Levinson mentioned that Colono’s cousin Rodriguez had slapped his girlfriend Giselle Abreu in a physical fight earlier that night. Both Abreu and Rodriguez witnessed the stabbing.

The defense portrayed the defendant—a student at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the time of his arrest—as a classy, peaceable man with no criminal history.

“He doesn’t fight—either drunk or sober,” Levinson said. “He plays by the rules. He was in the Harvard Masters’ Program. He speaks five languages. He is colorblind. He had a Spyderco knife. He always carried his Spyderco knife. It is a utility knife. He’s carried the knife since he was 10.”

TESTIMONY BEGINS

Witnesses who testified yesterday after nearly two hours of opening statements included Mary Kate McCartney, who spent time bar-hopping with Pring-Wilson prior to the stabbing, and Abreu.

McCartney told the court that Pring-Wilson had been drinking moderately the night before the stabbing, and verified that Pring-Wilson had been carrying a knife throughout the entire evening.

Abreu described her take on the incident in full detail, demonstrating the crime scene with the prosecution’s extensive collection of on-scene pictures and maps. She testified that it was Pring-Wilson who first opened the car door after exchanging words with Colono.

“Michael got out of the car and he began fighting,” Abreu told the court. “He didn’t take his time getting out of the car. Punches were going everywhere. [Pring-Wilson] was hitting him around his stomach and his upper body.”

Abreu said she did not see who threw the first punch. Pring-Wilson’s attorney said that Abreu initally told a state tropper that Colono had thrown the first punch.

After Colono and Rodriguez returned to the car, Abreu drove away from the scene because she was worried Pring-Wilson would call the police, and she feared “getting in trouble” because she did not have a license to drive and that in the car there was alcohol that Colono and Rodriguez had been consuming.

Court TV’s extensive coverage today focused on whether Pring-Wilson’s Harvard background might influence the jurors’ opinions about the case.

In an audience poll entitled “The 13th Juror,” 68 percent of respondents thought that Pring-Wilson’s Harvard connection would not help his case, while 32 percent of respondents believed it would.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.