Former Harvard grad student pleads guilty in stabbing death

(AP Pool Photo)

Pring-Wilson testifying in November at his second trial.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Former Harvard University graduate student Alexander Pring-Wilson pleaded guilty today to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years and one day in prison for stabbing to death a young man on a Cambridge street in 2003.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse called Pring-Wilson's crime "stupid and avoidable," but he said, "The time has come to let go. The resolution ... is fair and just."

Pring-Wilson admitted to stabbing Michael Colono, 18, in a fight on a dark street during the early morning hours of April 12, 2003, but he contended he acted in self-defense after being attacked by Colono and Colono's cousin, Samuel Rodriguez.

In sentencing Pring-Wilson, Muse gave him credit for 290 days he has already served in jail. Pring-Wilson, who arrived in the courtroom with his girlfriend, mother, and stepfather, was led away by court officers at the end of the hearing to begin completing his sentence.

Colono's older sister, Desmarias, said during a victim impact statement that she wasn't satisfied with the sentence.

"It's not fair, and it's all Alexander Pring-Wilson's fault, the man who thinks he's God," she said.

The case attracted widespread attention because it involved two men from different worlds in a deadly chance encounter. Colono was a hotel cook and a young father who lived in the area, while Pring-Wilson, who is from Colorado Springs, Colo., was studying for a master's degree in Russian and Eurasian studies.

Pring-Wilson was walking home from a nightclub where he had been partying with friends when he and Colono exchanged words. Pring-Wilson said he pulled a knife to defend himself, but prosecutors said he deliberately killed Colono.

The plea deal came as Pring-Wilson faced a third trial in Colono's death.

Pring-Wilson, 29, was originally charged with first-degree murder, but a jury in 2004 convicted him of the lesser count of manslaughter and he was sentenced to six to eight years in prison.

His conviction was tossed out when the state’s highest court ruled that jurors should have learned about Colono’s criminal background.

A second trial ended with a hung jury last month. Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. had vowed to try Pring-Wilson a third time.

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