On April 8, 1992, Sidney Dean Porter viciously murdered Officer Frank Ward of the John Day (Ore.) Police Department. Although Porter was sentenced to life in prison, a recent appellate court ruling led to Porter being given the opportunity to apply for parole.
In late May of this year, I learned that Porter was due to be released on parole, and wrote a column giving instructions on how Police1 Members might voice their disagreement about that decision.
Thanks in part to your efforts, the parole for Porter was temporarily rescinded, pending an additional hearing about the matter by the Parole Board.
Here We Go Again
Well, that date has come. A new parole hearing is set for two weeks from today on Monday, September 30.
In the past couple of days, I’ve been in phone and email contact with my friend Eric Bunday, a Sergeant with the Hillsboro (Ore.) Police Department and a vice president for the Oregon Fallen Badge Foundation. Bunday is one of the people behind the effort to prevent parole for Sidney Porter.
“We need your help again in keeping Sidney Dean Porter in prison for the murder of John Day Police Department Officer Frank Ward,” Bunday told me.
“We’re asking that you voice your opposition to the parole of Sidney Dean Porter by writing an email to the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision by Monday, September 23,” Bunday added.
As he did before, Bunday furnished us with a few versions of a template letter to use as a basis for your own personally worded emails.
Send your email message to: bppps.webmaster@doc.state.or.us and make your subject line read “SID#7430532, PORTER, Sidney Dean.”
We did this once before. We can do it again.
Dear Members of the Board,
I am writing to you today as you consider whether or not to grant parole to Sidney Dean Porter, who is presently serving a life sentence for the murder of John Day Police Department Officer Frank Ward - End of Watch: April 8, 1992. I ask you to carefully consider all evidence presented before you. I further ask that you consider that Sidney Dean Porter sentenced the family of Frank Ward to a life sentence for which there is no parole when he murdered Officer Ward, and I ask that you bear this in mind and deny Sidney Dean Porter parole from the life sentence he was given by a court of law in the interests of justice for Officer Ward and his family.
Sincerely,
Send your emails, and stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted in this space.
