: I already got my ass whipped. You justgo on back to your babys momma. On cross this witness admitted that she had told a variety ofdifferent versions of what she witnessed that night.

Mitch Rector, a Birmingham Police Department Firearms Examiner, testified that he examinedthe Highpoint .380 found in Whittleslees truck, the .380 caliber shell casing found outside theapartment and the fragments taken from the body of Barbara Freeman. In his opinion the shellcasing was fired from the Highpoint .380 caliber semi automatic handgun but the fragmentsrecovered from the victims body was not fired from that gun. Under cross examination hetestified that those fragments could have been fired from an assault rifle but were more thanlikely fired from a handgun.

Dr. Gary Simmons with the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiners Office performed theautopsy on the victim. In his opinion her cause of death was the result of a gunshot wound to theback of her head. He also testified that she suffered from a variety of injuries to her face thatwere indicative of a beating some time before her death. He also testified that her Blood Alcohol

Level at the time of her death was .24. Under cross examination he stated that in comparing herBlood Alcohol Level with her Vitreous level he could tell that her alcohol level was going downat the time of her death.

The state rested its case after Dr. Simmons testified. The Defendant made a Motion for Judgmentof Acquittal which was denied by this Court. The Defense then rested. The jury was charged, thealternates released, and the twelve jurors began their deliberations. After an evening recess thefollowing morning the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of Capital Murder.While waiting on the defendants Mitigation Expert to arrive from Tuscaloosa the parties enteredinto an agreement that the sentence would be Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility ofParole. This Court accepted that agreement and then and there imposed said sentence.

Based on the above it is the Judgment and the Sentence of the Court that the defendant besentenced to Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility of Parole. All costs of court are retaxed.Restitution is reserved.

DONE this 24th day of April, 2014.

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/s/ LAURA PETRO

CIRCUIT JUDGE

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Katrina Porter Sentencing Order