Irina Malinovskaya came very close to freedom, but will likely face another trial instead.
The first-degree murder case of the Wharton undergraduate ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury on Monday. State prosecutors intend to retry the case instead of dropping the charges, according to Delaware Justice Department spokeswoman Lori Sitler.
Malinovskaya, 22, is charged with the Dec. 23, 2004, murder of Temple University pharmacology student Irina Zlotnikov.
The decision to retry the case is not yet final, however, and prosecutors have no deadline for making it.
"The prosecution [that] tried the case will be meeting with their supervisors to determine how to proceed," Delaware Justice Department spokeswoman Lori Sitler said. "They will be evaluating the case, and the intention at this point is to retry."
But Penn Law professor Paul Robinson said that state prosecutors may announce that they plan to retry the case even if that is not their true intent.
"It is not uncommon for a prosecutor to threaten to retry in hopes that a threat will produce a plea agreement," Robinson said. In such an agreement, "the defendant, to avoid the risk of getting convicted the second time around, may agree to plead guilty to a lesser offense," he added.
In a case of first-degree murder, Robinson said, lesser offenses could include manslaughter, negligent homicide and assault, depending on the situation.
He added that an 11-1 vote in favor of acquittal "is the kind of fact that may well persuade a prosecutor not to retry."
Delaware Superior Court Judge James Vaughn declared a mistrial Monday afternoon after jurors could not resolve an 11-1 deadlock.
Sitler said there is no clear pattern regarding retrials in situations like Malinovskaya's.
"It is actually not terribly common to have a mistrial in a murder case," Sitler said.
"If there is a retrial, the arrangements will depend of the schedule of the judge," she added.
Malinovskaya's lawyer, Eugene Maurer, said that any retrial would likely occur in the early summer.
In a statement, a group of Malinovskaya's friends said that they are upset over the current state of the case but remain hopeful that she will eventually be found not guilty.
"Acquitted by the vast majority of the jury, she should not have to suffer in prison for an undetermined period of time," the statement said. "We are confident, however, that in the long run, [Malinovskaya] will be acquitted.
"Having known her before her arrest, we can attest to her peaceful and caring personality. Moreover, those of us who have attended the trial have seen that the prosecution lacks any conclusive evidence against her," the statement read.
