The Freedom Bulletin

Today I got to see Alexander Pring-Wilson finish his testimony. Not surprisingy, there were numerous reporters present in the courtroom, as well as a camera crew from Channel 7.

Adrienne Lynch, the prosecutor, cross examined Pring-Wilson for over two hours. First, she made a big deal out of the fact that he said he was punched in the nose and that he covered his head with his hands while he was being beaten, yet he had no injuries to his nose, hands, or forearms. He claimed, however, that he had cuts on his nose and on his finger, but admitted that he accidentally cut his finger with his knife.

Then Lynch asked Pring-Wilson why he stabbed the person in front of him if he was so concerned about being pounded in the back of the head. “I did what I had to do to get out from that experience,” he replied.

Lynch sarcastically asked Pring-Wilson if he remembered asking her to kneel down before him yesterday, referring to his exasperated request that she demonstrate how she thought he knelt when he was being attacked. The question was objected to, and the objection was sustained.

She also questioned him extensively about his testimony in the first trial, giving him a lengthy transcript from which to read and follow along, and focusing on his lies to police. Lynch also noted that Pring-Wilson’s estimate of how many concussions he had previously suffered increased from 10 to 12 from the first trial to the second. He replied that he was “not really sure” of the exact number. Additionally, she asked if he had “accused” the state police chemist of moving his knife to make it look like he had hidden it. “I’m not sure if I accused him, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened,” said Pring-Wilson. “There’s no other way it could have gotten there…I’m perfectly willing to believe that it was an accident and not an act of malice.”

Another point that Lynch raised was Pring-Wilson’s choice to wear his jeans and button-down shirt from the night of the fight to the police station, but not his flip flops and yellow raincoat, which she argued were more “distinctive” and therefore more recognizable. “I would also argue that raincoats are commonly worn by people when it’s raining,” he retorted.

Next, Lynch got Pring-Wilson to admit that he had carried a knife since the age of 12 but decided not to bring the knife to the police station. He explained that he didn’t bring the knife “for the same reason I think it’s inappropriate to take it to airports.”

After being asked about the forensic tests performed on his hands, Pring-Wilson replied that “Everything’s so jumbled after going through this whole process twice.” Lynch theorized that Pring-Wilson’s left hand appeared dirtier than his right in a police photograph because Rodriguez knocked him to the ground after he stabbed Colono, and he broke his fall with his left hand while holding the knife in his right. “I don’t ever recall falling with my knife in my hand,” he replied.

Next, Lynch called attention to a piece of Pring-Wilson’s testimony in the first trial when he describes how he felt after the fight and begins to say the word “hangover” but quickly changes it to “headache.” He tried really hard to avoid the question, and then to read his complete response, but he was eventually forced to concede that he did, indeed, say that.

Later she picked on Pring-Wilson for walking home after calling the police and for calling a driveway an alley. She also asked him why he swore at Colono if he wasn’t angry (all he said was that he wasn’t angry before he heard Colono’s insults; he very well could have been angry afterward) and asked him who was in the driver’s seat of the car. Pring-Wilson responded that he didn’t remember very well because “He came out of the car very quickly. He hit me…I fell to the ground.”

Then, Lynch attacked Pring-Wilson for using a weapon on two unarmed men, repeatedly asking if either Rodriguez or Colono had a weapon, to which he replied that, no, he did not see any weapons on them. “They were kicking at me, and they were punching me, and there were two of them, and I was on the ground,” Pring-Wilson shot back. Lynch suggested that no one kicked Pring-Wilson, but that instead his feet were cut up because he was wearing flip flops in the middle of a city, and he answered that “They were cut up because I was attacked by two men in the middle of that city.” Next she raised the point that Pring-Wilson never called for help and that he says he was on his knees yet was still able to stab Colono four to five times, twice in the chest.

At 11:00 there was a break, after which Lynch completed her questions by showing the jury a picture of Pring-Wilson on the morning of April 12, in which he does not appear to have any serious injuries. Then Peter Parker, the defense attorney, did a re-direct that lasted about a half an hour. He had Pring-Wilson point out the pocket in his jeans where he always carried his knife and then showed the jury a picture where a cut on Pring-Wilson’s nose is visible and a picture of his hands in which they appear to be the same color. Pring-Wilson also was able to read his complete response to the question where he almost said “hangover.” Finally he described his state of mind during the attack: “I…saying afraid isn’t quite right. I was more afraid than I’ve ever been in my whole life…It puts you in a horible place.”

Throughout his testimony, Pring-Wilson remained calm, never becoming angry or losing his composure. He seemed well-prepared, making sure he had Lynch’s questions right and remaining silent until she actually asked something in question form. He often answered questions by saying things like “you can see it there” or “that’s what the records say, and I have no reason to doubt them” instead of saying yes or no. Lynch, on the other hand, was rather belligerent, repeating questions over and over and seeming to become angry at Pring-Wilson when he answered indirectly or attempted to elaborate. Both appeared confident and articulate – it’s difficult to tell which way the jury will lean. Personally, I think Pring-Wilson did a great job and definitely placed a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s claims.

Pring-Wilson wasn’t the only witness today – his girlfriend, Janice Olmstead, testified next, describing how his voice sounded normal when she talked to him before the fight but that he sounded “floaty, unconnected, just different” when he called her from the police station after the incident. She was followed by Edmundo Martinez, a close friend of Pring-Wilson’s who testified about his “reputation for peacefulness.” Last was Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann, a neurologist who described the symptoms of concussions – which do not necessarily include external injuries and are not detectable by most tests performed in doctors’ offices – and gave the opinion that Pring-Wilson suffered a grade 2 concussion, the second most severe classification. He was excellent on cross examination, sticking firmly to his opinions. When Lynch hinted that it would be unwise to trust Pring-Wilson’s description of his symptoms, he answered that “a physician in the emergency room who disbelieves his patient should not be a physician.” He even called one of her questions “nonsense.”

Wow, what a long post! Well, there are three more witnesses scheduled for tomorrow, and closings will take place then or Monday.

Alexander Pring-Wilson testified in his own defense today, but, most unfortunately, I can’t give a very good description of what he said because I was unable to be there! I had a big test smack in the middle of the day. Plus, thanks to the wonderful news media, I didn’t even know he would be testifying. Clearly they knew he’d be testifying – there are video clips and pictures of Pring-Wilson from today, but there haven’t been camera crews or a large media presence on most days of the trial. But how did they find out? And why on earth didn’t they publicize it ahead of time?

From what I’ve read and watched online, Pring-Wilson was more subdued than at his first trial. His direct examination lasted 45 minutes, and his lawyer told him not to get down from the stand and act out the fight like he did last time.

The only good news is that he didn’t finish his testimony, so I will get to see the end of the cross examination tomorrow. Closing arguments might be scheduled for Monday.

Sources:
TheBostonChannel.com
WHDH
Boston Globe
My Fox Boston

Today the prosecution finished calling witnesses against Alexander Pring-Wilson. The first witness of the day was Harjeet Singh, the manager of Pizza Ring, the restaurant near which the fatal fight between Pring-Wilson and Michael Colono occurred. Next up were Colono’s mother, girlfriend, and sister, who described his background and interests. Wanda Rivera, Colono’s oldest sister, said that he was interested in “getting a career and furthering his education” and was a lifelong baseball fan. Cindy Guzman, Colono’s girlfriend, was the only one of these three witnesses to be cross examined. She admitted that she told Colono the day before the fight that she wanted to break up with him – which may have put him in an angry mood and made him more likely to attack Pring-Wilson – and that Samuel Rodriguez told her he was in the driver’s seat of the car – the opposite of what the prosecution claims. Finally, the prosecution called James Connolly, a captain with the state police, to the stand and played clips of Pring-Wilson’s testimony in the first trial.

The defense called its first witness today. Jennifer Lipman – a doctor, certified forensic pathologist, consultant, and professional expert witness – gave her opinion on Colono’s wounds. She said that two of his five stab wounds were medical incisions, meaning that Pring-Wilson stabbed him only three times. The wound on Colono’s wrist, she testified, was the right location, shape, size, and orientation to be made during a “cut-down” – when medical personnel make a cut in a patient’s skin to find a vein. Also, the wound was too neat and clean to have been inflicted during a fight, and was located in the wrong place to be a defensive wound. One of the two wounds to Colono’s lower abdomen was also made by medical personnel, said Dr. Lipman. The cut was the perfect size and location for a diagnostic peritoneal lavage – a procedure that doctors perform to tell if a patient has internal bleeding. Prosecutor Adrienne Lynch began cross examining Dr. Lipman but will finish tomorrow morning.

I also managed to catch the second half of yesterday’s proceedings; sorry for not posting about it! I was there for the testimony of Dr. Faryl Sandler, the medical examiner who examined Colono’s body. She described his five wounds, said that the one that punctured his heart was the cause of death, and said that the one on his wrist was consistent with being a defensive wound. I thought Peter Parker, Pring-Wilson’s defense lawyer, did a good job on cross examination. He cast doubt on the claim that the wrist wound and one of the abdomen wounds were made by Pring-Wilson and made it seem like the other wounds didn’t require a huge amount of force to inflict if the knife was sharp, long, and moving at a high velocity, and if the victim was moving toward the knife. He also mentioned that Dr. Sandler was not a board-certified pathologist and made a big deal of the fact that Dr. Sandler did an internal examination of Colono’s head even though there were no outward signs of head injuries – hinting that people (such as Pring-Wilson) commonly have brain injuries that don’t necessarily cause external symptoms.

I wasn’t there for yesterday morning’s events, but the Crimson reports that John Soares, a chemist, finished his testimony, and the prosecution entered Colono’s bloody clothing into evidence. Check out their article for the full story.

After testimony ended for the day in the Pring-Wilson trial, I stayed around the courthouse to catch Neil Entwistle’s pretrial conference. Although Entwistle himself did not make an appearance, many reporters and members of the victims’ family were present. Judge Diane Kottmyer reversed the ruling she made last week and agreed to delay the trial yet again! First the trial was going to be in last April, then October 1, then January 28, and now jury selection won’t start until after March 10! A hearing is scheduled for December 21, by which time the prosecution must provide all relevant discovery, and a status conference is scheduled for February 1.

Also at today’s hearing, defense attorney Elliot Weinstein expressed his outrage that the Boston Herald had published Entwistle’s “suicide” letter. Calling the leak an intrusion into attorney-client privilege, Weinstein asked Judge Kottmyer to order an investigation into who gave the Herald a copy of the letter. However, she denied his motion.

The prosecution continued to present its case today in the trial of Alexander Pring-Wilson. Paul Melaragni finished his testimony from yesterday. He said that he helped the police make a DVD of security camera footage of Pring-Wilson at the police station, and part of the footage was shown in court. Then, Eugene Hagan, a former chemist at the Mass. State Police Crime Lab, testified about how he examined evidence at the scene of the crime as well as at Pring-Wilson’s apartment. Pring-Wilson’s clothing and knife tested positive for blood, said Hagan, and the knife was hidden in what he described as a “crawl space” in Pring-Wilson’s room. However, on cross examination Hagan admitted that he moved items around in the crawl space before taking pictures of the evidence. The next witness was George Behonick, a forensic toxicologist who examined Michael Colono’s body and found that he had been drinking before the altercation with Pring-Wilson, but had not consumed any other drugs. Finally, John Soares, who examined evidence with Hagan, began his testimony today. He testified that Pring-Wilson’s hands tested positive for blood, as did his raincoat and knife. Also, prosecutor Adrienne Lynch showed Colono’s bloodstained clothing to the jury while Soares pointed out the stab marks in the clothes and described how he thinks they could have been inflicted. The trial will resume Monday.