Three arraigned in county homicides

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 20, 2000

Three Warren County residents, including one man charged in the July death of two Texas children, were arraigned on homicide charges Thursday after being indicted by the Warren County grand jury.

The charge in one of the indictments made public Thursday said that David Drew Porter, 4701 Bovina Cut-Off Road, negligently committed an action that led to the deaths of Thalia Tarango, 11, and her brother, Anthony Tarango, 6, on July 2 on Interstate 20.

Porter was identified as the driver of a Dodge pickup that hit the family’s van in which the children were sleeping. The van was pulled off the road.

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Porter, 34, waived his right to be arraigned today in Warren County Circuit Court and pleaded innocent to the two counts of manslaughter. A civil case is pending in the same wreck. It seeks money from a Jackson bar where Porter is said to have been drinking.

In the two other homicide cases, police say one stemmed from a domestic dispute and the other started as aggravated assault.

Anthony Green, 54, was indicted on murder charges in the July 28 stabbing death of his wife. He pleaded innocent Thursday.

Debora Johnson Green, who was 31, was found dead at 1910 Sky Farm Ave., the home she shared with her husband and three children.

Green was arrested by Vicksburg police while he was being treated at a Jackson hospital for stab wounds he sustained the morning his wife died. He told investigators during the initial interview that his wife inflicted the wounds.

In the third case, Vicksburg resident Dock Davis Jr., 1512 South St., was arraigned on charges of manslaughter. He also entered a plea of innocent.

The 19-year-old Davis was arrested Aug. 26 and initially charged with aggravated assault after 37-year-old Bobby Pinkney, 913 China St., was beaten with a metal pipe at The Smoke Break at Cherry and Clay streets.

After Pinkney died the next day, the charges against Davis were upgraded to manslaughter.

Green and Davis both remain in the Warren County Jail.

Porter has been free on a first-offenders bond since July 6, which means the 10 percent he was required to post, $10,000 of the set $100,000 bond, will be returned to him if he appears in court when scheduled. Porter hopes to use the money to help the children’s family, an attorney for Porter said.

District Attorney Gil Martin would not release the results of the blood-alcohol tests performed on Porter after the wreck, but he said Thursday the results showed he was over the legal limit. A reading of .10 or higher is considered legally intoxicated.

In the suit filed in Warren County Circuit Court, the family of the children who died say George Street Grocery continued to serve Porter alcohol after he became intoxicated and before he began the drive back to Vicksburg.

The family is asking for damages to recover medical expenses and for pain and suffering.

If convicted of manslaughter, Porter could face up to 40 years in prison. His case is set to go to trial Dec. 4.