BOSTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts prisoner convicted of two 1960s murders who escaped and spent 20 years on the lam has been denied parole, officials say.
The Massachusetts Parole Board said Tuesday it had turned down a request by Norman Porter Jr., 69, to be released, despite the support of some prison officials and members of a Chicago church congregation, The Boston Globe reported.
The newspaper said parole board members contended Porter had shown only "limited remorse" for his victims and "continues to minimize his criminal activity."
"While several witnesses in support noted his capability of kind and generous acts towards others, Mr. Porter has an extensive criminal history," the board wrote. "He has demonstrated a pattern of poor judgment in his continued attempts to flee from his responsibility to the laws of society."
The Globe said Porter was convicted of the 1960 slaying of Saugus, Mass., clothing store clerk John Pigott, 22, and the 1961 murder of jailer David Robinson Sr., 53, who was killed when Porter and another inmate broke out of the East Cambridge, Mass., jail.
Porter escaped again in 1985 and remained a fugitive until Massachusetts authorities captured him in March 2005 in Chicago, the newspaper said.
