May 10, 2007 By Jennifer Harr 7 min read

In the weeks after his wife left, Raymond “Mike” Prinkey testified that he became increasingly lost and despondent, contemplating suicide. But on Oct. 18, 2005, when he saw a strange man in his estranged wife’s Connellsville apartment, Prinkey said he felt like he’s been punched and was “enraged.”

By Oct. 19, that man, James Cononico, 50, of Ohio, was dead.

Prinkey, 50, of Normalville, testified Wednesday that he shot Cononico but told jurors in his criminal homicide trial in Fayette County Court that he did so in self-defense.

Prosecutors have alleged that Prinkey killed Cononico with malice, and will ask jurors to bring back a murder verdict. Prinkey’s attorney has said that the case is, at best, voluntary manslaughter, which is a killing in the heat of passion.

After he saw the man in his wife’s apartment on Oct. 18, Prinkey testified he called his wife, Lori, and asked if someone was there. She denied anyone was in her East Washington Avenue home.

After a fitful night, Raymond Prinkey said he had to know. He said he drove to his wife’s apartment from his Normalville home around 4:30 a.m. and watched as a man left the apartment, keys in hand.

Prinkey said that confirmed his worst fears. In a state of “extreme anger and rage,” he said he drove back home.

“I was in shock. At that point in time, I knew I wasn’t in my right mind,” Prinkey told defense attorney David Shrager.

He said he considered suicide, but instead drove back to his wife’s apartment. Prinkey said he had a gun in his truck and he tucked it into his waistband as he went to his wife’s place, intent upon confronting her about her affair.

Prinkey testified he took the gun in case the man he saw leaving came back. Prinkey said Cononico, whom he did not know, was more muscular than him.

As he approached the door, Prinkey testified it opened, and Cononico came out. Prinkey said they tussled for the gun. Prinkey said he got the weapon and ordered Cononico inside.

A 911 recording played for jurors captured the next few moments.

The recording was captured because Lori Prinkey dialed the emergency number and set the phone in her kitchen sink.

“Don’t do that, Mike. That is insane,” Lori Prinkey can be heard saying to her husband. Prinkey goes by the name Mike.

“He’s a dead (expletive),” Raymond Prinkey responded.

Through the first minute or so of the tape, Lori Prinkey can be heard pleading with her husband not to shoot Cononico.

Then, a gunshot, followed by Lori Prinkey’s screams.

During that time, Lori Prinkey testified her husband turned the weapon on her and she was hiding under a table. Raymond Prinkey denied that happened.

On the tape, Raymond Prinkey asked his wife if Cononico stayed all night. She continued to deny that he did and her husband told her that he had been waiting outside the apartment for an hour.

She also asked if she can call an ambulance for Cononico and her husband refuses to allow her to do so.

Lori Prinkey testified her husband eventually took the clip from his gun and left it and the weapon at the apartment. She then called 911 again and flagged down police.

During his testimony, Raymond Prinkey recalled those few minutes.

“At that point, the rage had overtaken me,” he said.

Prinkey said that Cononico stood with his back to him, and his hands in the air. Cononico started out 4 to 5 feet away, but Prinkey testified that Cononico kept inching toward him, looking backward at him and the gun.

Raymond Prinkey testified that Cononico’s movements alarmed him, and when Cononico moved his left hand back toward him, Prinkey testified he fired his 9mm gun.

“I could see the hate in his eyes,” Prinkey testified. “I believed that he was going to attack me and I believed if he would’ve gotten the gun, he would have killed me.”

Prinkey told District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon that even though he had Cononico at gunpoint, he was afraid of him. He also acknowledged that at that point he was enraged and wanted Cononico dead.

Prinkey testified he had been emotionally distraught since early October 2005, when he came to his Normalville home found his wife of 17 years had moved out. He told jurors he felt “lost.”

With his wife gone, Prinkey testified he tried to do things with friends and family.

“But there was no joy in any of it,” he testified.

Prinkey testified he talked to his wife several times after she left. One of those times, she told him that she loved him, but was no longer in love with him, Prinkey said.

He indicated that he did not know where she has moved until he was driving through Connellsville one day to see their son, Luke, who lived near Lori Prinkey’s apartment complex.

Raymond Prinkey testified he saw Lori Prinkey’s car in the parking lot and went to look closer to make sure it was hers. After he confirmed it was hers and was driving away, Prinkey testified his wife called him and asked if he was happy because he had found her.

“I told her I wasn’t. This was a nightmare,” he testified.

On Oct. 16, Raymond Prinkey testified he, his two stepchildren and two grandchildren went on a children’s hayride. He said his mind was preoccupied thinking that Lori Prinkey should have been there to enjoy the day.

At the end of the day, he went home intent upon killing himself, he said.

Prinkey testified he climbed into his truck with his 9mm handgun, intending to shoot himself, but did not want his teenage daughter to find him that way. Instead, Prinkey testified he started his truck and shut the garage door.

He said he was almost asleep when his son, Ty, showed up. Prinkey testified he did not want anyone to know he was trying to kill himself so he opened the garage door and backed out, claiming he was going to get cigarettes.

On Oct. 18, Raymond Prinkey said that his wife had again asked him to talk to their son, Luke. Prinkey testified he called Luke and found that he was at his mother’s apartment. Raymond Prinkey testified he drove to Connellsville hoping that he could talk to his wife and son together.

When he got to her apartment, however, he saw a strange man standing in Lori Prinkey’s apartment through a blind.

“It was like I’d been physically punched,” he testified.

He said he went to see his sons, Luke and Tyson, who lived nearby. Tyson Keslar testified both sons had been at Lori Prinkey’s apartment for dinner that night. Cononico cooked the meal and both knew about him, but Keslar testified neither told Raymond Prinkey.

Lori Prinkey acknowledged during her testimony earlier this week that she repeatedly lied to her husband about her relationship with Cononico and told him that she would just needed space.

“I believed her,” Raymond Prinkey testified.

Lori Prinkey met Cononico while she worked at the state prison in Somerset as a unit manager. Cononico was an inmate there. The two got together after he was released in early August 2005, but he did not come to the Fayette County area until October 2005.

Jurors also heard testimony from three of Prinkey’s children or stepchildren, all of whom indicated that Raymond Prinkey was despondent after his wife left. Jurors also heard from several character witnesses who indicated Prinkey had a good reputation for being a peaceful and law-abiding citizen.

The trial, before Judge Ralph C. Warman, will resume this morning with closing remarks.