After a break-in and assault on August 26, 2010, reporters kept a vigil at 220 Pearl Street (blue house at right).

The trial of Cambridgeport resident Marcos Colono, originally set for November in Middlesex County Superior Court, has been re-scheduled for April 26, 2012. Middlesex District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Cara O’Brien gave the information out in response to a phone inquiry.

Colono is charged with two separate but similar crimes in two Massachusetts counties: a break-in and assault of a father and son at the Pearl Street apartment on August 26, 2010 in Cambridge (Middlesex County), and an earlier break-in and assault of two young women at an apartment on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton (Suffolk County) back in 2008. He was arrested here by Cambridge police on October 6, 2010 – more than 14 months ago. He has been in custody since then. http://middlesexda.com/news/press-release-archive.php?reference=124

Somerville Attorney Benjamin Selman was initially appointed to represent Colono in Middlesex County Superior Court. However, Selman said in a November 18 email that he has withdrawn from the case. Boston attorney Stephen Weymouth has been appointed to represent Colono, according to Cara O’Brien.

Following the Middlesex County trial next spring, Colono will be tried in Suffolk County Superior Court on the Brighton charges. Court-appointed Attorney Kelly Porges represents him in Suffolk County, according to Suffolk District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark. That trial is scheduled for May 29, 2012.

Legal proceedings to date have included numerous pre-trial procedures in both courts.

Back Story:
The break-in occurred shortly after midnight on August 26, 2010, at the upstairs apartment at 220 Pearl Street. A father and his son were attacked by an intruder wielding a butcher knife.

Wary residents and passers-by eyed each other nervously and kept their doors locked for several weeks. Then, in an October 7, 2010 press conference at Cambridge police headquarters, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, Jr., announced that a local man, 32-year-old Marcos Colono, had been arrested by Cambridge police and charged in the attack, which Leone described as “horrific.”

“The residents – a 53-year-old Harvard researcher and his 11-year-old son – were set upon by a home invader. They were sexually assaulted; they suffered several stab wounds. The apartment was a bloody mess,” Leone said. http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/10/by_milton_j_val_3...

According to the boston.com report of the press conference, a "Not Guilty" plea was entered on Colono's behalf in Cambridge District Court in Medford. He was held on $1 million cash bail on charges of home invasion, armed assault with intent to murder, and two counts of rape of a child by force.

Speaking alongside Leone at the press conference was Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. They indicated that Colono had been traced through a bloody fingerprint from the Pearl Street scene; the print matched one from a 1998 marijuana arrest of Colono. He was linked to the 2008 and 2010 apartment break-ins by a DNA match between biological samples recovered during the investigations of the two events.

“Through a DNA database known as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), we were able to match those two profiles and link them to one offender through what’s known as a ‘case to case hit,’” Conley said.
http://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/press-office/press-releases/press...

The 32-year-old accused man was living in the Woodrow Wilson Court apartments, located on Chalk Street between Pleasant and Magazine, when he was arrested. His family name is well-known here since his brother Michael Colono was killed in a street fight in 2003 at age 18 by Alexander Pring-Wilson, a Harvard graduate student. That case was settled after a long-drawn out and highly publicized series of trials. A photo taken of Marcos Colono then shows an animated, dark-haired man with a pencil moustache. http://www.thecrimson.com/image/2003/4/15/marcos-colono-brother-of-victim/

In addition to the DNA findings, a behavioral quirk mentioned in several media reports could support the idea that the same man carried out both attacks. In each case, victims were apparently made to lie on top of one another while they were assaulted. (See the boston.com report and http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/features/x835150285/Cambridge-man-h... )

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Press releases from the Middlesex County DA’s office routinely contain a formal reminder: “These charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Since Colono is held on $1 million cash bail, barring a miracle he will have been in custody for at least a year and a half by the time the two trials are over. When asked whether a defendant is compensated for lost time if he/she ultimately turns out to be innocent, Suffolk DA Press Secretary Wark said he was not aware of any such compensation. The purpose of setting a high bail is to prevent the accused from fleeing, he said. He noted that a person charged with multiple counts of assault, as Colono is, would have a strong incentive to flee, because if the verdict is "Guilty" the jail sentence could add up to a lifetime.