Porter trial update: Witness says he rebuked Porter for comment about Frank Craig
Posted on Mon, Jun. 09, 2008
By SUSAN HERENDEEN
When former pastor Howard "Doug" Porter suggested that a long-awaited agricultural museum would be easier to build if its benefactor were out of the picture, at least one church elder thought his comment was out of line.
Gary Kuhlman, a pastor who formerly belonged to a board that governed the Hickman Community Church, recalled his reaction as he testified this afternoon during a murder trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
"There was a statement, made by Doug, that it would be easier or better if Mr. Craig wasn't around," he said, noting that the April 21, 2004 comment came at the close of a business meeting in which Porter was casually questioned about progress on five-year-old museum plans.
"My response was, just be careful, and don't go there," he continued. "That's not a good thing to say."
The next day, elderly rancher Frank Craig, who dreamed of using a $2 million inheritance to build a museum to showcase farm equipment collected over decades, drowned in the Ceres Main Canal near his home.
And Porter, who spoke to Kuhlman along the canal banks, said he lost control of Craig's GMC pickup truck because some paperwork fell on the floor, prompting him to turn the wheel and get caught up on some rocks that pushed him off course.
Craig died that afternoon, April 22, 2004, in the second of two crashes in which Porter was at the wheel. The elderly man had been crippled in a March 5, 2002 crash in which Porter veered off Lake Road, slamming his Toyota Tundra into a tree.
The authorities allege that Porter embezzled at least $1.1 million of the money Craig wanted to spend on the museum, then staged both wrecks to cover his tracks.
Porter, 57, of La Grange is charged with murder, attempted murder, theft or embezzlement from an elder by a caretaker and elder abuse causing death. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial resumes Wednesday, when Kuhlman returns to the witness stand.
To comment, click on the link with this story at www.modbee.com. Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at sherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.
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