WILMINGTON, Del. - During closing arguments yesterday, lawyers focused as much on Robert Bondar's integrity as on that of murder suspect Irina Malinovskaya.
The Wharton undergraduate's defense lashed out at Bondar in its summary, saying he has become "a master of manipulating" the facts of the case and implying that his testimony about Malinovskaya's obsession with him was unreliable.
But lead prosecutor Paul Wallace criticized the defense's portrayal of Bondar, Malinovskaya's ex-boyfriend, as unscrupulous.
Bondar was dating Temple University graduate student Irina Zlotnikov when she was found beaten to death in Bondar's apartment on Dec. 23, 2004. Malinovskaya is accused of first-and second-degree murder.
Defense attorney Eugene Maurer attempted to discredit Bondar's character, arguing that Bondar lured Malinovskaya into an improper relationship - he is 11 years her senior - then tried to pin the crime on her.
Bondar had been a key witness throughout the case, and the state tried to use his testimony to argue that Malinvoskaya was obsessed with Bondar and killed Zlotnikov out of jealousy.
Maurer played a tape of Bondar telling police that he could "help you make your case," and that, "when I cry, the jury's gonna cry."
Because Bondar had been questioned under oath about the matter two times before, he had become adept at manipulating words, Maurer argued. The testimony came during Malinovskaya's previous two trials, both of which ended in hung juries, a fact not disclosed at the trial.
For example, "having sex" became "being intimate with" in Bondar's vocabulary as the legal proceedings dragged on.
But the prosecution tried to counter these allegations, telling the jury that the defense wanted them to view Bondar "in the worst possible" light.
Wallace attempted to portray Malinovskaya as intensely jealous of Zlotnikov's relationship with Bondar: "A dark-haired Russian [also-named] Irina had replaced her," he said.
He argued that Malinovskaya did not get rid of the alleged murder weapon - a hammer found near her sink - because it belonged to her other love interest, Sergey Dedov, who would have noticed if it were gone.
Maurer countered by arguing that the prosecution had contradicted itself: Malinovskaya was prudent enough to delete important information on her computer yet careless enough to keep the murder weapon.
Maurer conceded in his closing that Malinovskaya was "obsessed" with Bondar, but he stressed that theories of crimes should leave little unanswered.
And, he argued, with unanswered questions still remaining - like how Malinovskaya entered Bondar's apartment and exited without leaving any conclusive physical trace - the jury should acquit.
