WILMINGTON, Del. - State prosecutors worked to recreate the scene of the crime for jurors yesterday in opening their first-degree murder case against Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya.
Following opening statements, the prosecution began to present evidence, including a recording of the 911 call made by the man who discovered the body of the victim, Temple graduate student Irina Zlotnikov, on Dec. 24, 2004.
This is Malinovskaya's second trial for the crime.
Robert Bondar owned the apartment where Zlotnikov, with whom he was in a relationship, was found dead. He had previously dated Malinovskaya.
In the recording, a panicked-sounding Bondar told the 911 operator that he returned to the apartment after leaving Zlotnikov sleeping in bed and found the door open with Zlotnikov lying on the kitchen floor.
"I don't think she's breathing, she's lying on the kitchen floor with her head busted up completely," Bondar told the dispatcher.
In the call, Bondar described the scene to the operator, saying that it did not look as though the lock had been broken.
Toward the end of the call, Bondar broke down and said, "I think she's dead."
Bondar, who held his head in his hands as the recording played, sat beside Zlotnikov's parents in the courtroom yesterday.
Also at the New Castle County Courthouse to testify were the paramedic who responded to the scene and the medical examiner in the case, as well as Philip Young, a now-retired patrol sergeant of the New Castle County Police Department.
Mary Burnell, one of Malinovskaya's lawyers, said the prosecution team of Bill George and Victoria Witherell will continue to call witnesses through the next few days and that the defense is slated to begin its case at the end of next week. She said both sides would use the same evidence and witnesses as in Malinovskaya's first trial, which ended in a mistrial in the spring after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
She added that she expects Bondar will be called to the stand today.
The prosecutors could not comment on the case yesterday.
Though it was the prosecution's decision to re-try the case, Burnell said she does not know how the prosecutors might use the witnesses and evidence differently this time around.
Yesterday's proceedings, presided over by Judge James Vaughn, started later than expected because of some difficulty in selecting jurors.
Malinovskaya lawyer Eugene Maurer said this is not unusual.
"In any trial, some jurors can't serve for reasons of bias or have heard about the trial ahead of time and already formed an opinion," he said.
If Malinovskaya is found guilty, she could face life imprisonment.
