Porter’s mom: My son can’t read

Kim Smith

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

Day in and day out, Angela Smith Porter Prevost has been sitting in court watching witness after witness accuse her "baby" of horrendous acts.

Sometimes she sits quietly. Other times, she leaves the courtroom in tears.

On Thursday, Prevost couldn't hold it in any longer. She had to say what was on her mind.

Her son, Justin Porter, 17, can't read, she says. So how is it, she asks, that police say he read his Miranda warnings, signed the card and implicated himself in at least half a dozen rapes and home invasions?

"As God is my witness, if he's reading at a third grade level he's doing good," Prevost said. "But I bet he's at kindergarten level. I've paid all kinds of tutors to get his level up, but he's got all kinds of disabilities."

Prevost said she isn't saying her youngest child is innocent. Nor is she saying he's guilty. She's just saying she wants her son to be treated fairly.

"Every night I pray to God asking for fairness," Prevost said.

Porter is in the middle of a preliminary hearing on 57 counts stemming from 13 home invasions, six sexual assaults and one slaying. He was arrested in August after DNA reportedly linked him to at least two sexual assaults.

According to court testimony, Las Vegas detectives flew to Chicago to interview Porter while he was visiting his father.

The detectives who spoke to Porter told Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle that Porter read and waived his Miranda rights during a "pre-interview" that took place prior to a tape-recorded interview.

It is Oesterle who must decide if there's enough evidence to take Porter to trial.

With such a low reading level, Prevost said she doubts her son can read anything.

Prevost said she and her family moved to Las Vegas two years ago because of her failing health, but she had hoped that with smaller classrooms her son would finally get the help he needs.

She was continually told, she said, that because Porter wasn't a behavioral problem, no one had the time to help him.

The only reason he was placed in the ninth grade last year was because of his size and age, Prevost said. He eventually dropped out because of his embarrassment over his reading skills, she said.

Before he went to Chicago though, Prevost said he had promised to go back to school.

Prevost said she doesn't know what happened in Chicago after her son's arrest. She only knows her son told her he was frightened of the police.

"Justin is a sheltered child," Prevost said. "He's never been away from his momma or daddy, and Justin is going to do what you tell him to do."

Prevost, who has four other children and eight grandchildren, said the fact her child is accused of such violence is incomprehensible to her. She described Justin as an affectionate child who is a follower and not a leader.

While he was placed on six months probation late last year for possession of a stolen vehicle, Prevost said another person actually stole the car. Justin just happened to be driving it when the police pulled them over, she said.

"I know Justin. He was brought up in the church. He knows the difference between right and wrong, and he knows what a sin is," Prevost said.

No matter what Oesterle decides, Prevost said she will be there for her son.

"I can't turn my back on him. If I did, I'd be an unfit mother," Prevost said.