The Freedom Bulletin

As if going through two criminal trials wasn’t enough, Alexander Pring-Wilson also has been dealing with a civil lawsuit in the aftermath of the 2003 fight in which he killed Michael Colono. Pring-Wilson, a Harvard grad student, ran into Colono and his cousin by chance on a Cambridge street, insults were exchanged, and a fight broke out, during which Pring-Wilson ended up fatally stabbing Colono with a pocket knife. He has maintained that Colono and his cousin attacked him and he acted in self-defense. Pring-Wilson was charged with first-degree murder and convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2004, but he received a new trial, which ended in a hung jury in 2007. In January 2008, he pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, went to prison, and got out on December 31, 2008.

Then, Colono’s estate decided to sue Pring-Wilson for wrongful death. From what I’ve managed to piece together, a bench trial took place before Middlesex Superior Court Judge Thomas Billings in February of this year. I believe that Billings found Pring-Wilson liable for Colono’s death and ordered him to pay $520,000 in restitution, which was later reduced to $260,000. Pring-Wilson is appealing this decision.

But things get more complicated: Pring-Wilson’s family in Colorado has a homeowners’ insurance policy which covers accidents. He thinks that the policy should pay the fine for Colono’s death because he killed him by accident. The insurance company, Fire Insurance Exchange, disagrees. Because the insurance claim was incurred in Massachusetts and the policy was issued in Colorado, this case ended up in federal court. And in addition to all of the Chuck Turner craziness yesterday, a hearing also took place in Pring-Wilson’s federal civil suit.

The subject of the hearing was a motion by Fire Insurance Exchange and Farmers’ Insurance Exchange (who are considered the plaintiffs) for summary disposition – to rule in their favor without further debate. It took place before Magistrate Judge Robert Collings. The insurance companies were represented by attorneys Bill Schneider and Steven Couch, Pring-Wilson represented himself, and Elizabeth Mulvey and Michael Harris represented Cindy Guzman, Colono’s girlfriend, who is the executor of his estate and is a co-defendant in the lawsuit along with Pring-Wilson.

Pring-Wilson and Guzman sat at opposite ends of the same table, separated by her two lawyers, which was a pretty interesting dynamic – she is suing him for her boyfriend’s death, but they are technically on the same side in the federal case. Pring-Wilson, who is now 32, looked quite different – he now has facial hair and was wearing cowboy boots with his tan suit and red striped tie. But he is just as adamant that he acted in self-defense, and just as well-spoken, as he was in his previous trials.

Schneider, for the insurance companies, argued that Colono’s death was not an accident and therefore should not be covered. Under Colorado law, he said, an accident is defined as “an unanticipated or unusual result flowing from a commonplace cause.” Pring-Wilson’s insurance policy excludes bodily injury caused intentionally by an insured person, or caused by an insured person when the consequences are foreseeable. According to Billings’s statement of facts, Pring-Wilson stabbed Colono 5 times, one of which struck his heart, which Schneider argued could not have been done accidentally.

Mulvey, however, argued that Colono’s wounds were in a random pattern, all but one were less than 3/4 of an inch deep, and it was simply horrible luck that one wound hit Colono’s heart; an inch or two in either direction and his injuries would be minor. This pattern, she said, was consistent with Pring-Wilson “flailing” around with his knife to try to clear a path for him to escape from his attackers, as opposed to trying to hurt Colono. Pring-Wilson’s upbringing, educational background, job prospects, and lack of prior history with Colono gave him no reason to want to hurt him. She described the altercation as “a fistfight which Mr. Pring-Wilson negligently turned into a knife fight” and which the insurance company should have to cover. To support her claim, she cited several cases that judges had ruled inappropriate for summary disposition, including one in which a robber fired at a store clerk to frighten him, but ended up accidentally shooting him. She said that Pring-Wilson had only pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter because it “seemed to be a reasonable thing to do at the time,” and this shouldn’t be held as evidence of intentionality.

Pring-Wilson, speaking briefly on his own behalf, went even further. “I’m not content with the facts as cited in Judge Billings’s argument,” he declared. He has always claimed that he stabbed Colono only three times, for example. He explained that, although he understands Mulvey’s position that he acted negligently, he maintains that he acted in self-defense and should therefore not be held responsible for Colono’s death at all. He also asked Judge Collings to stay the proceedings in this trial until his appeal in the state civil trial is decided.

Judge Collings took the motion under advisement. We shall see if he grants summary disposition or if the trial moves forward.