NORTHAMPTON — A Hampshire Superior Court judge this week denied the request of a former Ware man for a reduced verdict in a 1996 alcohol-fueled slaying.
Enez Kolenovic, now 45, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1999 after prosecutors alleged he cut the throat of David Walker, a man Kolenovic encountered at a bar the night of Sept. 15, 1996.
In the motion, Kolenovic contended that post-trial evidence revealed he suffered from “severe psychiatric disorders affecting his state of mind at the time of the killing” and PTSD. Therefore, a lesser charge of second-degree murder or manslaughter would be more appropriate, according to his motion
Had it been successful, it would have opened the possibility for a lighter prison sentence or even the possibility for parole.
In her decision issued Wednesday, Judge Mary-Lou Rup denied Kolenovic’s motion, keeping in place the original verdict of first-degree murder along with the state-mandated life sentence in prison.
In her decision, Rup noted that “evidence outside the trial record has no bearing on whether the verdict should be reduced.”
“We are pleased that the judge accepted the Commonwealth’s position that the defendant’s alleged PTSD is irrelevant in determining whether to reduce the murder verdict where that information, although available at the time of trial, was not presented to the jury by deliberate choice of defense counsel,” Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Thomas H. Townsend, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.
That night in September 1996, inside an undisclosed bar, Walker admonished Kolenovic after he saw the man throw his drink in a woman’s face, according to court records. The two stepped outside to scuffle but then returned inside of the bar to continue to drink.
Kolenovic and Walker left together with the woman who Kolenovic allegedly threw the drink at, Melissa Radigan, and bar owner Jack McCrystal. They were en route to Kolenovic’s apartment “to keep the party going,” according to court records.
McCrystal was driving with Walker in the front passenger seat, with Kolenovic seated directly behind Walker, according to court records. But before the group could make it to the apartment, Kolenovic reached around the seat in front of him and slit Walker’s throat.
McCrystal stopped the car, and Kolenovic wrestled Walker out of the car, taking him to the ground, and proceeded to stab him at least nine times, according to court records.
Kolenovic previously filed unsuccessful motions for a new trial. However, his direct appeal is still pending in Supreme Judicial Court after 17 years. This appeal is the second-oldest in Massachusetts and is expected to be heard at the end of the year or early next year, according to the district attorney’s office.
“We are certainly disappointed by the judge’s ruling,” Kolenovic’s attorney Michael Schneider, of Boston, said in an email. “ But the decision left unresolved an important legal issue – whether a trial judge may consider post-trial evidence of a defendant’s severe mental health problems in ruling on these motions for a reduction of the verdict. We are hopeful that the SJC will answer this question in the affirmative.”
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.