Missed meetings, apologetic phone calls and an ex-girlfriend's curiosity about seeing her replacement were the focus of the defense's direct examination of Irina Malinovskaya yesterday.
The Wharton undergraduate is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly beating to death Temple University student Irina Zlotnikov on the morning of Dec. 23, 2004.
Malinovskaya - who admitted today to being outside of the New Castle, Del., apartment where Zlotnikov was killed on the day of the murder - said she drove to Delaware that day and on the two days prior to meet with Robert Bondar to discuss a paper she was writing.
Bondar, Zlotnikov's then-boyfriend, had previously been in a relationship with Malinovskaya.
Malinovskaya testified that on Dec. 21 she met with Bondar at his apartment, but they did not discuss the paper because they had had too much to drink.
Malinovskaya said she returned the next day, but Bondar did not show up at the appointed time, telling her that they would have to postpone their meeting because his girlfriend was in town.
Instead of going home, Malinovskaya said she waited in the parking lot of the apartment complex, hoping to see Bondar's girlfriend.
"She wanted to catch a glimpse of this girl," defense lawyer Mary Burnell said after the day's proceedings were over. "She wanted to see who she was."
On the day of the murder, Malinovskaya said she returned a third time, but she testified that she left without seeing either Bondar or Zlotnikov.
The defense also called witnesses to challenge the credibility of earlier witnesses called by the prosecution.
One police officer testified that, on the day of the murder, Bondar said he did not initially notice Zlotnikov's body on the kitchen floor upon entering the apartment. The officer said Bondar only noticed the body when he left his bedroom and walked back into the living room.
Burnell said the officer's statement is not consistent with Bondar's earlier testimony that he had immediately noticed Zlotnikov's body.
The defense also called Sergey Dedov, Malinovskaya's boyfriend at the time of her arrest. Dedov, who still visits Malinovskaya regularly, said that he spoke with her on the day of the murder and that she did not seem anxious or upset.
Although Dedov said he was unaware that Malinovskaya had gone to Delaware to see Bondar, he testified that their relationship was serious and that they had discussed getting married.
The defense will continue its direct examination of Malinovskaya today, followed by the prosecution's cross-examination.
