Pring-Wilson is charged with murder in the first degree, defined as either a premeditated or excessively cruel murder.

Denner focused yesterday on Pring-Wilson’s exemplary background and spotless record. He said these are indicators his client will not threaten the community in any way. He suggested that explanations surrounding the disputed details of the fight are irrelevant until a trial by jury.

Recounting the Night

The arguments presented at yesterday’s arraignment mirrored those of the district court hearing, but the attorneys added a few more details to their divergent accounts of the altercation.

According to both Denner and Lynch, Pring-Wilson was walking to his apartment in Davis Square from the Western Front, a pub in Cambridge early on the morning of April 12.

Lynch said Pring-Wilson told police officers he had been drinking.

As he walked past Pizza Ring on Western Ave. in Cambridge, Pring-Wilson, who was talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone, overheard a man in a parked car say something about him, his attorney said.

According to the prosecutor’s account, Colono, who was sitting in a car with his cousin and a woman, commented on Pring-Wilson, pointing out “that guy staggering” up the street in flip-flops and a yellow rain slicker.

Denner and prosecutors agree that after overhearing the remark Pring-Wilson approached the car, and a verbal altercation ensued.

Pring-Wilson opened the car door, and the altercation escalated into a fist fight, Lynch said.

Denner and Lynch agreed that Samuel E. Rodriguez, Colono’s cousin, joined in the fight, punching Pring-Wilson at least once.

At some point in the fight, prosecutors said, Pring-Wilson stabbed Colono five times with a pocket knife later recovered in his apartment.

Denner said that his client did not instigate either the verbal or physical altercation, and stabbed Colono in self-defense after he was assaulted.

According to Denner, his client suffered a concussion in the fight.

Colono and the two people in his car then left the scene, Lynch said, because Colono did not realize he had been stabbed.