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Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: News
Malinovskaya back in court for third murder trial
Major players change for prosecution and defense; state introduces new charge
Jared Miller
WILMINGTON, Del. - It was deja vu all over again as the third murder trial for Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya began yesterday at the New Castle Co. courthouse.
Opening statements took a familiar turn as Delaware state prosecutor Victoria Witherall once again attempted to establish Malinovskaya as a lover obsessed over her ex-boyfriend, then-Widener law student Robert Bondar.
Defense attorneys countered by stressing to jurors that no forensic evidence definitively links Malinovskaya to Bondar's Delaware apartment, where his then-girlfriend, Temple pharmacology student Irina Zlotnikov, was brutally beaten to death on Dec. 23, 2004.
"Science doesn't lie. Science doesn't play favorites. It is what it is," defense lawyer Joe Hurley told the jury.
New to the case, Hurley is one of the few changes for a trial that will likely include much of the same evidence and witnesses as the last two, both of which ended in hung juries.
A former state prosecutor and nationally recognized criminal attorney, Hurley replaces Mary Burnell on Malinovskaya's defense team, alongside Eugene Maurer, who has been the lead attorney for the first two trials.
Likely in an effort to throw off the prosecution, Hurley, not Maurer, gave the opening statement yesterday and cross-examined the state's first witness, the victim's mother, Sophia Zlotnikov.
Hurley said Maurer asked him to lead the defense this time around, but he ultimately agreed to sign on only in a secondary role.
Prosecutors also threw a bit of a curve ball by introducing another charge to the trial - attempted tampering with physical evidence - and dropped the charge of second-degree burglary.
Malinovskaya is still being charged with first- and second-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon.
The new count stems from a false electronic document, the contents of which are not yet known, that Malinovskaya allegedly engineered to use as evidence in the middle of her second trial last September.
Opening statements took a familiar turn as Delaware state prosecutor Victoria Witherall once again attempted to establish Malinovskaya as a lover obsessed over her ex-boyfriend, then-Widener law student Robert Bondar.
Defense attorneys countered by stressing to jurors that no forensic evidence definitively links Malinovskaya to Bondar's Delaware apartment, where his then-girlfriend, Temple pharmacology student Irina Zlotnikov, was brutally beaten to death on Dec. 23, 2004.
"Science doesn't lie. Science doesn't play favorites. It is what it is," defense lawyer Joe Hurley told the jury.
New to the case, Hurley is one of the few changes for a trial that will likely include much of the same evidence and witnesses as the last two, both of which ended in hung juries.
A former state prosecutor and nationally recognized criminal attorney, Hurley replaces Mary Burnell on Malinovskaya's defense team, alongside Eugene Maurer, who has been the lead attorney for the first two trials.
Likely in an effort to throw off the prosecution, Hurley, not Maurer, gave the opening statement yesterday and cross-examined the state's first witness, the victim's mother, Sophia Zlotnikov.
Hurley said Maurer asked him to lead the defense this time around, but he ultimately agreed to sign on only in a secondary role.
Prosecutors also threw a bit of a curve ball by introducing another charge to the trial - attempted tampering with physical evidence - and dropped the charge of second-degree burglary.
Malinovskaya is still being charged with first- and second-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon.
The new count stems from a false electronic document, the contents of which are not yet known, that Malinovskaya allegedly engineered to use as evidence in the middle of her second trial last September.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 9
The Truth
posted 9/14/07 @ 10:19 AM EST
Hopefully when all is said and done, a jury with at least a mild intelect will finally be selected, and will correctly convict her. I'm absolutely sick of hearing about all her supporters feeling bad for Malinovskaya. (Continued…)
alum
posted 9/14/07 @ 2:58 PM EST
Well, you see, there is no conclusive evidence that she could be convicted on. Is it possible that she had committed the crime? Yes. But it is also quite possible that she did not commit it. (Continued…)
whokebe
posted 9/14/07 @ 3:24 PM EST
I missed the Malinovskaya posts.
Teddy Atlas
posted 9/14/07 @ 7:49 PM EST
Can the DP get a better picture of this girl... it is the worst picture ever and it really makes her look guilty
philaperson
posted 9/16/07 @ 12:49 AM EST
To Truth:
You have no idea what you're talking about. As alum said above, majority in the jury voted to acquit. Re-trying the case for the third time is akin to not only double - but triple! - jeopardy. (Continued…)
whokebe
posted 9/17/07 @ 12:41 AM EST
Teddy:
The reason the picture makes her look guilty is bc she is guilty.
HTH
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