“There were no follow-up incidents that we know of,” Pappas says, but court records show Colono tested positive for opiates in May 2002.

Although the center is not specifically for substance abuse, Nicolas says that Colono decided to go because he wanted to clean up his life.

“[It] wasn’t about him being addicted, it was him saying he didn’t want to do it anymore,” says Nicolas. “Around our neighborhood if you hang out with certain people it becomes a custom...He just wanted to get away from the environment for a short period to see if he could do it.”

Those close to Colono criticize the media for focusing too much on his criminal record and contrasting it with Pring-Wilson’s accomplishments.

“I know he went through a lot of drama. Out of all that drama he became a really better person, and he grew up so much,” Brown says. “I guess Harvard has a stereotype of being prestigious smart people, but people slip up.”

Mitchell, Colono’s fifth grade teacher, agrees that the Harvard connection has changed the way the media has reported on the story.

“It just doesn’t ring true,” Mitchell says of the media’s portrayal of Pring-Wilson. “‘He’s a Harvard student, he’s so nice, Michael’s a kid, look at him, he had a police record.’ They’re playing that old game.”

Demanding Justice

Marcus Colono was awakened early in the morning on April 12 by a phone call from his mother, telling him that his brother had been stabbed. He says he drove to the hospital, left to get other family members and found out on his way back to the hospital that his brother “hadn’t made it.”

Family and friends say they doubt Colono started the fight that led to his death.

Not only would such behavior be unlike Colono, but also Pring-Wilson was both larger than Colono and “heavily intoxicated” at the time, they say.

“[Pring-Wilson] provoked the fight. This was not self defense,” Marcus Colono says. “[Colono had] reasons to live. If there was a way to avoid it, Michael would have played his part.”

Now the family says they want Pring-Wilson to be held accountable for Colono’s death.

The fact that the accused killer is a Harvard graduate student shouldn’t matter, Marcus Colono says.

“Justice was a big word that was used the day [of the funeral]. Justice for me is you do the crime, you do the time, regardless of financial and social position,” he says.