A trial date has been set for the Wharton student charged with murdering a Temple graduate student nine months after she was arrested by Delaware authorities.
Irina Malinovskaya is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Irina Zlotnikov, who was dating Malinovskaya's ex-boyfriend. Zlotnikov was found dead Dec. 23 at the boyfriend's New Castle, Del. home, allegedly beaten to death with a blunt object.
Malinovskaya, originally scheduled to graduate last December, was arrested in the days before Christmas, after the fall semester had ended.
She is being held at the Baylor Women's Correctional Institution in New Castle until her trial begins on Jan. 24.
Her attorney said she is coping with life behind bars.
"She is now going on her ninth month ... but she is doing reasonably well," said Mary Burnell, one of Malinovskaya's attorneys. "Her parents were just in town, and that lifted her spirits a great deal."
Malinovskaya's parents flew in from Russia.
The defendant's bail was set for $10 million in an April hearing, but has not been met.
"Her parents will not be able to [provide] that," Burnell said.
Malinovskaya will stand for an evidentiary hearing on Nov. 2.
While she has been detained, Malinovskaya's student visa has expired because she is no longer "actively enrolled," Burnell said. "To my knowledge there is no other visa."
Malinovskaya was also charged with second-degree burglary, possession of a weapon and theft, according to Janice Fitzsimons, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Attorney General's Office.
Though Malinovskaya was not able to complete the required courses to graduate as a finance and management concentrator, she has remained a student at Penn, University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said.
"I have had no information since her arrest last December," Holtzman added.
