TAMPA - The parents of Jennifer Porter will speak with prosecutors today about their daughter's role in a fatal hit-and-run accident, their attorney said late Wednesday.
"We are going to respond to the subpoena," said attorney Barry Cohen, who now represents Jennifer Porter and her parents.
Asked whether he would put any limitations on their answers, Cohen said, "We'll see what the questions are. We intend to respond truthfully and fully."
His remarks came hours after prosecutors met with another witness who talked about what happened in the Porter home on the night of the accident that killed two young boys and injured two of their siblings.
Kurt Doiron, 24, the boyfriend of Jennifer Porter's 23-year-old sister, Kelly, spent part of Wednesday answering prosecutors' questions, said his lawyer, Tracy Sheehan.
Doiron lives with the Porters in their Land O'Lakes home and was there on March 31, the night of the accident. Investigators thought Doiron could offer prosecutors an avenue around the refusal by Jennifer Porter and her parents to answer questions.
Under threat of jail, the parents - James and Lillian Porter - agreed Tuesday to answer questions about the case. But later in the day, they dropped their lawyer, Ralph Fernandez, and opted to be represented by their daughter's attorney, Cohen.
Cohen moved aggressively to take control of his new clients' situation Wednesday. He began raising questions about Hillsborough Judge Walter Heinrich, who still could hold the parents in contempt of court if they fail to cooperate.
Records sought
Heinrich was elected as a county court judge, but he performs some duties of a higher ranking circuit court judge. He handles bond motions, first appearances and emergency court hearings involving matters - such as the Jennifer Porter case - in which formal charges have not been filed. It's a role that Heinrich has filled since the late 1980s.
Cohen filed a public records request at the Hillsborough courthouse asking for the administrative orders that appoint county judges to perform these circuit court duties.
The move could presage an effort to have Heinrich removed from the case.
A new witness
Investigators say telephone records show Porter called home by cell phone soon after the March 31 crash on N 22nd Street that killed brothers Bryant Wilkins, 13, and Durontae Caldwell, 3, and injured two siblings.
Doiron was at the home, according to Sheehan, his lawyer. She said prosecutors from the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office questioned him Wednesday morning under subpoena, but she declined to specify what he said. His questioning is not over.
"We didn't conclude the interview, due to time constraints," Sheehan said. "We will conclude later in the week."
Sheehan's account could help clarify what Porter and her parents did and said in the aftermath of the crash.
Meeting with prosecutors
Investigators still hope the parents will tell them what happened the night of the accident. They are scheduled to appear before prosecutors at 9 this morning.
On Tuesday, Fernandez, their lawyer at the time, told Judge Heinrich the parents would answer questions, suggesting that they feared their daughter might not "survive the ordeal" if they were jailed for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
The parents turned to Fernandez last week at the referral of Cohen, on the apparent grounds that it would be a conflict for Cohen to represent both Porter and potential witnesses against her.
But by late Tuesday, Fernandez had left the case over what he calls a disagreement with Cohen, and all the Porters were under Cohen's wing.
"I had reached an agreement with the state I thought was fair and honorable," Fernandez said, referring to the parents' decision to answer questions. "I could not shift gears to a new plan after I had represented the position as I had done."
Fernandez declined to elaborate.
A different strategy
While Cohen said late Wednesday that he is willing to let the parents talk, he previously has used a different strategy.
In the 1980s, he represented longtime Hillsborough State Attorney E.J. Salcines in a case-fixing investigation.
Called to testify before a grand jury, Salcines' decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination led to his defeat as state attorney, even though he was never indicted in the case.
Cohen said later that he persuaded Salcines not to talk.
"We knew it was a political risk to take the Fifth," Cohen said after Salcines was appointed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in 1998. "But (the prosecutor was) a very smart guy, and my judgment was not to give him any ammo to shoot us with."
Today, if the Porters don't answer questions they will be left in the same bind they faced last week: Give evidence against their daughter, or face jail.
"The State Attorney wants their statement, they don't want to give their statement, and they're looking at the possibility of jail," said defense attorney J. Larry Hart, who has watched the case closely. "That's where we stood last Friday."
Why would Cohen choose to represent Jennifer Porter and her parents?
Steve Crawford, a former federal prosecutor, said defense attorneys like to have as much control as possible over the circumstances that might affect their client. If the parents have another lawyer, they would represent an X-factor, leaving it uncertain what they might say to investigators and when they might say it, he said. The prosecutors, however, could argue that it is a conflict for Cohen to represent Porter and her parents. How can he adequately advise the parents when he knows that if they say anything to investigators it could harm his other client? they could argue.
If they make this argument, a judge could ask Porter and her parents whether they understand that their lawyer might have to balance their competing interests. They could waive any potential conflicts.
Even if they do, the judge could find that the conflict is too great and force one of the parties to find another lawyer. This could be appealed, which would delay the case.
Cohen faced a similar scenario before. Federal prosecutors moved for separate defense counsel in the case against Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, accused of lying about the disappearance of their 5-month-old daughter, Sabrina. Observers speculated that it was part of the prosecutors' strategy to turn one of the parents against the other.
The Aisenbergs waived the conflict, and the judge eventually agreed to let Cohen and his law firm represent both of them.
A year later, the prosecutors' case crumbled after a federal magistrate judge questioned the government's evidence and the way law enforcement went about collecting it.
- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com
