Judge Delays Rulings In Pretrial Hearing

A Middlesex Superior Court judge delayed his rulings on two motions in the case of a Harvard graduate student charged with murder at the conclusion of a pretrial hearing yesterday.

Judge Charles M. Grabau said that he would rule by the June 1 trial date on the defense’s motion—which claims that a Cambridge jury would be biased due to the case’s extensive media coverage—to move the trial of Alexander Pring-Wilson to western Massachusetts.

Grabau said he also needed more time to decide whether Pring-Wilson was suffering from mental and physical trauma when he made statements to the police after allegedly stabbing a local teenager last April.

On Feb. 23, defense attorney Jeffrey A. Denner filed a motion in Middlesex Superior Court claiming statements Pring-Wilson made to police and friends “were not knowing, intelligent or voluntary,” which any statement must be in order to be admitted as evidence.

After hearing 17 witnesses over the three-day hearing, Grabau said he was not ready to make a decision.

“He took it under advisement,” said Seth I. Horowitz, spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office. “It’s under review until he rules on it. There’s no set date by which he rules, but it’s usually not more than a few weeks.”

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

Denner has argued that his client stabbed Colono in self-defense.

MEDIA BIAS?

Though the defense is pushing for the trial’s relocation to Berkshire County, Grabau insinuated yesterday that the extensive media coverage that Denner claimed could bias a local jury.

During the second half of yesterday’s hearing, Kellyanne Conway, executive and CEO of The Polling Company, Inc., testified that a phone survey commissioned by the defense revealed that Middlesex County residents are more likely to have prejudices about the case.

She said her company surveyed 400 people per county in Middlesex, Suffolk, Lowell and Berkshire counties and found that media outlets in Berkshire County have not covered the case extensively—meaning potential jurors would have fewer preconceptions.

The survey showed that 47 percent of the 400 randomly-selected Middlesex residents reported they were familiar with the case, Conway said, compared to 21 percent in Berkshire County.

Conway noted the link between hearing about the case in the media and believing Pring-Wilson is guilty.

“Middlesex respondents were four and a half times more likely to believe the defendant is guilty,” Conway said.

But Grabau said he did not see why a polling expert was necessary for the change of venue motion.

“Why do I need assistance of an expert in a motion for a change of venue?” Grabau asked Denner.

“To help you see how in different counties what people have heard about the case and what opinions people have formed about the case,” Denner answered. “It’s a very valuable thing for the court to know whether a court can get a fair and impartial jury in Middlesex county.”

Grabau said that in past murder cases he has addressed potential juror bias by distributing a seven-page questionnaire to determine if the juror might have a prejudice in the case.

Denner said this questionnaire procedure was new to him.

“I have not had a murder case like that,” Denner said, adding that he would want that type of jury selection process to be guaranteed regardless of whether Grabau presides over the trial.

Grabau stressed that exposure to the media is not necessarily a problem for jurors.

“Jurors can reach impartial decisions even if they aren’t ignorant of the facts [of the case],” Grabau said.

In her cross-examination of Conway, Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Lynch said Middlesex County has a larger population than Berkshire county, creating a greater absolute number of unbiased potential jurors.

She added that the case has received substantial national attention, making the county of the trial less relevant.

In one of the hearing’s most tense moments, Grabau accused Denner of pandering to the media.

“Why is it that you can suggest a change in venue when you yourself gave the media more information?” Grabau asked Denner.

“It does not help your case, Mr. Denner, if you run to the media,” Grabau later said.

Lynch, who called Denner “a defense attorney who calculated an effort to spin a version of the case,” said she told Denner to stop appearing on television.

But Denner said he appeared on “Good Morning America”—one of several national shows which have covered the case—only after the show’s staff sought him out.

“The show told [the defense] they should appear in order to provide balance,” Denner said, because Colono’s family was also scheduled to appear on the show.

Cambridge Police Department Sergeant John Fulkerson, who also testified on Friday, provided evidence to support the claims of Lynch and Grabau that Denner had solicited the media attention.

Fulkerson said the defense distributed to the press copies of the motion to release Pring-Wilson on bail last April.

“They were being passed out to members of the media,” Fulkerson said. “I witnessed three full boxes...I took one myself.”

ON THE RECORD?

In the first half of yesterday’s hearing, Denner called three witnesses to testify to Pring-Wilson’s mental state and physical condition in the days surrounding his arrest.

In her closing argument, Lynch argued that there was nothing about Pring-Wilson’s behavior or physical condition that would indicate his statements on the night of the stabbing were “not knowing, intelligent or voluntary,” as Denner’s motion claimed.

Lynch said Pring-Wilson maintained control over what he said the night of the stabbing, and therefore he consciously lied to the police.

Denner’s motion argued 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.

During yesterday’s hearing, witnesses included a friend of Pring-Wilson’s who had spent time with him the night of the incident as well as Colono’s cousin and friend who witnessed the late-night altercation.

Jennifer Hansen, who identified herself as Pring-Wilson’s ex-girlfriend, said she had been drinking with Pring-Wilson the night of the incident.

She testified in great detail as to the number and type of drinks Pring-Wilson consumed as they went from a Somerville bar to a pub to The Western Front, a Cambridge club where they heard a reggae concert.

Hansen said Pring-Wilson did not appear to be seriously impaired by the alcohol.

“He was clearly intoxicated but he wasn’t stumbling or slurring,” she said. “He was happy, having a good time.”

Samuel Rodriguez, Colono’s cousin who was present and participated in the fight between Colono and Pring-Wilson, said he observed that Pring-Wilson was intoxicated and stumbling.

Rodriguez said the he landed one punch over the defendant’s left ear after he went to his cousin’s aid, and added that Pring-Wilson fell to the ground when he pulled him off Colono.

But he said Pring-Wilson wasn’t unconscious at any time during the fight, as Denner claimed in his motion.

Rodriguez’s girlfriend, Giselle Abreu, testified that Pring-Wilson did not appear to be injured in any way.

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.

Police and medical personnel also testified on Friday that Pring-Wilson did not exhibit abnormal behavior in the days following the altercation.

—Evan M. Vittor contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.