Providence man sentenced to life in prison after retrial for murder of 17-year-old girl over a decade ago

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Providence man was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty during a retrial of the 2011 murder of a 17-year-old girl.

Leron Porter, 42, was sentenced to consecutive life sentences earlier this week for the murder of Tiphany Tallo and discharging a firearm when committing a crime of violence resulting in death.

Porter was found guilty of the murder following a trial in October of 2022.

According to court documents, Porter and several family members confronted Tallo’s sister at a home on Spruce Street on May 9, 2011.

After getting there, Porter’s sister got in a fight with Tallo’s sister and Porter’s family members stabbed Tallo’s sister with a knife and beat her with a wooden bat, according to prosecutors.

When Tiphany went to help her sister, Porter shot her in the chest. Porter and his family then fled the scene and Tallo died a few hours later at the hospital.

“Just 17-years-old when she was senselessly murdered by this defendant, she had her whole life ahead of her,” Neronha said. “In some ways, it is unfathomable how a petty dispute could lead to a melee that ends with a child being shot in the chest.”

“Yet, given the widespread availability of guns and the belief among many that solutions to problems can be found with such weapons, perhaps it is not,” Neronha added.

Porter was previously convicted in court for the murder and was sentence on March 6, 2014 to consecutive life sentences at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Last year, on May 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ordered that Porter’s conviction be retried in State court within 90 days.

Neronha said the State followed the First Circuit’s decision and retried Porter for murder on Oct. 4, where he was found guilty.