Hearing for man accused of killing wife moved to next week
The man accused of stabbing his wife to death in January returns to court for a preliminary exam in early March, according to court records.
Jean-Pierre Trias
Courtesy of the WCSO
Jean-Pierre Trias, 44, is charged with open murder for allegedly killing Katherine Porter, 53, sometime before police responded to their home in the 4700 block of Hickory Pointe Boulevard on Jan. 11. Trias’ next court hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 5 for a preliminary exam, records show.
Trias is lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail without bond while the case is pending. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A preliminary exam originally was scheduled for Feb. 19, but that was adjourned before the hearing.
According to police, Trias stabbed Porter multiple times in the couple’s home. It’s unknown if there was a history of domestic violence in the relationship. The couple was married since August 1995 but Trias filed for divorce in November 2010, according to court documents. The couple reconciled and the case was dismissed.
Katherine Porter
File photo
Trias is a former part-time lecturer/adjunct faculty member at Eastern Michigan University. He worked on and off at the school from September 2003 until Dec. 31 in the mathematics department.
According to university officials, Trias also worked as a coordinator of math tutoring and testing services part-time and was a graduate assistant.
Porter worked for 13 years at Advantage Computing Systems as a senior systems analyst.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
BhavanaJagat
Sat, Mar 2, 2013 : 9:35 p.m.
Mr. JP of my Consciousness: This man accused of killing his wife exists in my consciousness as Mr. JP of EMU's Mathematics Department. My wife and son who worship at a local Catholic Church have been praying all the time after we read this story about his imprisonment. I am not saying that it is not painful to the friends, associates, and family members of his wife who lost her life due to a murderous attack. The caption of this news story does not use the term 'former EMU employee'. However, I am not yet ready to separate him from his former employment which has given us the opportunity to know him as a human being. We offer our prayers and I am most hopeful that his attorney, or a relative may communicate our concern for his well-being when they next meet him.
Ann23
Sun, Mar 3, 2013 : 8:35 a.m.
I believe his attorney is Joseph Simon, a respectable man and good attorney as far as I remember. While I agree that all human beings are valuable and we should try to understand others and JP has not been convicted and his murdering Kathie is only alleged at this point, I also think that society needs to accept the fact that people who appear to be 'good' on the surface are capable of committing significant violence and abuse. If you have ever looked at the permanently scarred face of an infant and then read about how the person who did it to the baby made excuses and lies about how the burns happened (while admitting they caused the burns), and read the excuses the perpetrator's friends and family believed and touted and their unshakable defense of the perpetrator, including the infant's own mother, mainly that he is such a good guy and could never do such a thing, while knowing how deep the wounds actually went and that the perpetrator's excuses could never explain them and that these were not the first serious injuries caused to the child, you know that people who are human and are good in some ways are also capable of doing very harmful things to others. And, in my opinion, even though they are human and valuable, they should be prevented from ever causing such harm again.