Pring-Wilson Jury Sees Murder Site

The jury in the murder trial of Alexander Pring-Wilson viewed on Wednesday the scene where prosecutors say the former Harvard graduate student fatally stabbed a local teenager.

Pring-Wilson is charged with murdering Cambridge resident Michael D. Colono outside of a local pizza restaurant on Western Avenue in April 2003.

After three days of sidebar questioning, the potential jurors were narrowed down to 12 Wednesday.

During what is called a “view,” the jurors piled into a blue and yellow tour bus yesterday and headed to the Western Avenue location.

In opening remarks prior to the view, neither the prosecution nor the defense made any reference to the events preceding the death of Colono, who was 18.

“The view that we take is not evidence in the case—it is just to assist you,” Cambridge Superior Court Justice Regina Quinlan told the jury.

The defense had a few words of caution for the jury.

“The subject matter of this case took place at night,” said E. Peter Parker, Pring-Wilson’s newly-hired Boston lawyer. “We’re obviously going during the day. The difference is night and day.”

Parker told the jury to take special notice of the lights around the Trader Joe area and the layout of the Pizza Ring driveway.

“It’s going to be a lot to absorb,” Parker warned the jury.

The trial will resume on Monday with opening statements as the courts closed yesterday and today for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

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