Man convicted of murdering a close friend in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH

On Aug. 8, 2006, Damon Boone was chased down and shot again and again by a man who was supposed to be a close friend. On Monday, a jury found David L. Porter guilty of first-degree murder for that crime.

The shooting had started on Lexington Drive in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and ended where the 24-year-old victim finally fell in the street near a neighborhood store on Deep Creek Boulevard.

Debbie Mizzell testified she heard the shots that night and told her children to get down on the floor. They called 911 and she went outside to help the man left bleeding in the street.

She knew Boone, she said.

"We prayed and I just kept talking to him and told him to think about his daughter," she said.

Police Officer James Lowe got to Boone before he lost consciousness, too. The policeman testified he knelt down, asked who had shot him and Boone answered, "D.L."

Boone's sister, Shana, testified that "D.L." was the name her brother used for Porter and it was only name she had ever known him by.

The jury heard from several jail inmates who came forward to tell police and prosecutors what they knew or what Porter told them about the crime. One said Porter told him he did it because Boone was a snitch and some people paid him to do it.

Porter's defense attorney, Gregory Matthews, argued there was no physical evidence linking his client to the shooting, and he questioned the credibility of the inmates who testified against him.

The jury recommended a

30-year sentence and a $30,000 fine on the murder charge and three years for use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

S entencing is scheduled for April 3.

Janie Bryant, (757) 446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com