Student Murder Trial | Jury fails to reach a verdict after first day of deliberations

The future of Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya still hangs in the balance as the jury failed to reach a verdict yesterday.

Malinovskaya is charged with the murder of Temple University graduate student Irina Zlotnikov, the girlfriend of the accused's former boyfriend, Robert Bondar. The first two trials both ended in hung juries, though the absence of a verdict today may not necessarily mean that a third hung jury is imminent.

Delaware attorney Joseph Gabay, who is not associated with the case, said that the jury's failure to reach a consensus within one day is "not unusual considering how long it took for this particular case to be tried," and that it is unlikely that a complex murder trial such as this would have yielded a decision so soon.

"For a case such as this, it is unusual for the jury to come back with a verdict on the first day," Gabay said.

He added that he would not be surprised to see the jury reach a decision today or Monday.

Throughout the trial, the state tried to prove that Malinovskaya was obsessed with Bondar through calling to the stand neighbors who saw her outside his apartment, providing phone records and the examining files and e-mails from her computer.

The defense countered by calling DNA experts and police officers to testify that there is no physical evidence implicating Malinovskaya as the murderer.

The defense has also attempted to show that Bondar's testimony has been inconsistent over the three trials, and that he had not been acting as a person who had tragically lost a loved one should.

According to Gabay, lengthy deliberations may be a good sign for Malinovskaya.

"The thinking is that the longer [the deliberations] go, the more it favors the defendant, but there is no evidence to prove this," Gabay said.

Deliberations resume today.

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