During the predawn hours of November 15, 2004, 52 year old Peter Porco and his wife Joan were attacked in their bed with an axe in the Albany, NY, suburb of Bethlehem. Mr. Porco died; Mrs. Porco managed to survive, though terribly disfigured and suffering permanent injuries.

Yesterday afternoon, at the end of the most sensational case and trial in a long time in upstate New York, their son Christopher Porco was found guilty of the murder of his father and attempted murder of his mother, who - mercifully - has no recollection of the attack.

This case is a terrible tragedy for everyone concerned, with plenty of "collateral damage" inflicted both by circumstance and by the actions of the defense team. Seeking a scapegoat, the defense attacked the Bethlehem police department and particularly one detective who worked the case and conveniently - for them - died during the investigation. It was not long before that detective in particular became the corrupt, manipulative and vengeful bad cop, and his family along with his memory were tarnished in the news - pretty much constantly.

Well, they got an intelligent jury who looked at the evidence - which was in fact the result of an outstanding investigation by the Bethlehem cops and the New York State Police and their amazing forensic team - and not only found Porco guilty, but vindicated the Bethlehem cops and gave their detectives, alive and deceased, their good names back. The circumstantial case that the cops and the Albany County DA's office put together is a textbook of intelligent detective work and thinking outside the box on occasion. Nice job.

The Albany Times_Union's coverage and summary of the case is pretty good, too, and includes the timeline put together by the prosecution that put the jury over the top. We did plenty of timeline cases in my detective days as well - they're a damn good way to turn a bunch of information into a compelling story.

Kudos to all the cops in this caper, and wishes for some sort of peace and hope for Mrs. Porco and her other son, Jonathan.