Louisiana lawyer sues People magazine over story about his wife's cold-case slaying
A Louisiana lawyer is suing People magazine over a story he alleges falsely portrays him as his late wife’s killer.
Baton Rouge attorney Joel Porter is seeking damages for emotional distress and for the harm he says that the story and a related live Internet broadcast caused to his personal and professional reputation, the Advocate reports.
In his suit, filed Friday in the 19th Judicial District Court, Porter says the story should not have focused exclusively on him as, “by sheer virtue of his marriage to Denise Porter, the only individual who could have possibly had a motive to kill his wife.”
He also contends that the magazine ignored evidence that DNA recovered from the crime scene did not match his; that he had an alibi for the time his wife, Denise Porter, was stabbed to death; and that his wife had multiple extramarital affairs. More details about the forensic evidence in the case can be found in this earlier article by the Advocate.
The People magazine story, published Jan. 5, 2015, recounts details of the unsolved 1985 murder and a decision by a detective with the Baton Rouge Police Department to re-open the case.
Porter says the magazine never spoke to him or anyone connected with him to find out how he felt about the re-opening of the case. He also says he rejected an offer by the state Attorney General’s Office to close the case, “making it abundantly clear that his desire was that the case remain open until the killer of his wife was brought to justice.”
The suit, which also names journalists Steve Helling and Anne Lang as defendants, claims the story was “reckless, irresponsible, outrageous and brazen conduct and outright journalistic failure.”
Neither Porter nor officials at Time Inc., People’s parent company, could be reached for comment, the Advocate says.