WILMINGTON, Del. -- Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya took the stand for the second consecutive day yesterday to defend herself against first-degree murder charges.
Eugene Maurer, one of her lawyers, asked her to relate the events of the days preceding the Dec. 23, 2004, murder of Temple University pharmacology student Irina Zlotnikov, whom Malinovskaya is accused of killing.
When prosecutor Marsh White had her turn to cross-examine Malinovskaya, she asked questions regarding the suspect's willingness to lie to the detective investigating the case.
At the time of her death, Zlotnikov was dating Malinovskaya's former boyfriend, Robert Bondar. Malinovskaya testified yesterday that she had never met Zlotnikov.
The victim's bludgeoned body was discovered in Bondar's New Castle, Del., apartment.
Though occasionally wavering in her composure, Malinovskaya remained collected for most of the proceedings.
Malinovskaya began to cry when White mentioned her May 2004 miscarriage.
"I didn't have a single [other] soul in this country to talk to," she said through tears, regarding why she asked her then-boyfriend Sergey Novikov to drive her to the hospital.
But when Maurer asked her if she killed Zlotnikov, Malinovskaya appeared calm.
"No, I did not," she said. "I honestly did not do that, and I am looking into the eyes of that woman's family and saying, 'No, I did not.'"
Malinovskaya said that she had planned to meet with Bondar on the day of Zlotnikov's death -- but when she arrived at his apartment, she assumed no one was there.
During the same period of time in which Zlotnikov's murder occurred, Malinovskaya said she was in the vicinity of Bondar's apartment. At one point, she said she pretended to try and open Bondar's door with her keys as a maintenance man walked by.
Despite telling a detective about a week after the killing that she had not been to Bondar's apartment in over a month, Malinovskaya testified yesterday that she was also in New Castle for two days prior to Zlotnikov's death.
When asked by Maurer if she held any ill feelings toward Zlotnikov for her involvement with Bondar, she said, "No, not at all. Why would I?"
The prosecution highlighted discrepancies in Malinovskaya's testimony over the past year. In December 2004, Malinovskaya told the detective false information about her wherabouts on the morning of Zlotnikov's murder.
"I was afraid to be honest with an ... authority, and so I lied," Malinovskaya testified yesterday.
White advanced this argument throughout the cross-examination.
"You tell lies when it suits your purposes," she said.
Malinovskaya was asked why she wrote on a birthday card to Bondar, "You are my ideal man," when she did not really believe that.
"Is that another lie?" White asked.
"You do not write on a birthday card, 'You have some ... deficits, but otherwise you are great,'" Malinovskaya responded.
On the defense's re-direct -- which follows the prosecution's cross-examination -- Maurer asked if Malinovskaya was indifferent to Zlotnikov's death upon being charged.
"Of course I felt sorry. I did not know Ms. Zlotnikov personally. I had remorse for her," Malinovskaya said.
"As far as your part?" Maurer asked.
"I am completely innocent," she replied.
-- Staff writers Mara Gordon and Wil Hershner contributed to this report.
