By Adam Silverman
Free Press Staff Writer

November 22, 2006
Calmly and courteously answering a judge's questions "yes, Your Honor," "no, sir," and, most important, "guilty," three siblings and a close friend admitted their roles Tuesday in the near-fatal beating of a Winooski man last year.

Emily Linso, Liberty Porta, Morningstar Porta and Roy Porta faced charges of attempted second-degree murder stemming from the June 28, 2005, attack on former roommate Seth Randall. All but Morningstar Porta also had been charged with first-degree aggravated domestic assault in connection with another incident involving Randall two weeks earlier.

The four suspects accepted plea bargains Tuesday in exchange for reduced charges and sentences that mean all likely will be free in less than three years. Linso, 23; Liberty Porta, 22; and Roy Porta, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault; Morningstar Porta, 26, admitted one count of the same crime.

The plea bargains reduced the amount of time the suspects could have been jailed; the attempted-murder charge carries a penalty of 20 years to life.

"You're all very fortunate that this man wasn't killed," Judge Michael Kupersmith told the defendants during hearings in Vermont District Court in Burlington.

Linso and the Portas told police they attacked Randall, 25, whom Liberty Porta had been dating, because they believed he had sexually assaulted a young female relative. Police investigated and did not bring charges, but prosecutor Justin Jiron told Kupersmith the suspects had a "reasonable belief" that Randall did assault the girl.

In an interview after the four separate hearings ended midafternoon, Jiron said a police file involving the sexual-assault allegations remains open. Randall, meanwhile, who recovered from severe injuries, is serving a jail term on an unrelated burglary conviction.

The allegation against Randall was among factors Jiron cited as rationale for making the plea bargains.

"A jury might find the defendant sympathetic and not find the victim sympathetic," Jiron said in court.

Jiron also cited the suspects' lack of convictions for major crimes, and problems with police interrogation techniques that were likely to have prevented all or part of their confessions from being used at trial, as weaknesses in the prosecution's case.

The Porta siblings and Linso admitted they assaulted Randall in the Winooski apartment all but Morningstar Porta shared. The attack included pouring boiling water on Randall, beating him severely, striking him with a hammer, pouring salt on his wounds and abandoning him afterward by a roadside in Johnson.

The prison sentences are:

-- Linso, three to seven years.

-- Liberty Porta, three years and nine months to 10 years.

-- Morningstar Porta, two years and three months to eight years.

-- Roy Porta, two years and six months to seven years.

The four are likely to be released after their minimum terms minus credit for jail time they have served since their arrests shortly after the attack. They will be on state supervision for the remainder of their sentences.

Kupersmith told the siblings and Linso, regardless of whether they believed the attack was justified, they had no business acting as vigilantes.

"There's a great danger when people take the law into their own hands, as you folks did," the judge chided. "This is a very disturbing case in many ways."

Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverm@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com