College Hill family needs help to keep father's killers behind bars

CINCINNATI - A College Hill family is on a mission for justice this week, and they need your help. They're determined to keep the men who killed their father in prison.

Otis Taylor and Edorus Franklin shot and killed Joseph Porter on May 26, 1994, after robbing him of $50 and a plastic watch.

Porter's daughter, Jaren Finney, recalled the night her father was murdered on Monday, with friends and family by her side.

She said the pair killed him "execution-style," shooting him twice in the back of the head in Cincinnati. They then drove his body to Covington, Ky., put him in a parking lot at a Firestone gas station, propping him up in the car. His body was discovered the next morning by police.

Finney said then 17-year-old Edorus Franklin worked for her father's construction company.

"My father went to go pick him up from work, and he was held at gunpoint," Finney said.  "That's when they took him to the ATM machine, and my dad tried to enter the wrong pin number to set off a code or warning and it didn't, so they took him to several."

At one machine, Porter withdrew $50. 

"In the picture, Edorus was standing behind my dad, with a gun pointed at his back," Finney said.  "And I never will forget my dad in the picture was crying, and he was shaking with trauma in his face."

Franklin was later found by police wearing Porter's watch. Taylor went on to rob a bike and video games from another person before he was caught by police.

The judge sentenced both men to 15 years to life behind bars, with a chance for parole. This is the third time the men have been up for parole.

"These guys are known to be killers," Finney said.  "They already had a juvenile record -- in and out of the system. And to be honest they have not been rehabilitated."

Otis Taylor's parole hearing is this Friday, and Edorus Franklin's hearing is July 23.

"It's so important for them to stay there because they killed a good man," Finney said.  "A good father, a good husband to my mother, a good son. He was very active in the community. He was an activist --a youth activist.  He worked with kids. He always gave back."

Finney said you can help by going to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office's "Parole Watch" and leaving your own comments about Franklin and Taylor's upcoming parole hearings. The comments will be sent to the parole board.