Murder Case Hearing Continues

In the second day of a pretrial hearing on Friday, the prosecution continued efforts to show that a Harvard graduate student was not suffering from psychological distress when he made statements to the police the morning following his alleged murder of a local teenager last April.

The hearing on defense attorney Jeffrey A. Denner’s motion to suppress the statements made by Alexander Pring-Wilson in the hours after the alleged murder will resume for its third—and likely final—day tomorrow.

Pring-Wilson, a student at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the time of his arrest, is charged with stabbing 18-year-old Michael D. Colono to death on April 12, 2003 after an early morning altercation outside of Pizza Ring, a local pizza parlor on Western Ave.

On Feb. 23, Denner filed a motion in Middlesex Superior Court claiming Pring-Wilson was suffering from a concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of his arrest, and therefore the statements his client made to police and friends “were not knowing, intelligent or voluntary,” which any such statement must be in order to be admitted as evidence.

Police dispatchers testified on Thursday that Pring-Wilson denied murdering Colono in a 911 call at 1:50 a.m. the night of the incident, and said Friday that Pring-Wilson also denied the stabbing when he spoke to police later that morning. Denner has argued that his client stabbed Colono in self-defense.

On Friday, Trooper Brian Canavan of the Mass. State Police Department testified that he went with his partner to Pring-Wilson’s Somerville home at around 6:45 a.m. the day of the stabbing in order to bring him to the Cambridge police station for questioning.

Canavan said that Pring-Wilson was read his Miranda rights—including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney, which officers must read to suspects under questioning—before questioning began, and he signed a form waiving those rights.

On cross-examination, Canavan testified that Pring-Wilson behaved normally at his home, in the police car and during interrogation.

“He wasn’t shaking or anything like that,” Canavan said, adding that Pring-Wilson stated he had a headache, but did not seem confused or scared.

Denner’s motion argues that Pring-Wilson was unable to think clearly after the fight because he was suffering from punches and kicks to the head, and from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Medical personnel testified on Thursday that Pring-Wilson did not seem to be injured or behaving abnormally during the afternoons of April 12 and 13, 2003.

Canavan said that Pring-Wilson was cooperative during the approximately 25 minutes it took him to relate “the story that we now know to be not accurate” of the previous night’s events.

“He kept telling us that he was really drunk last night, he kept apologizing to us,” Canavan said.

After Canavan, Cambridge Police Department Sgt. John Fulkerson testified about his role in Pring-Wilson’s interrogation.

Fulkerson said that he entered the conference room, told Pring-Wilson that Colono was dead and told him the case was being treated as a murder investigation.

Canavan said that Pring-Wilson then admitted his initial story had been false.

“He conveyed that he was less than truthful,” Canavan said.

Fulkerson said that after he told Pring-Wilson that the investigation had become a murder case, Pring-Wilson called his attorney and questioning ended.

Fulkerson said that he arrested Pring-Wilson soon after.

On Feb. 24, Denner filed a motion to move the trial to western Massachusetts, claiming that a Cambridge jury is likely to be biased because of the case’s extensive media coverage.

Judge Charles M. Grabau said yesterday he will hear arguments on the motion for change of venue after he rules on the motion to suppress evidence.

—Staff writer Joshua D. Gottlieb can be reached at jdgottl@fas.harvard.edu.