Jury deliberations in the murder trial of Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya came to a halt Friday morning after officials realized a serious court error had occurred.
Proceedings were delayed for four and a half hours early Friday morning when it was discovered that jurors had been erroneously given court clerk's files from the past two trials, both of which ended in mistrials.
Although officials did not release the exact content of the files to the public, it is likely that they contained information that would be considered prejudicial to the state's case.
In the event of a retrial, it is standard practice to choose jurors with no knowledge of the prior trials and to avoid discussion of the previous trials' details to reduce the possibility of prejudice.
Knowing that Malinovskaya has already avoided conviction twice and the exact reasons why the district attorneys failed to get her convicted might skew jurors in favor of acquittal.
Attorneys for both the defense and prosecution met with Superior Court Judge James Vaughn behind closed doors to discuss the situation.
It is unclear how likely the declaration of another mistrial was.
Ultimately, Judge Vaughn called the jury into court and ordered it to "disregard any knowledge or impression of prior cases" in their considerations.
The jury deliberated for three more hours before being dismissed for the day at 4:30 p.m.
Eugene Maurer, one of Malinovskaya's defense attorneys, would not comment on the error or its possible effect on the outcome of the trial.
Malinovskaya's parents spent the day waiting outside the courtroom, endlessly gazing out a window and pacing down the hall.
Malinovskaya's father, who has difficulty speaking English, expressed his frustration with the fact that this is now her third trial.
He and Malinovskaya's mother have traveled from their home in Russia to be at their daughter's side, and, as he explained, are staying "between the prison and court."
He said that his daughter is not guilty but awaits the decision of the jury.
The jury is scheduled to continue deliberations today.
